2007 NTCA Yearbook - Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association

Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association Incorporated
Advancing and Protecting the Interests of Cattle Producers in the Northern Territory
Cattle Council Report
NTCA Annual Conference 2007
Season
At time of writing much of southern Australia and
southern & central Queensland remains in drought.
Much of the Territory received good rain in January
but follow up rain in February & March was well
below average in most areas. I am told that south of
Alice Springs is still in a very bad way.
Climate change and the water debate is on the radar for Cattle
Council and it is essential that we have a position on issues such
as water and the impact that the cattle industry has on the environment.
As everyone is aware Senator Heffernan will visit northern
Australia in the very near future as the government focus on the
more reliable rainfall and huge volumes of water in our northern
rivers. One can only wonder how the northern water can be diverted
to the southern catchments to assist the Murray/Darling system.
NLIS / BSE
The audit of the NLIS data base completed by Pricewaterhouse-
Coopers in December 2006 confirmed that Australia has a national
tracing system that is effective and of great importance to the industry.
The report also stated that documentation relating to livestock
disease & contamination incidents in the 1990’s indicates that
Australia would have lost access to a number of significant inter-
©istockphoto.com/Linda and Colin McKie
national markets had it not implemented a more effective livestock
tracing system. BSE in Canada and the US in 2003 led to a
ban on exports from those countries in many markets which increased
Australia’s market share from 38% to 70% in Asian markets.
I suppose that the key points are:
1. The review shows the system is effective
2. An ongoing focus on compliance marks the way forward for
the system from this point.
As we export 65% of our beef production it is important that
we have a traceback system that is working well.
Future funding & ownership of the NLIS is presently under consideration.
It could be either MLA, the Federal govt., Animal Health
Australia or Ausmeat.
With regard to a BSE detection in Australia the federal government
is still considering the “beef off the shelves” issue.
Late in 2006 Cattle Council passed the resolution that $1000.00
per head be paid to the owners of any cattle that were imported to
Australia from any country that had a history of BSE. It is known
where these cattle are in the country and any movements are recorded.
Having these cattle killed and tested for BSE would be an
enormous step forward for the industry. The issue of removing
specified risk material is currently being debated by industry &
government through Safemeat.
A detection of BSE in Australia would be disastrous but having
said that the chance of this occurring is very remote.
TB.
The TFAP 2 program wound up in December 2006 and any future
TB incidents will be managed by an Animal Health committee
with consultation with Cattle Council.
John Stewart & myself remain on the property program group.
The last TB case in cattle was in 1999 and buffalo in 2002. A final
report of the TB program, including financials, will be available in
March 2007.
General
The Five Nations Beef conference was hosted by Australia in October
2006 and I am told the visit went very well & the international
visitors were most impressed.
They visited central NSW. We tried to get them to the Territory
but the cost was too great.
Bill Bray, Mike Norton and David Inall visited Korea and Indonesia
in December 2006. It is good to see CCA spending considerable
time with the live cattle trade and also working on important
markets such as Korea. A visit to Russia is also on the drawing board.
The US is still battling to get back into the Korean & Jap markets
but market access will be slow. Food safety remains high on the
agenda for both these markets and the tactics presently being used
by the US don’t endear them to some of their customers. At present
the US is only exporting about 3% of its product.
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Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association Year in review 2006-2007