Cattle in Australia

The cattle industry in Australia

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In 1998 there were just over 26.7 million cattle in Australia. Around 3 million of these were dairy cows, the rest raised for beef ( 1 ). The largest numbers are found in Queensland, followed by NSW and Victoria ( 1 ).

Beef cattle are kept across Australia, including across the top end and into the arid inland areas. Because the vegetation is sparse, the cattle are spread over large areas and productivity is low. As researchers in the Kimberley region of northern WA explain:

" Factors contributing to low turnoff rates include the long dry period when only low quality forage is available, mean maximum temperatures of 35-45C over the summer wet season, external parasites (Boophilus microplus), and dingo predation. The vast areas involved mean that cattle receive little management attention " ( 2 ).

Farmers claim that death rates among cattle under these conditions are low. However, Department of Primary Industry officers estimate that 10% of cows a year die in the Alice Springs area ( 3 ). They probably die of calving problems and nutritional stress while feeding a calf. The DPI officers consider that graziers regularly underestimate death rates.

Death rates among female cattle in the Kimberley region of northern WA are thought to be even higher. One study estimated that 14%-18% die each year, although when the weather is particularly harsh it can be up to 50% on some properties. Death rates are based on estimates because, as the researchers comment: " Even today many pastoralists do not know the exact number or location of their cattle. " ( 4 )

Cattle are also kept in milder climates, often in conjunction with sheep and crops. They are often grazed on improved pastures and bred for large size. The result is increasing numbers of heifers with calving difficulties. An average of 20% require calving assistance, and it may be as high as 50%. Some calves and heifers die in the process ( 5-6 ).

Many cattle have slow release hormonal implants punched into their ear to make them grow faster. Oestradiol is the most commonly used hormone, but sometimes progesterone or testosterone are also used ( 7 ). The European Union has banned the use of growth promotants.

Increasingly cattle from pasture are trucked to feedlots to be fattened before they are slaughtered. Most feedlots are in Queensland and NSW. See Cattle in Feedlots for more information.

Dairy cattle are kept in the more fertile areas of the country. Around 60% of milk production comes from Victoria ( 8 ). See Dairy Cattle for more information.

Surgery without pain killers

Cattle suffer a variety of extremely painful procedures that would illegal if done on domestic animals. These include hot iron branding, castration and spaying without anaesthetic, and dehorning.

Branding

Many cattle, especially in the more isolated areas, are still branded for identification. In Queensland and the Northern Territory, the law requires graziers to brand cattle.

A red hot iron is placed on the animal's skin for several seconds to produce a permanent burn scar. Anyone who has ever been burned will know how painful it is.

Some studies have compared the pain caused by hot iron branding versus freeze branding. Firstly, catching and restraining calves for branding is itself extremely stressful, as shown by sharp increases in the stress hormone cortisol ( 9-10 ). Hot iron branding leads to higher levels of epinephrine in the blood and more intense escape behaviour than freeze branding.
" Hot iron branded calves immediately lurched away from the iron repeatedly, occasionally falling to their knees. Freeze branded calves did not react to the iron for approximately the first 8s, after which they displayed reactions similar to those displayed by H calves " ( 9 ).

Freeze branded calves had higher levels of cortisol after 15 and 20 minutes than hot iron branded calves, suggesting that the pain of freeze branding is more prolonged but not as intense as hot iron branding ( 10 ).

Less painful alternatives to fire branding for permanent identification include:

Desexing

Females

In northern Australia in particular, where fences are poor and there may be feral bulls, graziers remove the ovaries of female cattle to stop them becoming pregnant. The cows that are spayed are ones due to be sold off for slaughter, and graziers believe that spayed cows will gain more weight and be fatter.

In the case of cats and dogs, only a qualified vet may carry out the spaying operation, and it will be done under anaesthetic. In the case of cattle, it may be done without anaesthetic, and by a person who is not a vet. An exception is in NSW, where spaying must be done by a vet using anaesthetic.

Most commonly a cut is made in the flank of the cow, and the operator inserts his hand through the cut to remove the ovaries. The pain of this abdominal surgery without any pain relief is hard to imagine. Some cows die. " ... mortality can exceed 5% even with good operators. The trauma experienced by the animal also results in a physical setback and 2-3 months growth can be lost " ( 11 ).

Ironically a study of entire and spayed cows found that it was the entire animals that gained more weight and were heavier at the end of the trial ( 12 ). Considering the cost of mustering and spaying, and the reduced market price for spayed cows, it would make more economic sense to leave the cows unmutilated, and to prevent pregnancy by better bull management. Apart from the pain involved, the researchers concluded: " Possible reduced growth performance due to morbidity resulting from complications, mortalities and reduced market acceptance must be considered when flank spaying " ( 12 ).

Males

Young males are castrated either by cutting open the scrotum with a knife and removing the testes, or by placing a tight rubber ring around the top of the scrotum so that it withers and falls off. Calves struggle violently and kick their back legs during surgical castration, showing how painful it is. They can bleed for several hours ( 13 ). Calves castrated with rings are restless and stamp their feet, again indicating pain ( 14 ). Both methods produce increased stress hormone (cortisol) in the blood-the level after surgical castration is higher than after castration with rings ( 14-15 ).

Castration is more painful for older calves ( 15 ). This is particularly a problem in the "pastoral" zone, where cattle are infrequently mustered. Young males may already be many months old when they are castrated, and experience even more pain as a result.

A much more humane alternative to spaying and castration is chemical neutering. The CSIRO has produced a vaccine called Vaxstrate which immunises both males and females against one of their own reproductive hormones so that they do not become sexually active. Vaxstrate is now commercially available ( 13 ).

Dehorning

Some breeds of cattle have horns, which are often removed to reduce bruising during transport. Dairy cattle are regularly dehorned.

The horn may seem like dead tissue, but it is in fact an extension of the skull and contains many nerves and blood vessels. Cutting the horn causes pain and profuse bleeding. The wound can become infected and attract flies.

Anaesthetics and analgesics can reduce the pain of dehorning, but a better alternative is to breed cattle that don't have horns.

Transport and slaughter

More than one third of Australia's slaughterhouses closed in the 15 years to 1989, which means cattle are being transported longer distances ( 16 ). Animals from the inland "pastoral" zone in particular make long journeys. As an example, it is 1500km from Alice Springs to Adelaide.

Transport for these semi-feral cattle is particularly stressful for other reasons as well. They may be mustered with aircraft in rough terrain. They have had very little contact with humans and dogs. All cattle are stressed by being mixed with unfamiliar animals, by being crowded into trucks for up to 48 hours, being without food and water, and by the discomfort of travelling, including rough roads, dust, noise, stopping and starting the truck ( 16 ).

According to the Code of Practice for Land Transport of Cattle, adult cattle must be given water at least once every 12 hours, and food at least once every 24 hours.

Cattle may be transported continuously for 36 hours before being rested for 12-24 hours. However, a journey can continue on uninterrupted for 48 hours if in that time the truck arrives at its destination.

This is a very long time for cattle to be standing in a truck, trying to keep their balance as the vehicle corners and brakes. One study found that even after 24 hours, cattle were fatigued and lay down in holding pens, in spite of being in strange surrounding among unfamiliar cattle ( 17 ). Another study found that cattle were fatigued after travelling for 15 hours. There were biochemical signs (levels of creatine phospho-kinase and lactate) that this travel time was physically tiring ( 18 ).

Bruising is a major problem in transport, not just because it spoils meat, but because it hurts cattle. Another sign of stress is "dark cutting beef", when through exertion or stress the cattle deplete their muscle glycogen, increasing the pH and making the muscle look darker ( 19 ).

At the slaughterhouse, cattle are stunned either with electrical tongs that pass a current between the ears, or with a captive bolt pistol that knocks them unconscious. They then bleed to death when their throat is cut.

Mad cow disease

The scientific name for mad cow disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). It was first discovered in the UK in 1986, but has now been found in many other countries. By 1995 over 150,000 cattle had been diagnosed in the UK alone.

BSE causes a degeneration of the nervous system. Affected cattle have great difficulty walking and coordinating their muscles, they become nervous, lose weight and eventually die. Autopsies show masses of tiny holes in the brain ( 20 ).

The disease is caused by prions, faulty proteins which have the wrong shape and distort the shape of normal proteins in brain and nerve cells. Unlike bacteria, prions are not destroyed by heat.

Cattle were infected by being fed the remains of sheep infected with scrapie, a disease similar to BSE. To get a cheap source of protein to increase growth, animal producers add meat meal from slaughterhouse by-products to feeds, even for vegetarian animals such as cattle. These by-products include bits of carcasses such as head, organs, foetuses, and so on.

Several humans in the UK have died of a new form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease probably caused by eating products from cattle with BSE. Fortunately there is no sign of BSE in Australia, but meat meal from slaughterhouse by-products is added to animal feeds in Australia as in other parts of the world.

Another cheap material fed to feedlot cattle is chicken litter. The litter is cleared out of sheds after thousands of chickens have deposited their droppings in it for 6-7 weeks. The Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cattle allows chicken litter in feed, as long as it is stored and treated properly and doesn't contain dead birds.

In 1990, 5500 cattle on 2 Queensland feedlots died of botulism after eating poorly treated chicken litter. The use of chicken litter is now banned in Queensland. Elsewhere it is still allowed.

Cattle and greenhouse gases

There is great concern that CO2 and other gases are accumulating in the atmosphere and trapping more of the sun's heat, leading to global warming. The cattle industry produces greenhouse gases in two ways.

In South America, vast stretches of Amazon forest have been cleared and burned to make way for cattle ranches. This releases CO2 into the atmosphere. Land is still being cleared in Australia, especially in Queensland, for cattle grazing.

Methane is another greenhouse gas. It currently contributes about 18% to global warming, but may become more important in future because it traps 25 times more heat than the CO2 molecule. Cattle produce methane in their excrement and flatulence, both of which they emit in large quantities. They contribute 60 of the 500 million tons of methane released into the atmosphere per year ( 21 ).

A vegetarian diet avoids cruelty and reduces environmental problems. See Vegetarianism - the cruelty-free diet for more information.

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