The past few years have seen a steady rise in cattle and sheep numbers shipped across Bass Strait, due mainly the drought conditions of the wider spread rural community.
The sheep numbers going to the western Victoria area for slaughter have risen, several thousand sheep from all over Tasmania have been transported.
Also store lambs to northern Victoria have been sourced from Tasmania but numbers have been steady. Fat lambs are also sourced from Tasmania this traditionally is a big part of our business. has developed a livestock transit facility on both sides of Bass Strait in close proximity to the ports so as to be able to make the trip across the water in the shortest time possible, a factor critical in some classes of livestock e.g. Dairy cows or Pigs, allowing access to feed and water within as little as 16 hours from the start to the end of the journey. These facilities include, stock yards with state of the art loading ramps, sheltered areas, paddocks for longer term spelling, as well as hay stores for supplementary feeding, and wash down facilities for cleaning our stock crates. Careful liaison with the shipping companies as to prevailing conditions on Bass Strait is made as early as 6 a.m. on the day of sailing at the destination port.
 Pis also in constant contact with the local Primary Industry departments on both sides of the Strait to ensure all aspects are taken into account when animal welfare is being discussed. We are always in discussion with clients as to the correct preparation of livestock before shipment across Bass Strait. The procedures are documented and sent to farmers to assist in the correct preparation e.g. for cattle they must be curfewed off green feed for 24 hours prior to shipment and must be given Hay or similar dry feed to allow the animals a consolidation of stomach and bowel contents so they can have energy for travel and to mitigate the manure content deposited in the pen they are standing for up to 24 hours, remember cattle have 4 stomachs and can hold large amounts of green feed.
The ever increasing need for Animal Welfare in light of continued public scrutiny of our industry is something we do not take lightly and we will always strive to improve the overall standard of livestock transport.
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