Lamb loading for live export begins

Press, 1 July 1986, Page 2

Lamb loading for live export begins

Timaru reporter The livestock carrier Mawashi Tabuk berthed at Timaru yesterday and will start loading 85,000 long-tail lambs for Saudi Arabia today. Mr David Grant, manager of the Rangitata feedlot where the sheep have been adapting to hard feed for the last week, said loading should begin by midday at the latest It was likely to be completed tomorrow or Thursday. This will be the third live sheep shipment of the Cambridge-based company, New Zealand Agricultural Exports, Ltd, to go through Timaru. The first shipment comprised 75,000 sheep, and the second 23,000. The company has already gained another contract with Saudi Livestock to supply 70,000 long-tail ram lambs for a religious festival. The sheep for this contract are likely to be transported to the Rangitata feedlot in the next fortnight.

Mr Grant said Agricultural Exports did not expect any feed problems in the latest shipment “The pellets have been improved and the first shipment problems overcome. On the last shipment the death rate was around 4.8 per cent and this was due to losses caused at the Napier end of the operation. “Everything possible has been done here for the health of the sheep but a lot depends on the weather."

The ship which started New Zealand’s latest excursions into the live sheep trade last December, the Merino Express, remains berthed at Timaru.

Early in May, Animal Enterprises, Ltd, withdrew an application to send a third shipload of sheep to Mexico and virtually since then the Merino Express has been forced to remain in Timaru while the company seeks other contracts.