Live shipment of ewes for South America

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 2

Live shipment of ewes for South America

PA Napier A live sheep shipment of 9600 ewes for breeding was successfully loaded at the Port of Napier yesterday. The sheep, mainly twotooth Romneys, will go to the Andes Mountains at an altitude of several thousand feet, where temperatures range from 16deg. to 25deg. Some pedigree sheep have also been sent — polled Dorset, Hampshire, Coopworth, and Border Leicester.

The ship transporting the sheep, the Adele, was used by Animal Enterprises for a previous shipment of 9000 sheep to Peru from the Port of Timaru. The marketing executive of Animal Enterprises, Mr Brett Tawse, said the death rate was very low, at 0.02 per cent, on the previous voyage. He believed 3 per cent was an acceptable level. Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman, Mr Bruce Anderson, has

hit out at animal welfare organisations’ criticism of live sheep exports, saying it is based on biased and misleading information. Mr Anderson was commenting on statements by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals made at the recent Oceania conference in Australia. “I find it quite extraordinary that these people can pass themselves off as experts on live sheep exporting when they have absolutely no practical experience,” he said.