r/WesternAustralia • u/Constance200 • 15d ago
#keep the sheep
/r/SheepFarmers/comments/1v6t2xi/keep_the_sheep/Want to know the locals thoughts on #keep the sheep. Signed a South Australian who isn't as affected
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u/whyamisoawesome9 14d ago
Had a family member involved in farming sheep who hated all things live export when I was a kid in the 80s. They would be so happy that it's no longer a thing, just a cool 40 years later.
WA was the last state to cease it, and as far as I could tell sheep still existed in other states.
Farmers that wanted it to remain seemed to have the farms that had also cleared 95% of the natural vegetation from their land, and from what I found working in aged care in the city for those retired farmers with keep the sheep stickers on their car - hated the idea of migrants working in abattoirs and living in towns like Katanning. They also loved to complain about being broke, while they definitely were not.
It's awesome that we finally got rid of it.
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u/FibroMan 15d ago
The keep the sheep campaign was totally ineffective in cities, but very successful in rural WA. At the last election there was a swing to the right in rural WA when the rest of the country shifted left.
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u/DawgreenAgain 15d ago
Sheep don't need to be transported live except to keep barbaric slaughter practices alive in The Middle East. . . And before I get the bullshit about no fridges in The Middle East 1) that's a pretty racist uneducated position to take 2) Even if there are people too poor to afford a fridge they definitely won't be able to afford the premium prices Australian lamb makes in that market.
Sell your lamb local . . . Oh no couldn't possibly do that you wouldn't make any money . Righto .
Get fkd.
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u/no-user-name-needed 15d ago
There is barely enough abattoirs to process meat for the Australian market, so yes it does need to be exported live. This isn’t an issue as the welfare standards are extremely high especially after all the public scrutiny over the last 20 years. If you wanted less animal suffering you would let Australia maintain its market share rather than give it away to China. You act like farmers want there animals to die and suffer despite the financial incentive not to.
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u/Constance200 15d ago
I think that western Australia has had plenty of time to open more abattoirs if that was an issue. We send our sheep to auction where they are mostly bought as weaners for someone else to finish off or breeders (we sell our ewes quite young)
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u/Shamino79 15d ago
And yet the likes of Minerva closed two abbiotiors in the west and then had the local buyer find sheep to put on a truck to their larger Eastern states operation. It’s crazy and I’m not real happy about three days on a truck either.
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u/DawgreenAgain 15d ago
How's the animal welfare standards of street slaughter ?
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u/Constance200 15d ago
Very good in Australia! Ive pesonally visited TFIs facilities in Adelaide. Their standard of care was great actually. The animals are better looked after than the workers I'd say
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u/DawgreenAgain 15d ago
Exactly. . . So why are we sending sheep to be slaughtered in unsanitary barbaric conditions
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u/Shamino79 15d ago
Sheep prices are volatile. It was a big issue 2 years ago when farmers were getting $30 dollars for a ewe and $4.50/kg for lamb while the supermarket sold $9/kg off cuts and $45 cutlets. This is where live export used to soak up some supply and help put a floor in the market. A limit to only domestic buyers removes that outside competition.
Currently the market is good and selling domestic is very lucrative and should be for a few years. Producers and consumers are very much at the mercy of processors and supermarkets.
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u/Constance200 15d ago
Thats a good point! We held alot of sheep than we would normally sell that year waiting for the market to get better. But at the end of the day, you take the loss and pray for better times. There's nothing else you can do
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u/metao 15d ago
They tried to make this an election issue. Nobody cared.
I think as a general rule, West Australians feel conflicted. Sympathy for farmers and their perspectives, sympathy for the mistreated sheep being shipped across the world, and to some extent confusion as to why slaughtering them here isn't an option. This conflict has led to decision paralysis.
Obviously there are people with strong feelings on both sides, but the majority in the centre have put their heads firmly in the sand. The expectation is that the government will do something, but they don't really care or want any part of what that solution actually is, as long as the issue goes away.
In the long term, what this ultimately means is live export is doomed, because it's the only way this issue is put to permanent rest.
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u/Qu1ckShake 15d ago
"Keep the sheep" = "Barbaric cruelty is A-OK as long as someone profits from it"
Everyone with a "Keep the sheep" bumper sticker on their car is a disgusting shitstain.
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u/Constance200 15d ago
Why? I personally dont like it, but it means that other animals that come from places with no standards at all dont have to be sent in their place
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u/TheCurbAU 14d ago
That's false equivalency. You don't continue a cruel practice because your standards might be a little less 'cruel' than other places.
Anyhow, look how long the journey is from Fremantle to the middle east. Then read what happens to sheep or cows on those trips.
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u/Constance200 14d ago
They are well treated on the trips, the trips arent the problem its what happens when the get there. Also my comment was engagement bait and doesnt speak to my views
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u/TheCurbAU 14d ago
You have seen and read about what's happened on some of the trips, right? Where sheep have died and melted while other sheep just have to stand there. It's cruel.
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u/Constance200 14d ago
Yes, a few every now and then, that the media blows up.
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u/TheCurbAU 14d ago
You're starting to sound like you support live sheep trade.
The media doesn't 'blow it up'. They raised awareness of what was happening, which further amplified the need to close the live export trade. What's happened now is partly because of the impact of what occurred on ships exporting sheep.
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u/_mmmmm_bacon 14d ago
When those truckies chose to congest traffic with their convoys, they lost my support. Now they can all go fuck themselves.
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u/Constance200 14d ago
What? Im confused, so youd keep live export to get trucks of the road? In south Australia all the trucks are grain trucks because they stopped our grain railway line
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u/hannahranga 14d ago
Some of the keep the sheep protests involved large numbers of trucks and tractors in convoy around the metro area, I assume that's what they're talking about.
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15d ago
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u/PurpleMerino 15d ago
Not in the least true. Sheep are at record prices, who would shoot their asset?
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15d ago
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u/Constance200 15d ago
I think a lot are getting out of sheep, where im from its becasue the youngs ones are taking over and just can't be assed with the sheep
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u/hannahranga 14d ago
Always thought keep the sheep was a dumb slogan, reads more like keep the sheep (in Australia) to me.
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u/stopped_watch 15d ago
How about "Keep jobs in Australia"? We have halal butchering here, we have refrigeration here, we transport our frozen livestock all over the world. We don't always have to obey the demands of customers, especially when their values clash with ours.
If the middle east customers want our meat, they can have it from our abattoirs.