Angus Dominate Australia's Largest Russian Shipment

AUSTRALIA - Angus dominated the 6150 head of beef cattle in the biggest single shipment of Australian cattle ever to Russia which arrive in Novorossysk on 13 April.

12 April 2010

2 minute read

Oceania

The 7150 head on the MV Ocean Drover comprised 2800 maiden Angus heifers by registered Angus bulls, 3000 Angus feeder steers, 40 registered Angus bulls, 1000 dairy heifers and only 310 head of other beef breeds.

Wellard Rural Exports sourced most of the cattle from Western Australia and only needed to find 800 head from Victoria but a spokesman for the West Australian based Wellards indicated they will most probably need to look beyond that state to source numbers in future.

“We hope and expect this will be the first of a number of shipments to Russia,” said Wellard Rural Exports general manager of livestock trading Garry Robinson.

“There is a lot of potential for breeding stock from a lot of places in addition to Russia and we see overseas demand for breeding stock as a significant area of growth for Australia over the next few years with Russia, Turkey and other eastern European countries leading the way.

“There is an internal push from the Russian authorities that Russians should be producing and eating Russian beef and they are looking to Australia to supply breeding and feeder cattle and they appear to have a preference for Angus,” he said.

The MV Ocean Drover provided up to twice the space per animal as normally available on a ship and another livestock transport vessel is due to be delivered later this year that will also suit the long haul trips to Russia and Turkey.

The Angus were all inspected and approved by a qualified assessor and the heifers and bulls carried documentation as to their genetic backgrounds.

With this market likely to grow in the future, Mr. Robinson urged breeders who wished to take advantage of this increased demand to maintain good herd records so the genetic lines can be traced and to use only registered Angus bulls so their cattle qualify for export.

Three Russian veterinarians were also on hand to oversee the operation and were most impressed with the export standards the cattle were required to meet and the overall quality of the cattle.

Speaking through a translator, the Russians indicated they were most satisfied with the health and quarantine standards and indicated it was not easy to find good cattle, like the Australian Angus, in other countries.

“We are looking forward to sourcing more breeder and feeder Angus from Australia in the future,” said the Russians.