2.88 w liv 0284 review of asel scoping study.

Page 103 of 136 Earlier studies suggested that there may have been inadequate statistical power to identify explanatory factors Norris et al., 1989b. A subsequent study reported spatial clustering with farms associated with higher mortality risk coming from the south-east region of Western Australia - an area of higher rainfall and longer pasture growing seasons, compared with the more extensive pastoral areas to the north and east of Perth Higgs et al., 1999. When these findings are interpreted in association with maps of Australian sheep production zones, it appears reasonable to infer that pastoral sheep may have a lower mortality risk than non-pastoral sheep. This issue was a major motivation behind the development of the LIVE.123 study which was initiated to provide information on causes of death in live export sheep, to identify factors contributing to the risk of death, and to determine if the risk of mortality for pastoral and “distance” sheep and lambs during the May to October period was higher than that for other classes of sheep. The LIVE.123 study was able to document an elevated mortality risk for pastoral sheep in the period from May to October. This was particularly the case for sheep originating from the Broken Hill region of New South Wales and from Queensland, regardless of whether they were held over in Victoria before preparation in the assembly feedlot Makin et al., 2009. Sheep sourced from the far west of NSW had the highest mortality with sheep from the former RLPB districts of Milparinka, Broken Hill, Wanaaring and Wilcannia having the highest mortality. The following table summarises the performance of the NSW pastoral sheep by district Makin, 2010. There were four lines of sheep in the final dataset that were received as pastoral sheep for the purposes of the trial but their property identification code was not recorded. Table 6.5: Mortality for NSW pastoral sheep. The table shows district of origin, number of lines from each district, total number of sheep, mortality count and mortality and 95 CI Makin, 2010. 95 CI Former RLPB District Number of lines Sheep Mortality Count Mortality Lower Upper Balranald 5 1,826 9 0.49 0.26 0.93 Bourke 2 1,235 15 1.21 0.74 1.99 Broken Hill 17 6,236 328 5.26 4.73 5.84 Hillston 7 4,839 14 0.29 0.17 0.49 Milparinka 5 4,127 328 7.95 7.16 8.81 Wanaaring 8 4,693 152 3.24 2.77 3.78 Wentworth 2 605 0 0.00 0.00 0.63 Wilcannia 20 11,180 215 1.92 1.68 2.19 Total 66 34,741 1061

3.05 2.88

3.24 Page 104 of 136 The above table is suggestive of the potential for different mortality risk for sheep raised within New South Wales, in that sheep from the southern districts Balranald, Hillston, Wentworth may have different risks compared with sheep raised in districts that are further north or west. This raises the question of whether the use of a broad classification system such as the sheep production zones to determine whether sheep may or may not be prepared for export, may be discriminatory and subject some sheep to unfair exclusion from export. There appears to be little research further investigating associations between pastoral sheep in Western Australia and South Australia and the risk of morbidity and mortality during export. Several studies have now documented what appears to be an association between lines of sheep and mortality risk that suggests that some properties or areas may have characteristics that result in repeatedly higher risk of mortality Norris et al., 1989a, Higgs et al., 1999, Makin et al., 2009. There is also evidence that the term pastoral sheep may include some geographic areas associated with higher mortality risk and other geographic areas that are not associated with higher mortality risk Makin, 2010. There is an opportunity as traceability improves in the sheep export supply chain in association with ESCAS, to conduct research to develop methods for tracking mortality risk to line of origin on routine export voyages. This information could be used to identify properties with high and low mortality risk and to better understand the driving factors that may influence this risk as well as providing a direct opportunity to act on this information by avoiding sheep from properties or areas with demonstrated higher mortality risk. There is a need to conduct additional research to investigate the broader issue of classifying sheep based on origin pastoral or otherwise and using this classification to define suitability for the export supply chain. The term pastoral sheep appears to be a broad and relatively non-specific classification.

6.7 Paddock vs