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many other interested parties received information on the systems and procedures outlined in the handbook.
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The package can be used as a resource for future training courses delivered for veterinarians andor stockpersons. The project has also produced a professionally filmed
and edited training DVD, that provides step-by-step instruction in how to perform a comprehensive necropsy, as well as a variety of additional relevant topics including personal
safety and biosecurity and management of necropsy equipment. This DVD has been widely acclaimed and is sought after by a wide variety of groups large animal veterinarians,
veterinary schools and other groups as a training resource.
During the course of this project, the project specific handbook concept was revisited and a generic Veterinary handbook for the live export industry was produced. This handbook
includes information about general management and common diseases in export livestock beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep and goats and was intended to act as a general resource for
all personnel involved in livestock export. In 2014 this resource was released as an app for downloading onto Apple or Android devices smartphones, tablets, computers.
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12.10 Veterinarians and stockpersons
Veterinarians AAVs and stockpersons have responsibilities described in legislation and associated regulations. The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture may require an AAV
to accompany any export voyage as part of the AEP, but at the time this report was completed AAVs mainly accompany long-haul voyages. Where voyages are not
accompanied by an AAV, the reporting obligations under regulations fall in part to the senior stockperson.
As described in Shiell, Perkins and Hewitt
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Section 6.5.1.2, there are occasions where short-haul voyages unaccompanied by an AAV have a reportable mortality event and these
sorts of events have led to discussion of the pros and cons of requiring an AAV to accompany every export voyage.
There are several issues associated with the question of whether an AAV should be present on every livestock export voyage.
Having a veterinarian on board has specific benefits associated with veterinary skills i.e. diagnosis and appropriate treatment of conditions occurring during the voyage, and
implementation of preventive strategies during the voyage to minimise risks of the same conditions occurring in other animals on the same ship.
However, there are understood to be relatively few veterinarians performing export voyage work and there may be difficulties in obtaining veterinary personnel, if there was a
requirement for an AAV on every voyage.
While there may be genuine advantages associated with having a registered veterinarian on board, current practices already have experienced stockpersons performing these roles on
voyages where veterinarians are not present.
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Perkins, Jubb, and OHara 2012
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http:www.veterinaryhandbook.com.au
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Shiell, Perkins, and Hewitt 2014
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We believe that there are benefits from providing senior stockpersons with similar training and resource material to that provided to AAVs. In particular, this relates to material
describing common conditions occurring in export livestock, managing livestock during export and in procedures such as performing post mortems to determine cause of death and
even where appropriate collection of standardised samples for return to Australia where specialist pathologists may confirm the cause of death accepting that importing samples
back into Australia is unlikely to be a routine occurrence because of quarantine restrictions.
On voyages where there is an AAV present, the AAV would reasonably have primary responsibility for decisions concerning animal health, welfare, treatments and diagnosis of
conditions including by necropsy. However, suitably trained and experienced stockpersons may be able to provide considerable assistance to AAVs under these situations, including
assisting in necropsy procedures. Our experience in the current study was that some AAVs utilised stockpersons very effectively to assist in making observations on animals and also to
assist in conducting necropsies.
The focus of training and involvement of stockpersons would be to support development of skills and capacity to diagnose and manage the major causes of illness and mortality on
board export voyages. This is intended to complement and strengthen provision of veterinary care for animals in situations where there is an AAV present and where there is not an AAV
present on a voyage.
12.11 Online systems development
