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12.8 Economic costs of major causes of death
Our findings indicate that BRD mortalities in cattle alone are costing the industry more than 0.5 million per year and costs of all mortalities combined in cattle are about 1 million per
year.
We used estimates for morbidity rates and costs associated with BRD treatment and loss of market value that were drawn from recent Australian land-based feedlot studies to inform
assumptions about possible morbidity related costs for export cattle for BRD.
This allowed us to produce an estimate of the total economic impact of BRD on export cattle that included costs due to mortality as well as costs due to morbidity treatment costs and
losses in value in surviving animals. Our estimates indicate that the annual impact of BRD in the population of exported cattle is 1.4 million per year.
If this cost is divided by the total number of cattle exported, it produces a cost per animal exported of 1.63.
The cost per healthy animal loaded provides an economic break-even estimate for risk mitigation measures that are applied to the entire loaded cattle population to prevent the
disease of interest.
However, there are non-economic considerations that may influence a decision to apply a particular intervention, including for example, impacts on public perceptions about the
industry. Such intangible benefits can have major impacts on longer term industry sustainability and may justify industry expenditure on measures that exceed simple cost-
benefit measures.
If preventive measures can be targeted based on risk and applied to a limited and high-risk segment of the export population, then this may achieve much of the benefit reduction in
morbidity and mortality, while avoiding unnecessary costs, because costs are incurred only for some animals and not for all animals.
12.9 Veterinary handbook and related outputs
This project has delivered general improvements to systems and procedures that are being adopted and used by the industry for optimal animal health and welfare outcomes.
A project-specific handbook Veterinary Export Handbook - W.LIV.0252 was developed as a one-stop resource containing information on diseases in export cattle, how to investigate
disease, how to perform a necropsy and project specific requirements including standardised terminology for recording information about sick and dead cattle, and collection of samples
and images from necropsies. The handbook included information on equipment and care and the project invested in a standardised set of equipment that was placed aboard every
participating ship and maintainedreplenished every time that ship returned to Fremantle for the duration of the project. This handbook was only ever intended to serve as a resource for
the lifespan of the current project.
A training package was developed training materials, schedule, list of activities, assessment criteria and template certificates and delivered twice to ensure that all current AAVs and
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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
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