Page 15 of 201
9. Develop a robust, sustainable system for monitoring of health in export animals, incorporating feedback from industry stakeholders from the pilot study, that is
capable of being integrated with routine management procedures and that can provide valid and credible descriptions of causes of death, supported by laboratory
examination of samples by veterinary pathologists.
Stage 3: Collection of data on 24 months of voyages
10. Apply the cattle export health monitoring system to two years of voyages.
Stage 4: Extension of project to incorporate farm to feedlot
3
11. Describe management of cattle in the assembly feedlots and describe patterns of morbidity and mortality in cattle during the feedlot phase.
12. Describe the prevalence of shedding of specific BRD pathogens by cattle in the assembly feedlot and on-farm and investigate factors that may influence pathogen
prevalence. 13. Compare findings from assembly feedlot and on-farm investigations with findings
from disease investigations performed during export voyages.
3 Methodology
3.1 Stage 1
All of the objectives under Stage 1 were addressed at the same time in the first few months of the project. Initial project team meetings were used to discuss the objectives and develop
tasks and activities which were then assigned to various members of the project team. In some cases separate component reports were completed and in other cases information
arising from completion of component tasks was fed into other outputs.
The project team met once or twice yearly and there were regular meetings involving project team members and industry stakeholders primarily AAVs and exporters. Additional
communication was conducted through phone calls and emails.
The Veterinary Export Handbook W.LIV.0252 Objective 1 was written by the project team and reviewed by a number of veterinarians with live export experience and by additional
individuals with veterinary pathology expertise and large animal internal medicine expertise.
During the course of the project the Veterinary Export Handbook W.LIV.0252 was reviewed and edited on a number of occasions in response to industry feedback.
Data requirements for collecting information on healthy, sick and dead cattle Objective 2 were developed in discussion between project team members and AAVs and exporters, as
part of the work leading to development of the Veterinary Export Handbook W.LIV.0252. This included the development of template paper forms intended to be provided for AAVs to
be filled in during the voyage as a means of collecting standardised information about sick
3
Stage 4 objectives were added to the project in an extension in late 2011 to include the farm to feedlot phase of live export.
Page 16 of 201
and dead cattle. The forms and their application and use were described in the Veterinary Export Handbook W.LIV.0252.
A review was conducted of the job descriptions for AAVs Objective 4 including expectations and obligations placed on their performance by the relevant government
regulatory body AQIS and by exporters who are responsible for employing the AAVs. This activity included discussions with AAVs and exporters and review of example letters of
agreement or contracts between exporters employers and veterinarians contracted as AAVs.
A training needs analysis Objective 5 was conducted to understand the training needs for accredited veterinarians and stockpersons who may be participating in disease
investigations on board export voyages as part of this project.
A variety of options were considered for collection and management of data as part of the project Objective 6 in discussion between project team members and industry
stakeholders. This information in turn contributed to the development of the systems and procedures described in the Veterinary Export Handbook W.LIV.0252.
An agricultural economist member of the project team was engaged to provide advice on approaches to incorporate economic assessments of impacts of mortality and possible
benefits of reducing mortality risk to the industry Objective 7.
3.2 Stage 2 – Pilot voyages
