The Livestock Collective’s Holly Ludeman rubbishes claims about WA’s industry welfare standards

After spending countless hours aboard live export ships transporting thousands of sheep to the Middle East, livestock veterinarian and animal welfare compliance officer Holly Ludeman says the industry has nothing to hide. The Perth-based vet has spent the past five years showcasing the nation’s live sheep trade through not-for-profit The Livestock Collective — harnessing the power of communication and imagery to lift the lid on the industry she has worked in for nearly a decade. Dr Ludeman was right in the thick of things when WA’s live export industry was brought to its knees when footage of more than 2000 sheep dying of heat stress aboard the Awassi Express aired in 2017, having spent most of her career in the live export industry. Within 12 months, live export was completely stopped at certain times of year, WA’s biggest live sheep exporter Emanuel Exports had its licence suspended, and the industry was subject to severe public scrutiny. In conjunction with farmers and other industry representatives, she launched The Livestock Collective in 2018 as a way to try and change the hearts and minds of Australians regarding live exports by engaging with the public in an open and transparent way. She says the industry “isn’t the same industry” as when Labor first committed to ending the live sheep export trade in 2018, ahead of the 2019 Federal election it lost. She pointed to a raft of reforms, including reduced stocking densities, heat stress monitors, independent observers aboard vessels, increased veterinary checks and better ventilation — that have led to remarkable improvements in animal welfare outcomes. “And that should be considered… for an industry has done absolutely everything asked of it and to still have government intervention is not sensible policy,” Dr Ludeman said. “As a vet, having worked in industry and having seen all of the improvements... I know for certain the industry has taken on feedback, research and drastically improved. “It is setting world standards and national standards on how animals are managed.” Since its inception, The Livestock Collective has held dozens of vessel tours at Fremantle Port and showcased the stories of dozens of people involved with the industry across the supply chain. It last year launched virtual tours of a livestock carriers in a bid to highlight recent improvements to animal welfare, in conjunction with research body LiveCorp and has set about showcasing how the trade has changed. The far-reaching improvements have seen the average sheep mortality rate aboard livestock carriers drop from 0.8 per cent in 2016 to just 0.21 per cent in 2021. To put it in context, 0.21 per cent equates to 105 deaths out of a total consignment of 50,000 sheep. On a 23-day voyage to the Gulf in May 2021, just 60 sheep died out of a 53,624 head consignment — a mortality rate of 0.11 per cent. While the RSPCA claimed the figure proved the trade was a “disaster-plagued and unfixable practice”, the Australian Livestock Exporters Council was quick to point out that it represented “the lowest mortality rate recorded on a sheep voyage ever”. According to the on-board veterinarian, the deaths were “unlikely to be linked to any systemic failure by the exporter”. WA’s live sheep export industry holds grave concerns its industry-leading methods of transporting sheep will simply be replaced in the market by countries with poorer animal welfare standards. In June last year, nearly 16,000 sheep drowned when a rickety livestock carrier bound for Saudi Arabia from Sudan sank in the Red Sea port of Suakin. It is these same markets Australia’s Gulf trading partners would increasingly look to for supply should Australia’s live sheep trade be shut down. Closer to home, Dr Ludeman said moves to ban the trade would be devastating, with more than 3000 people employed across the supply chain in WA. “This is about shearers, truck drivers, stock people, importers and exporters... and a range of other people across the supply chain,” she said. “There has been a lot of uncertainty in the supply chain created by a policy that isn’t recognising the industry that it is now … the industry has done everything asked of it and more. “There are hundreds of people involved in shipments across all parts of the supply chain, it is a highly professional operation still being tarnished by an outdated reputation. “The supply chain is now more engaged and open than it ever has been.”