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Transporting compromised cattle
- Compromised cattle include those which are nutritionally deficient and in weak condition (e.g. drought affected animals) or have been compromised from extreme events such as bushfires and floods.
- Develop and implement appropriate pre-journey management and journey plans with the transport operator. Consider the condition of animals, breed, height, location, weather, distance and geography of journey. These will all contribute to their capacity to travel.
- Consider if animals are in distress or if they are they moving freely and comfortably.
- BCS 2 should be the cut-off threshold.
- Animals must be fit to load – if in doubt leave them out.
- If the animal is not fit to load, you must:
- Treat the animal and reassess, then once recovered and fit to load, the animal can be transported, or
- Consult a vet and then transport under veterinary certification and provide bedding when transporting these animals. In this case, it’s best to pen these animals (as much as practicable) in the bottom deck, back pen of the truck, to enable easier access if there are complications or difficulties, or
- Euthanise the animal on farm.
