Identifying live animal condition scores suitable for the Australian livestock export industry.

Summary

Under the Australian Livestock Export Standards (2004), the livestock export sector requires simple and consistent methods for describing the condition of beef cattle, dairy cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, alpacas, camels and deer. The particular need is to improve the welfare of animals by identifying those that are too lean or too fat for export before they are exposed to welfare risks in the export chain. The Australian livestock industry uses a variety of formal and informal methods for describing the condition of animals. There are formal condition score description systems for most species but they are not uniform and not necessarily suitable for the live export trade. 
The official AUS-MEAT live cattle language for describing beef cattle does not describe condition specifically; it uses fat scores based only on subcutaneous fat depth. This facilitates trading links with the meat industry and is widely used for market reporting of live cattle, but does not adequately describe condition, especially in very lean cattle. A review was carried out to identify the systems used around the world and find the most appropriate systems for the Australian industry. A large number was discovered for dairy and beef cattle, but very few exist for most of the other species. Condition scores have been used extensively in beef and dairy cattle research, where detailed scoring systems have been developed, usually with 8 or 9 scores. Some even have additional half scores. Some of these systems are being used in Australian research and although they may be technically accurate for their purpose, the detail is quite unnecessary for the live export trade. 
All species have at least one simple system based on 5 condition scores and this is the simplest and most practical approach for the livestock export industry. It is easy to use by people such as exporters who may be working with a number of species, and fits directly into the Heat Stress risk assessment process required for shipments to the Middle East. For the cattle industry, it is evident that the existing AUS-MEAT live cattle description language based on carcase fat depth is not adequate for describing minimum condition, particularly in tropical breeds, but it is necessary to use these languages to retain compatibility with the rest of Australian livestock and meat sectors. It is proposed that for cattle, the appropriate cut-off points for live export be defined independently of the arbitrary scores, using photographs, diagrams and clear descriptions to support decisions at the extremes of the acceptable range.