W.MPG.2001 - MENA innovative Environmental Monitoring

Summary

Addressing heat stress concerns in exported Australian livestock is the number one animal welfare priority for the MENA region. Shipping prohibitions in place from June to September prevent Australian sheep being exported to MENA during summer, however this incentivises stockpiling of sheep prior to the hiatus.

This project has automated environmental data collection giving importers the ability to utilise this data to inform management decisions and to demonstrate the performance of their facilities.

Previously data collection was heavily reliant on human intervention and this required automation. In some cases no data was being collected.

Objectives

The aim of this commercial trial is to assess whether the environmental monitoring process can be improved by utilising automated monitoring and feedback systems to improve the way data is collected and to map hot spots within the supply chain.
Key outcomes include:

• Collect environmental data at all main Middle Eastern feedlots to support heat stress risk mitigation strategies and improve animal welfare outcomes.
• Where hotspots in the supply chain exist, importer management takes action to address these.
• Determine whether there is value for industry to use real-time monitoring loggers.
• Establish ongoing data collection practices to inform industry decision making.

Key findings

Data from loggers was utilised to inform the heat risk mitigation strategies in the Middle East.

Whilst there was not widescale adoption of these loggers, it provided facility-specific data to supply chain participants where there was none previously, having real time access to the data was not fully utilised by the participants.
Limitations with the loggers meant that to provide wet bulb temperatures (a definitive measure for heat stress) manual calculations were required, slowing the process and reducing some of the value.

Charging of the loggers every few months also proved a barrier to longer term adoption.

Benefits to industry

Tested commercial technology with supply chains to expose them to possibilities of how they can manage their stock over the summer periods in MENA.

Access to data not previously recorded on scale which has informed their heat risk mitigation strategies.

Reduces overall animal welfare risks for the live export trade.

MLA action

MLA continued to hold discussions with key accounts about heat stress risks and the data that was collected.

Future research

No future research required, there are existing technologies available and this pilot project was to demonstrate their value to key accounts in the MENA region.