The live export of sheep and cattle makes a significant contribution to the Australian economy and provides employment in services that support this industry.  The live export trade provides important support for the sheep and cattle industries of Australia and is the only market outlet for producers in some areas of the country. The information in this report is obtained from ship Masters' reports which record livestock deaths and other information about the voyage, and also from "Yellow Books" which record more detailed information about numbers of livestock deaths than is available from the Masters; report.  The results in this report are based on analysis of ship Masters' reports and "Yellow Books" which were to hand on 15 April 2005.   Readers should be aware that mortality information is sometimes received after publication of a particular year's summary report.  These records are added to the database and used in subsequent analysis.  Therefore, subsequent mortality summary reports referring to previous years' statistics may vary slightly from previously published mortality summary reports.