Livestock Movement in Australia and Emergency Disease Preparedness

The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has the responsibility for coordinating national emergency animal disease preparedness and responses.

Management of infectious animal diseases may be complicated by the regular movement of livestock throughout Australia because this movement offers the potential for rapid spread of infectious disease. Successful planning for and management of infectious disease relies on good understanding of normal movement patterns, the rapid identification and tracing of animal movements from infected premises and the prevention of further animal or animal product movement capable of spreading disease.

The Australian Government's 'Securing the Future' initiative was used to fund the department's project 'Emergency Animal Disease/Emerging Disease Awareness' designed to collect information on contemporary management practices including buying and selling patterns in a range of Australian animal industries. As part of this initiative, the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer commissioned a series of studies which provide qualitative information about the structure, animal husbandry practices and livestock movements of five livestock industries – sheep, pigs, beef cattle, dairy and commercial poultry – and the saleyard industry.

To facilitate the study of the structure and dynamics of the livestock industries, Australia was divided into 12 regions in which industry practices and movement patterns were similar (see map below). These regions are based on aggregations of the 33 survey areas used by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) for their sheep and cattle surveys.

map of Australia showing the 12 regions of stock movement

Summary of the Reports

The industry reports at the bottom of this page have been summarised into one document which can be downloaded as a Reports Summary

Reports by Industry

Sheep