WE’RE one of the main cattle fattening regions in Australia, here in South Gippsland, we get that.
And dairy cattle, going to and from farms and saleyards, are also inclined to leave their mark as they roll through town on the back of a cattle transport, especially when it rains.
Particularly on sale days, like last Wednesday, you can tolerate a certain amount of manure and slop coming out of the back of the trucks, and we’re all familiar with the “used grass” smell that’s left behind.
But, on the past couple of Wednesday mornings, outside the strip of commercial premises in Koonwarra Road (South Gippsland Highway), Leongatha; outside Leongatha Subaru, Beaumont Tiles and Stewart’s Tyres, the smell and mess was too much for one local motorist.
The reader of the Sentinel-Times highlighted the problem via messenger but it exposed a wider issue for livestock transport operators:
“I just wanted to see if you could find out why cattle truck drivers have decided that pulling over in the front of Leongatha Subaru to open their waste tanks was a good idea? The odour is foul and mess was disgusting at the lights this evening.”
A nearby trader confirmed he had also noticed the stench on two Wednesday mornings, as he arrived at work.
“Yes, it’s probably a cattle truck stopping there to pick someone up or to have a break and then driving off with the muck all coming out the back as they leave. Not nice,” said the local trader.
But the complaints actually highlights a national issue for livestock transport firms and truck drivers, especially when it rains. and also on steep climbs and corners.
It’s a problem of a lack of truck effluent dumping points, they say, an issue that has been addressed across New Zealand but not here in Australia.
A local transport operator acknowledged the problem, saying that while most livestock transport trucks have effluent traps, there was often no way of stopping the effluent spilling on to the road in heavy rain, especially when going up hill or poorly cambered corners.
“It’s an issue that the peak body, the Australian Livestock and Rural Transport Association, has tried to address with an effluent code but what’s really needed is a government investment in truck effluent dump sites. There simply aren’t enough places to dump effluent and clear trucks,” he said.
"But yes, it's certainly a problem and can be a serious safety issue.
"A few years ago, a livestock transport going through the Latrobe Valley dropped effluent on the road, through no fault of the driver, and a police officer on a motorcycle came to grief, slipping on the discharge. So, it's an issue that needs to be addressed, definitely."
