LIVE cattle transporters have asked Agriculture Minister John McVeigh to consider increasing the size of road trains travelling with cattle in the North West region.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A road train containing cattle is legally allowed to travel with three double-deck carriages in Queensland.
An additional carriage, half the length of the others, if approved, would increase the number of cattle decks from six to seven.
Cloncurry-based PG and LJ Smith Livestock Transport owner Phillip Smith said the additional half carriage would allow an extra 40 head of cattle on to each road train.
Mr Smith said increasing cattle on road trains would have short-term benefit in the region because the drought had caused large numbers of smaller-sized cattle to be kept at stations in the Gulf.
Big numbers of cattle now needed to be transported further south to Cloncurry's surrounding properties, Mr Smith said.
Mr McVeigh inspected a half-sized carriage that was kept at PG and LJ Smith Livestock Transport when he visited Cloncurry last week.
Mr McVeigh said he needed to sit down with Transport and Roads Minister Scott Emerson to discuss the issue and examine current guidelines.
However, he said he wanted to sort through bureaucratic red tape as soon as possible.
