Cattle export company Quinn International Livestock loaded a consignment of breeding cattle at Waterford Port on Thursday on the Sarah livestock carrier for delivery to buyers in Turkey.

The order included approximately 1,900 breeding heifers and 55 pedigree breeding bulls. Among the heifers were 650 Limousin, 700 Charolais, 400 Angus and 200 Belgian Blues.

On board the Sarah, the cattle will receive ad-lib hay plus 5kg of nuts per head per day and pens will be bedded with sawdust.

As normal with this tightly regulated trade, the Department of Agriculture supervised the loading of the quarantined cattle on to livestock trucks at the export yard where they had completed 30 days quarantine.

The lorries were locked with tamper-proof seals before leaving the yard. The cattle were unloaded at the port and loaded on to the Sarah, still under Department supervision. This supervision is to ensure the traceability, health and welfare of the animals.

The Sarah made a number of trips from Ireland to Turkey in 2017. This was its first trip in 2018. It is now sailing for the Turkish port of Izmir and is scheduled to dock on Tuesday 6 February.

On arrival, the Turkish buyers will scrutinise all stock to check they have arrived in good health. The importers will then supply the cattle onwards to Turkish farmers.

Since the opening of the Turkish market for live exports, it has become the third-largest market for the live export of cattle from Ireland accounting for 16% of live exports in 2017.

This represented some 30,500 head of cattle.

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In pictures: heifers loaded for Turkey