Floods or No Floods, Stork Still Delivering
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA - Recent floods in Queensland have caused, and are still causing, extreme destruction and damage, the cost of which is yet to be fully calculated.
12 January 2011
5 minute read
With towns still cut off, many industries adversely effected and workers stood down across
the state, one company is pulling out all stops to make sure its customers are getting vital
product - to ensure continuity of supply, maintain morale, and keep one of the country’s
most important rural industries viable, now and when the flood waters recede.
These flood waters, which currently cover an area greater than the size of Germany and
France, have resulted in many of Australia's largest piggeries being isolated. This has meant
that they have been unable to receive - by conventional means at least - any semen for sows
ready to be mated.
Pork Storks Australia is the largest supplier of semen to the Australian pig industry. With a
bit of ingenious problem solving and an overwhelming effort from staff, they have
continued to deliver their product to piggeries isolated by flood waters.
Established in 2004, Pork Storks Australia operates the largest and newest state-of-the-art
boar semen collection and processing facilities in Australia on behalf on leading genetics
company PIC Australia. Supplying to the majority of piggeries on the east coast of Australia,
semen is usually delivered direct to farms via a network of Pork Stork Australia semen
delivery vehicles that each travel up to 4000km a week.
While deliveries were initially made with vehicles crossing flooded roads and bridges, safety
issues meant that this had to cease. Pork Storks Australia then decided they needed to take
an even more pro-active approach, and therefore secured the use of a helicopter and light
plane to get semen to these isolated piggeries.
Dr Chris Richards is the Managing Director of Pork Storks Australia. He said, "Pork Storks
Australia recognises the importance of throughput in driving profitability in a piggery and
the consequences of having sows ready to mate and no semen available. That’s why we
decided to think outside the box to ensure a continuity of supply for our valued customers."
Bridget Jervois, Operations Manager at Pork Storks Australia explained further. She said,
“We wanted to act early to acquire helicopters to ensure that customers' mating programs
were minimally disrupted. That said, there were and continue to be several difficulties to
overcome as part of our plan, including extreme weather conditions from a tropical cyclone,
a couple of forced landings and the limited availability of aircraft in light of evacuations of
entire towns.“
“I’m proud to say the Pork Storks Australia production and logistics teams worked tirelessly
during the Christmas and New Year periods to ensure that semen was delivered, whether by
vehicle, helicopter or plane,“ Ms Jervois said.
“The team also coordinated the delivery of semen to regional landing sites, where
customers came to collect their semen. What’s more, Pork Storks Australia also used their
helicopter to deliver emergency veterinary supplies to these isolated piggeries,“ she
continued.
Ian Hill, of Bailey Creek Piggeries at Mulgildie could not have been more relieved or happy to
receive semen deliveries despite the flood conditions. He said, “We’ve always had a good
relationship with Pork Storks Australia, but they’ve recently gone above and beyond the call
of duty to get semen to us. All aspects of our operation -including our bottom line - will be
less affected by the floods because of this.“
In conclusion, Dr Richards said, "Pork Storks Australia commends the initiative,
ingenuity and effort of our management, production and logistics teams in achieving the
near impossible task of getting semen to our customers. Natural disasters are a fact of life in
Australia, but we hope we have helped minimise the effects for the Queensland pig industry
this time around."
