AT the risk of sounding like a cracked record, rain disruptions and sickness among staff from COVID and common flu reducing staffing levels are again impacting beef processing across eastern Australia this week.
It’s a theme which has characterised much of the first half of Australia’s 2022 slaughter season, since most plants got back to work in mid-January.
Extensive areas of Queensland, the Northern Territory and eastern parts of NSW have received 25-75mm of rain over the past week, with a number of hot-spots around Sydney and Central Queensland in the 150-200mm range (see BOM map…