Australia’s youngest live export licensee holders Chloe Grant and Tam Michalek send third shipment to Israel

Australia’s youngest live export licensee holders, and only women to achieve the status, have reached another business milestone after sending their third shipment of cattle to Israel on board the Livestock Shipping Services vessel Al-Messilah last week. Young Livestock Exporter Network (YLEN) treasurer Chloe Grant, based in Darwin, and business partner Tam Michalek, from Gidgegannup, WA, trade as T&T Rural Contracting, and export as Bassem Dabbah Livestock AUS Pty Ltd. They loaded 4500 Bos Taurus cross cattle to Israel for the consignment, after achieving a 99.93 per cent delivery success rate in previous shipments. Ms Grant said they chartered a portion of the LSS vessel because it was already planning a voyage to deliver sheep to Jordan and Israel. The livestock would be cared for by LSS on board stockmen and veterinarian and they would receive daily updates on the welfare and progress of the animals while in route. Ms Grant has been working in live export for four and a half years, while Ms Michalek has been in live export for more than 10 years. Both share a passion for the industry and livestock and are excited about the future of their enterprise. Ms Grant spoke at the WA Lot Feeders Association’s Better Beef 23 conference last month, where she told her story of getting involved in the industry as well as promoting YLEN to attendees. Ms Grant left school in 2010 and enrolled in university — only to defer and experience the northern pastoral life instead. “Twelve years later and I’m still in northern Australia,” Ms Grant said. “The opportunities across northern Australia were invaluable. “I had some really good employers and they taught me what not to do and how to go about things differently.” She said while she didn’t have a university degree she did study at TAFE for a Certificate 3 and 4 in agriculture and had made the most of opportunities as they arose. While she worked at Carlton Hill Station, Kununurra, the owners paid for her to become a licensed road train operator. “I was fortunate enough that they said, ‘do you want to jump in the truck for us?’,” Ms Grant said. But after changing 14 tyres in seven days, she found herself looking for a new role and started training in pregnancy testing of cattle. “They paid me to get the experience — normally it’s something you would have to pay to do,” Ms Grant said. “We pregnancy tested about 40,000 head in 18 months. “I got sick of that — looking at cow’s bums.” Ms Grant was working on an East Kimberley station for Consolidated Pastoral Company when she was given the opportunity to be a stockman onboard a cattle shipment from Wyndham to Panjang, Indonesia. “I was curious to see what it was like on board and to form my own opinion on the live export industry,” Ms Grant said. “I was so impressed and had such a great time, I ended up going twice. “I took myself to Perth in April 2019 and put myself through the LiveCorp Onboard Stockperson’s Accreditation Course.” While she said she had a great time — it wasn’t an easy time. Ms Grant she was at times seasick, homesick and out of her comfort zone on a boat with 26 Filipino men and one Australian man. But after she had seen the export process she was hooked. In 2021 she was the consignment officer for Frontier International. Now she — along with Ms Michalek — are the “newest, youngest live export licensee holders in Australia”. “We’re the only females under 30 to achieve this,” Ms Grant said. “We export cattle to our importers in Israel. “We are very fortunate to use some reputable third parties — their feedlots and trucks — all of that makes our job a lot easier.” Ms Grant also works in the operations coordinating for a Darwin-based company, assisting with its South East Asian work. She said well-prepared cattle made the job of live exporting stock much easier and provided greater results in animal welfare. YLEN was established in 2019 with four members and has grown to 300 members from every state and territory in Australia. It now has some members in Indonesia as well. Members come from all parts of the supply chain, with 60 per cent made up from employees on pastoral stations. The organisation supports people to gain the qualifications and skills they need to progress in the industry. It also provides the opportunity to meet new people and make lasting connections.