Pedigree cattle bound for Kazakhstan

ABOUT 300 pedigree Hereford and Angus cattle will leave their quarantine quarters on the farm of exporter Hubert Maxwell in Co Roscommon today, bound for the Eurasian country of Kazakhstan.

Nine trucks will transport the cattle via road over 14 days to their new home, 3,800 miles away, as the crow flies.

When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, and Kazakhstan became independent, the economy foundered and food supplies dwindled, with the cattle population dwindling from 38 million in 1994 to 2m.