A – cough, cough – very unique ‘view’ of the Saudi Sheep bribe
In NZ, we are still trying to understand the $11.5million bribe paid by this Government to a Saudi Businessmen in a desperate attempt to try and get a free trade deal with one of the worlds worst human rights abusers and biggest financial supporters of terrorism.
In Saudi Arabia however, the story is a very, very, very different one…
Saudi farm saves New Zealand’s sheep dairy industry from crisis
JEDDAH: Authorities in New Zealand did not give permission to Hamoud Ali Al-Khalaf, a Saudi businessman, for six years to export live cattle to the Kingdom, yet by sheer dint of his business prowess, Al-Khalaf saved his host country from a crisis that had nearly devastated its sheep dairy industry.
The English-language Stuff publication, in its June 20 edition, said the Awassi sheep farm, owned by Saudi businessman Hamoud Ali Al-Khalaf, at Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand, is being used to revive the sheep dairy industry.
The dairy business, it said, faced a real crisis because of incapability of the east Friesian sheep to produce enough milk.
The publication said the officials at Waituhi Kuratau Trust (WKT), specializing in dairy and meat production, had some 20 years breeding large numbers of Friesian sheep which were designed to help them breed quickly, resulting in producing more than 600 heads, but the experience proved these sheep cannot live in the atmosphere of New Zealand.
The officials at WKT found out this kind of sheep breed is with genetic weakness making it incapable of producing enough milk, so they negotiated with the Saudi businessman to let them use his Awassi sheep to fill the deficit in milk production by breeding the Awaasi sheep with the east Friesian to improve their milk production.
According to reports, to “compensate” over a six-year-old ban of live sheep exports on Al-Khalaf, in which he is said to have lost hundreds of millions of dollars, the government of New Zealand has spent $6 million for air freighting 900 pregnant ewes and farming equipment to Al-Khalaf’s farm.
Stuff said the Saudi businessman agreed to cooperate with the officials in New Zealand to solve the crisis facing the country’s sheep diary industry despite the fact that the New Zealand authorities prevented him to export live cattle to the Kingdom to be slaughtered there.
…that’s right folks, NZ didn’t bribe Saudi Businessman Al-Khalaf for reneging on live sheep exports in order to gain a free trade deal, oh no, apparently Al-Khalaf was actually doing NZ a huge favour by saving our ‘sheep crisis’.
Tumeke!
“…but the experience proved these sheep cannot live in the atmosphere of New Zealand.”
Yes, because here in New Zealand, we exist in an atmosphere so unlike the rest of the planet, it’s only our highly evolved respiratory systems and redundant internal organs which make survival in any way possible.
Now, my tentacles are aching — I must return to the saturation chambers aboard the mothership.
We are sooooo lucky.
Phew how fortunate for lil’ ole NZ (wipes brow). Saudi businessman’s farm saves our bacon. Geeze really?
Thanks for bringing attention to this issue Martyn. It needs exposing. Is msm going to report it, slapping it all over the headlines, until government responds? Ha ha joke of course.
Now more to the point, where is our farcical government on this?
Not sure whether to laugh or cry over this one!
How about we read for ourselves the un-translated original Stuff article…http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/81255390/saudiowned-rams-boost-local-sheep-milking-flock
That’s better!
Now…”Maui Milk general manager Peter Gatley said the east friesians were not ideally suited to New Zealand conditions.
“The east friesians can pump out the milk but they’re used to living in barns, they don’t like strong sunlight or being outside in the winter.”
Hardly a crisis….but cross breeding with the Saudi rams might inject some hybrid vigour.
The real story here is just how hard it was to broker the deal with the saviour of New Zealand’s sheep dairy industry…
“Gatley said Maui Milk was grateful to Awassi NZ for working with it, because the latter had been developing its genetics for some years and was highly protective of them. The possibility of importing the awassi genetics from the Middle East would have been “remote”. ”
But also, the sheep dairy industry is wisely not putting all of its eggs in one basket and is…
“… also hoping to introduce the lacaune sheep milking breed from France, where it is used to create celebrated cheeses like
Roquefort.”
And the article finish off with this reminder…
“Hmood Alali Alkhalaf has been at the centre of a row over his farm in Saudi Arabia, which the Government has been trying to develop as an agribusiness hub, to showcase New Zealand agricultural know-how.
The hub has a budget of $11.5 million, but has experienced teething troubles, including the deaths of two-thirds of lambs in the 2014-15 season. ”
Which of course wasn’t mentioned in the translated article….
glad to see it is not only in New Zild that the Press can’t be trusted.
What a shithead Saudi Businessman Al-Khalaf is really!
So he thinks we are bad farmers eh, so he takes them to piles of hot sand to survive the clown shit these guys’ are pure crap.
*snort!*
I’d offer the authors of that claptrap a *Tui*, but they are Saudis…
Isn’t a lot of Saudi Arabia a desert? oh wait thats right they are seriously involved in active climate change to fix all that..
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/exclusive-uae-mulls-man-made-mountain-in-bid-improve-rainfall-630079.html#.V6lUwOmlhsM
I suppose when you’re sitting on a 1/3 of the worlds oil building mountains isn’t out of the question.