Certainly the broader farming community was troubled and disgusted with the footage shown. But how relevant was it? 

Was the filming from times well gone?  After all we saw doctored footage on major problems in the Northern Territory in relation to juvenile detention.

The cries to abandon the trade are understandable, but the export of live sheep is really the slum area of export trading, and if the operators refuse to clean up their act this is what should happen.

Millions of dollars worth of breeding cattle, dairy and beef leave these shores by plane or ship and animal welfare is not an issue.

On ship the crews are very experienced and quickly isolate any animal not coping with the conditions.

Losses are minimal and in line with common farming practices.

Some of the comments surrounding the issue are farcical such as farmers being on board ship to observe and the best would have to be the building of halal abattoirs in northern Australia to process sheep.

How they get there is another question. 

In reality it is very easy to clean up the trade. Lower the number of sheep in pens and provide substantially better air flows.

Regulate and regulate again.

Also make sure wethers are wethers and the suggestion that sheep are not transported during the hotter months has merit.

The live export market does affect the ruling market price of sheep and cattle.

At a recent Ballarat cattle sale a stock agency needed to top up numbers for a live cattle deal and the market rose substantially as they scrambled for numbers.

However on balance there is no room for complacency and the welfare of animals must come first. If this makes the live sheep trade unprofitable so be it.

In this latest debacle it is hard to understand how the loss of 2000 of sheep could be financially acceptable to the operators and traders. 

Without doubt the government will crack down hard and so it should.