Outback cattle flown to Kazakhstan

Detailed summary

Hundreds of cattle from a remote station in the Northern Territory have been exported to Kazakhstan by plane.

A buyer from Kazakhstan has taken nearly 300 head of cattle from the Northern Territory after flying out to inspect them.

Cattle producer Ben Hayes says Kazakhstan's government has an initiative to boost its national herd.

Federal data shows Kazakhstan imported more than 1,000 head each of cattle and sheep in October.

Nearly 300 head of cattle from a station near Alice Springs have been flown to Kazakhstan, in what local producers hope is the start of a new market.

The distance from Alice Springs in the middle of Australia to Kazakhstan is roughly 10,000 kilometres.

Ben Hayes from Undoolya Station said he got a call from his livestock agent one day with an interesting offer.

"He asked if we had some heifers for this Kazakhstan job and we did," he said.

"The buyer from Kazakhstan actually flew out here [with an interpreter], took a quick look and ended up taking them.

"They got trucked down to Melbourne, where they stayed in quarantine for about a month and were then loaded into crates and onto the plane."

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