Cattle drop dead outside beleaguered abattoir

Informed sources say the logjam is the result of ongoing retrenchments at the abattoir, which have in turn led to reduced throughput. However, other sources say farmers came in an unusually large numbers in an attempt to take advantage of the 'EU slaughter window', which is due to end Friday this week. Yet other farmers may have been compelled by the drought. When Mmegi arrived at the abattoir, the scene was a near-visitation: more than thirty trucks and bakkies laden with cattle and carcasses. Farmers and truck drivers said they had been in the queue for two days. 

One farmer said his cattle had been standing in the trucks for more than 48 hours after being in quarantine in Letlhakane for five days "without food or water" before 'trekking' to Francistown.