Feedlot giants staring at P27.8m loss

The country’s two largest feedlot operators told the High Court they have already lost P27.8 million and exhausted bank funding. In court papers filed under a certificate of urgency, the firms have indicated that they are just weeks away from destroying thousands of cattle because they can no longer afford to feed them. The applicants warn that the prolonged inability to slaughter 6,609 market-ready cattle has pushed their businesses to the edge of collapse, threatening hundreds of jobs, thousands of communal farmers and the wider beef value chain.

“This application is extremely urgent, and the applicants will not be afforded substantial redress at a hearing in due course, ” the applicants said, leaving little doubt about the gravity of their situation. The applicants say most of the cattle have remained in feedlots for more than 100 days, with some delayed by as much as 200 days, well beyond the normal slaughter period. ‘The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds’.- Abraham LincolnUntil then, the Council’s operations remain suspended, delaying critical decisions affecting thousands of public sector employees.The current standoff is between the Manual Workers Union on one side and the Six Cooperating Trade Unions, namely BONU, BOPEU, BTU, BDU, BOSETU and…