KARACHI, Feb 12: A vessel Stella Denev loaded with 830 milching cows was given berth on Tuesday at the Karachi Port. These animals have been imported from Australia by a dairy farm in Punjab.

Port sources said that these cows would be unloaded within eight to ten hours and transported directly to the dairy farm in Kasur, Punjab. The Australian company, Wellard Rural Exports, which has already invested in a mechanised slaughter house at Razzakabad near Karachi, has exported these animals.

A spokesman for the Australian company Tariq Butt told Dawn that the cattle carrier had sailed to Karachi after discharging sheep for the Gulf states.He said that Wellard Rural Exports, a joint venture with PK Livestock and Meat Export, Karachi, is presently expanding the abattoir to meet the growing demand of fresh mutton from the Gulf States.

Mr Butt said that the abattoir near Razzakabad was fully automatic where complete processing of mutton, except slaughtering, is done by machines.

Responding to a question, he said expansion had been necessitated because of the increased demand of mutton in the Gulf States. He offered to assist the city government in setting up such abattoir.