Kazakh flight with livestock arrives in Oman

Muscat: For the first time in history, 993 sheep from Kazakhstan arrived at Muscat International Airport on Tuesday, and they arrived in style.
While most livestock get transported in tight, wobbly trucks, the first batch of Kazakh sheep flew for only five hours from the capital Astana to Oman.
But despite the five-star service they received during their comfortable trip, these sheep will soon be a delicious addition to the Omani diet. Meat eaters in Oman will be able to enjoy “a better quality of halal meat” soon and the new business is expected to thrive during Eid.
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“People here always look for a better source of meat,” said, Saeed Al Harthy, chief executive officer of Dessert Discovery, the company that imports Kazakh sheep to Oman.
He added that the meat will be sold to companies inside Oman, which will distribute it to the market.
In a couple of weeks, 600 more sheep and 600 goats are expected to be transported to the Sultanate in a plane, according to Yersin Serikov, an official at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Muscat.
Alexey Plotnikov, who kickstarted this investment in Oman, said Kazakh livestock are “cheaper and tastier” than the local meat.
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While the Somalian sheep cost between OMR40 to OMR50, the Kazakh sheep is being sold in Oman for a fixed price of OMR75, according to Plotnikov.
“Sheep in Kazakhstan are naturally fed,” he added. Kazakhstan is the world’s ninth biggest country by size and its people consume meat on a daily basis.
Even their national dish, Besbarmak, consists of boiled horse or mutton meat.
“We are planning to export grass from our country as food for the cattle before it dies in the cold winter,” Plotnikov added.