New Zealand and Australia have been accused of exporting substandard cattle to Sri Lanka.

Thousands of cattle were sent there to improve its fresh milk supply, and reduce its reliance on imported milk powder.

But Sri Lankans have told the ABC many of the cattle have died, leaving farmers broke and suicidal.

One man told the ABC he started with 200 cows and now has just 58 - and many aren't worth the price he paid for them.

He says there's enough tea land for his staff to work on, but they're digging graves for cows from morning to night.

The farmer says they've followed nutrition protocol, but the cows are too sick to absorb nutrients.

But Wellard, the West Australian live export company contracted to ship the cows to Sri Lanka and help establish the dairy farms, said only a handful of farmers had problems, because they had ignored herd management advice, ABC reported.

Wellard executive chairman John Klepec told the ABC the animals were inspected by Australian and New Zealand vets before export, and Sri Lankan vets had certified them as disease-free when they were delivered.

They say that poor farm management would have contributed to their deaths. 

SAFE Ambassador Hans Kriek said the Government risked New Zealand's reputation by allowing animals to be exported "into such appalling conditions."

He told Larry Williams that we sent over 2,000 cows in 2017. 

"We expresseed cows right from when this happened, as we are sending our animals over to countries that have lower animal welfare standards than we have."

Kriek says that our cows are not used to the heat and climate in Sri Lanka, which causes them to be more susceptible to disease. 

He dismisses Wellard's comments, as they are well known for abusing animals. 

"They have demonstrated time and time again that they do a good talk, but their animal welfare record is appalling." 

Kriek says that ABC report shows that Wellard was not giving them the level of support that the farmers were led to expect. 

He wants the Government to take more responsibility for what happens to these animals, and would prefer we did not sell animals to these countries.

He says that we have already refused to send animals to countries for slaughter as we are aware of the poorer standards when it comes to culling them. 

"we can make a choice as whether we sell these animals to countries with lower animal welfare standards."