Workers in Vietnamese abattoirs have been filmed bludgeoning what appears to be Australian live export cattle with sledgehammers.

Key points: Animals Australia described the vision as profoundly distressing

Animals Australia described the vision as profoundly distressing Ear notches and animal behaviour suggest the cattle are from Australia

Ear notches and animal behaviour suggest the cattle are from Australia The abattoir in question has been suspended from receiving cattle

The abattoir in question has been suspended from receiving cattle The Federal Government has ruled out a live export ban

The Federal Government launched an investigation into the apparent breach of the live export regulation after they were shown the footage by animal welfare group Animals Australia last week.

The ABC has obtained the vision filmed by undercover investigators hired by Animals Australia.

Warning: Vision in this story may disturb some viewers.

One of the videos shows a worker clubbing a cow over the head five times with a sledgehammer before it falls to the ground.

The man then hits the cow a further four times before it finally dies.

"I thought I'd seen it all, and I haven't," Animals Australia campaign director Lyn White said.

"It's profoundly distressing and unnecessary and preventable and we shouldn't forget that it's been happening on a nightly basis since we [Australia] opened this trade in Vietnam."

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce ruled out a live export ban, but said action would be taken.

"Immediately when we found out about this we went straight into action," he said.

"The Department [of Agriculture] has been working closely with the industry, the abattoir has been suspended from receiving cattle, we are investigating this process but further action needs to take place and will take place."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 7 minutes 45 seconds 7 m 730: Workers in Vietnam abattoirs caught bludgeoning cattle

Animals Australia said they visited 13 slaughterhouses in North and Central Vietnam.

"Only two met Australian requirements for approved abattoirs," Ms White said.

She described the vision as "the most shocking" she had ever seen when asked to compare the gravity of the conditions with those exposed in Indonesia by the ABC's Four Corners program in 2011.

The meat workers, who were secretly filmed, told the undercover investigators that the cows being slaughtered were from Australia.

The cows also have distinctive ear notches which are unique to Australian cattle.

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They also have holes in their ears, suggesting electronic national livestock identification tags have been removed.

"They know that the ear tags are not meant to be in the animals at these locations so there's quite deliberate corruption of the system that's going on that has meant that Australian cattle are ending up in these traditional slaughterhouses," Ms White said.

The vision shows what appears to be Australian cattle tags at one of the abattoirs. ( Supplied: Animals Australia )

This is the second time Animals Australia has captured footage of what appeared to be Australian cattle being slaughtered with sledgehammers in non-approved Vietnamese abattoirs.

Animals Australia said it chose not to publicly release that vision last March, but instead took it to the Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC).

Ms White claims she was promised a response within six weeks, but has not heard from the industry body since.

She said she decided to make the vision public this time to pressure the live export industry to act.

"The Australian public needs to be aware of the risks that Australian animals are still facing, that these regulations are not working and are not working because no one is being made accountable when they breach them," she said.

ALEC chairman and former Labor leader Simon Crean admits the council did not respond to Animals Australia's concerns last year.

He said the industry implemented reforms to address animal welfare concerns.

"We have committed ourselves to the introduction of people on the ground, to training programs, the implementation of CCTV cameras, all of the tracing and tracking procedures," he said.

"We have been constantly engaged, the investment by the industry in this respect has been huge."

Crean left 'shattered' by footage

The Department of Agriculture has launched an investigation into the footage.

Mr Crean viewed the footage of the cattle being killed with sledgehammers on Wednesday, and described it as "inexcusable".

"I'm shattered," he said.

"This is the very thing that I, along with the industry, have committed to end.

"No animal should have to go through the fear and the pain.

"It's what we're committed to eliminate and this just reinforces we've still got work to do."

ALEC chief executive Alison Penfold acknowledged it "seemed" there were Australian cattle in the holding pens of the sledgehammer slaughterhouse.

"The behaviour of the animals gives every suggestion that they're Australian," she said.

Through Mr Crean, ALEC announced yesterday it would be cutting off the supply of animals to the facilities under investigation.

"We've also determined that if any exporter is in deliberate breach of requirements... we will take every step to ensure they do not supply into the market," he said.

Feedlot 'has been suspended twice before'

However, Mr Crean said suspending trade, as the Labor government did to Indonesia in 2011, would be a mistake.

"What we want to do is to lift the standards across the industry and Australian commitment is world-best practice in this," he said.

"[It's] not perfect, but it's just world-best practice."

However, Ms White said she had little faith in the industry.

"The feedlot that they have suspended has been suspended on at least two occasions before," she said.

"That this is still occurring despite CCTV, despite exporter supply chain officers being there, just goes to show that the system has been corrupted."

The Department of Agriculture has viewed the footage and has launched an investigation.

"The footage... depicts abhorrent and indefensible treatment of cattle at an abattoir not approved to receive livestock exported from Australia," the department said in a statement.

"A thorough investigation of this evidence has begun."