Sledgehammer claim won't stop cattle trade

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce won't suspend the live cattle trade to Vietnam despite "barbaric" claims animals are being killed with sledgehammers at local abattoirs.

"Like all these things we investigate it and we decide if we need to take action," he said.

"But we won't be suspending the whole trade," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

Treasurer Joe Hockey says the matter will be investigated but the government's response needs to be careful and measured.

"You don't close off the food supply to many countries where they have very low income ... on the basis of a single report alone," he told ABC radio in Darwin.