Straight truck for cattle

[JW IN VA]

Seeing the bull loading thread made me think about hauling in general.When I was a kid,there were no trailers around here except a few horse trailers.Every farmer hauled or had hauled their cattle,sheep,hogs and some horses on a pickup or a ton and a half to two ton truck.A few one ton dual wheel trucks were around mostly 12' beds.The bigger trucks ran from 12' to 20' with one or two 24s. We hauled on an old 1949 Ford F5 my Grandad bought new.Then went with an F350 which did okay but wasn't the truck the F 5 was. Most all had wood floors and racks.A few big operators would have custom made beds with tops.Then a few started getting the then new EBY aluminum custom beds put on.
I remember being at a feeder sale waiting to unload around 1980 when there were two or three trailers.The rest were trucks.
Today,there seem to be many more trailers.About the only "cattle trucks" are owned by the big operators.I never read about anyone on here haulin on anything but a trailer.I think a lot maybe is because of having a heavy pickup anyway so it makes for less tax,insurance,and lower initial cost.Downside is not being able to cross a deeper stream or run in snow and mud.We now use an 18' Sundowner aluminum.


Does anyone on here use a dedicated"cattle truck" or combination flat dump with high racks?

 

[skyhightree1]

Jw I have been wanting one like the old c70 I think is what we had as a kid with permanent racks only purpose was haul cattle and hogs

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I figure there's a reason hauling livestock evolved beyond trucks.

 

[Chocolate Cow2]

this is mine. A 1980 359 Pete. It does many jobs from hauling in my winter hay supply, to bringing home the cows or taking them to grass, going after a load of feeder calves. It pulls an older 50' Barrett cattle pot and sometimes an end-dump. Couple of years ago, I sold the trailer in this picture and bought an aluminum drop deck. It makes loading easier and we don't have to worry about overpasses on Interstate.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

this is mine. A 1980 359 Pete. It does many jobs from hauling in my winter hay supply, to bringing home the cows or taking them to grass, going after a load of feeder calves. It pulls an older 50' Barrett cattle pot and sometimes an end-dump. Couple of years ago, I sold the trailer in this picture and bought an aluminum drop deck. It makes loading easier and we don't have to worry about overpasses on Interstate.

Heck of a rig. You're doing alright for a guy living in a van down by the river.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

this is mine. A 1980 359 Pete. It does many jobs from hauling in my winter hay supply, to bringing home the cows or taking them to grass, going after a load of feeder calves. It pulls an older 50' Barrett cattle pot and sometimes an end-dump. Couple of years ago, I sold the trailer in this picture and bought an aluminum drop deck. It makes loading easier and we don't have to worry about overpasses on Interstate.

Heck of a rig. You're doing alright for a guy living in a van down by the river.

probably why he is...

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Still a few old load out ramps around here, from the old days...

 

[wbvs58]

Trucks are the predominant form of transport of livestock in Australia. I have a 94 Isuzu FSR truck, 20' tray and crate that can be removed. Very comfortable truck to drive and economical, payload is 6 ton.

We don't have many of your big V8 pickups here. Toyota Landcruisers were found to be much more durable for the rigors of our roads and on farm use so we stuck with our trucks.

Ken

 

[jkwilson]

Still a few old load out ramps around here, from the old days...

Sale barn here parks their skid steer in front of the ramp. I think it's been right at 20 years since I saw a truck hauling cattle into the barn. Used to be routine.

 

[Ky hills]

I figure there's a reason hauling livestock evolved beyond trucks.

I figure you've hit the nail on the head there. When I was a child, it was pretty much all trucks around here too. I don't remember the model but my parents had an old probably 70's model Chevrolet flat bed truck. I believe it had a 12 ft. bed. I remember them having a time getting cattle to go up the loading chute into the truck.

 

[JW IN VA]

The stockyards here that I use was set up for trucks and only has one trailer dock with not much way to change short of a major remodel.Makes some long wait times if you are hauling by trailer.They try to do the best they can by taking as many trailers as loading docks then clearing the docks then go back to trailers.Up side to trucks is they can get in off the road and unload in the yards while the wait.
A year or so before we bought our trailer,I had just torn out the old loading chute and catching chute.Rebuilt the loading ramp with rock and concrete.We still use it since most times I have cattle going I can hire a truck for about the same as the upgrades I'd have to do to my pickup to feel confident in hauling that many that far.

 

[bbirder]

Brings back memories. My grandfather hauled cattle for the local sale barn back in the 50's and sometimes he would let me ride with him. He had an old dodge truck, probably a 40's model that the windshield opened up with a crank in the center of the dash. (Air conditioning) I remember loading some rank Brahma bulls in that wooden cage. Never thought it would hold up but he got them to the barn.

























































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[Supa Dexta]

Europe is still a lot of straight trucks also. North americans have big pickups though so we haul our own, the rest of the world doesn't.

 

[Nesikep]

One of the biggest benefits is to be able to field load without much equipment, the step onto a trailer is easy enough for them.
We had an '80 Chevy 4x4 1 ton, 12 ft deck with a stock rack on it.. it worked OK when we had 12 calves minus some replacement heifers, but more would require 2 trips (7 hours round trip) which was a pain.. We hired it out for a bit but the prices just became unreasonable so I built/modified some racks for my 20ft trailer, they're getting pretty tired now though.

As we speak, my old man is on his way to South Dakota to pick up a trailer, 20 ft Wilson GN.. got a pretty decent price on it and while it's not new, it's in good shape, it'll last us for years

 

[Supa Dexta]

^Do you work off farm?

My pencil isn't sharp enough to figure out how 20? odd cows supports your parents and you, as well as buying wilson trailers in the states.

 

[Stocker Steve]

One ton pickups are popular here, but you have to run a semi to be a BTO. Haul hay and haul by product and haul grain all winter, and the winters are long.

The low input guys haul hay with a tractor with two or three tandem axel racks behind it. Works OK if you are somewhat close, and avoids overheating your pickup tranny.

 

[Chocolate Cow2]

That Pete is 39 years old. It was sitting on a lot with a bunch of junk cars. I finally got the guy to budge on it and made a quick dash to the bank as he would only take cash. My other half stayed with the truck because the seller couldn't be trusted to not sabotage the truck. I counted out hundred dollar bills on the hood of my pickup. Then we had to get batteries. The truck needed some mechanical TLC. But it had a new re-manufactured Cummins in it. When a new Ford or Dodge pickup is $50-70 thousand, my $6,000 Pete makes me happy.

 

[cfpinz]

Looks like the Flint Hills. Where was that picture taken?

 

[Chocolate Cow2]

West of Salina. About 170 miles northwest of the Flint Hills.

 

[cfpinz]

West of Salina. About 170 miles northwest of the Flint Hills.

If my memory serves me correctly, there's a beautiful place along I-70 just West of Salina on the South side of the road with some red Gelbvieh looking cows. House sits on top of a hill about a mile from the road, with very little around it. Gorgeous place.