Cattle Haulage

funkey_monkey

What's the wait times like at the mart? Fella here has to sit for hours at mart to get a position in queue and then wait for to unload. Depending on how busy the mart is you could be a fair while waiting to get unloaded. Would there be any worth in it then?

What price is a decent 20' trailer? Presuming you'll be going for a tandem and you have decent gear. Are you talking €15k plus?. I think Emaherx got a custom made 7' wide trailer. Would the 8' get you in and around most yards and entrances? Look for something with a shallow ramp angle. When you are at it full time you'll want it to make loading easy. Also if you are getting a dividing gate, make sure you have a man escape.

Are you near any factories? You could pick up some morning work shifting stock during the summer months between grazing platforms. So you could have a quick 2 hour job here and there whilst waiting for the morning sun to burn the dew off the grass. I'd not be keen on evening moves myself, so would try to avoid moves late in the day.

Whilst I said about about licenses above, what about insurance too?

Albert Johnson

You've obviously put some thought into the matter and if you think it's worth a punt then that's reason enough to proceed imo. If you came on here asking about setting up a contracting business then the majority of lad's would tell you that you needed you're head examined and to run a mile from it. Ask 10 different people and you'll get 10 different opinions, that's all well and good to a point but you have to do what you think best at the end of the day.

I'd be inclined to go for a circa 24 foot trailer for a number of reasons. You'll be able to compete with the majority of lad's running mid sized rigid lorries while still being reasonably maneuverable in tight yards. Anything under a 20 foot body and you're not an awful pile ahead of a jeep and trailer operation and you've less maneuverability and an unladen speed disadvantage.

The biggest issue I see is fitting haulage in around the other commitments especially at peak times. You'll understand this better than anyone but you've made a go of the rest of it. As with providing any service its building and then maintaining the customer base is the biggest issue. The haulage game is fraught with bad payers and lads who jump from one operator to another, similar to contracting really so you've already a heads up on that.

To a certain extent you might get away with picking and choosing what suits to draw and when but if you've a good customer you have to try you're best for them. Its alright telling a lad when he rings to say he's stuck to get a few brought at short notice that it doesn't suit due to silage or whatever but if he gets someone else then there's a good chance he'll ring him direct the next time let it be 1 or 21 involved.

There's only one way to ultimately find out if it's a good fit or not and that's to give it a go. I do a bit of haulage locally to a few of the marts with a jeep and trailer. There's no fortune out of it and you'll earn whatever you get. It's grand if you can pull in and put on a load of weanlings in a good yard and set off on a good road wherever you're going. However for everyone of those runs you'll lift 6 cattle in 5 different spots with bad facilities and be up hills and down mountains to do it. I tend to only draw to marts I work in because unless you've bringing a full load further afield then there's nothing in it with the price of diesel atm.

In my own case I'd have a jeep anyway as I find them a godsend around the place inspite of what lad's tell you about the maintenance costs ect. A good tractor trailer shouldn't depreciate much (especially with the way you mind gear) and if you decided the game wasn't for you then you'll get you're money back again. If you feel it's the right decision then I'd buy the best trailer I could afford and go from there and remember you're not married to it.

Reggie.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120143333#Comment_120143333

No interest as of yet

893bet

A digger? Work available year round be it mulching or drains but mostly during winter and spring.

have2flushtwice

Local lad here going down the road at half 9 last night (sunday) with the diet feeder.

He has a big dairy outfit and seems to be going non stop, but ffs a Sunday night in the pissings of rain.... saw him going again this morning.

Maybe diet feeding is an option. If I was that lad I'd nearly pay any money to get a bit of a break.

Think of it as the same work model as relief milking??? But maybe a lot of lads already have the diet feeder....

Bass Reeves

Never stop a tractor jockey from taking on more work and buying more gear you never know when you might need him.

Usually lads doing haulage have close relationships with certain factory agents. It's the agent that usually arranges the loads whether it's a full loaf from one farm or a load split over 2-3 farms.

In reality you end up charging per head as the agent will have a set price for haulage.

Mart are messy, you have to drop them off and do you wait for a return load. Some lads will have an expectation for you to wait around in case they do not sell.

Biggest issue is lads expect the service year round.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120143647#Comment_120143647

Getting a baler worked out well for Sam Monk. Maybe you should reconsider?