When livestock is subjected to unusual conditions, including livestock hauling, it is the moral responsibility of the truck driver and the trucking company to take care of the livestock. That is to say to take care of their welfare.
Moreover, the best trucking companies specializing in livestock hauling care for the animals not to suffer unnecessary stress, discomfort, or injury.
Livestock hauling itself can be stressful, but if properly managed it can be performed without any additional animal stress or injury.
Yet, livestock hauling can be performed more efficiently if livestock truck drivers adopt the following points:
- They should prepare the livestock adequately before the transportation process;
- Livestock should be competently selected;
- Correct handling of livestock should be performed all times with the aid of well-designed and maintained facilities;
- Livestock hauling should be planned to ensure prompt delivery of livestock and undertake appropriate timing of pickup and delivery;
Thereupon, by using recommended techniques and facilities, as well as by taking measures to eliminate the pain and accidental injury, livestock truck drivers can perform efficient and quiet handling of livestock.
Further, in this article you can read 10 amazing things about livestock hauling!
1. Driver Experience and Training
Livestock hauling implies particular challenges and requires particular driver skills.
Thereupon, truck drivers who want to specialize in livestock hauling should be knowledgeable. In addition, they should consider many factors in order to ensure optimal animal care while they are performing livestock hauling.
Each livestock truck driver should be knowledgeable about the appropriate paperwork and the rules, for both national as well as international transport.
On the other hand, if the livestock truck drivers are not working in compliance with the rules that follow livestock hauling can end up putting the animals that they are transporting into a quarantine.
Henceforth, before any livestock hauling takes place, truck drivers have to identify and prepare for any potential risk factors.
A truck driver should always have in mind that the Animal Welfare Information Center as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is regulating all rules and regulations connected to livestock hauling. This preliminary step is of a great importance because it will include equipment, animal, and weather as well as road factors.
By pre-planning livestock hauling many trucking companies have ensured animal welfare!
Thereupon, being informed about the fitness of the cattle on each truck, and their transport history is a must if a livestock truck driver wants to perform safe and time-efficient transportation.
First and foremost, livestock hauling should be performed in a careful manner because it can cause animal stress, increased falls, as well as injury during the transportation process.
Each truck driver who is performing livestock hauling should undergo numerous training in order to become more competent at stopping, cornering as well as starting practices that will lead to less stress caused to the animals.
Tip for Livestock Truck Drivers: Always perform a frequent inspection of the livestock and drive carefully!
2. Handling of Loading and Unloading
From here on, proper handling of loading and unloading is essential in livestock hauling. More precisely, the ability to load and unload livestock properly most frequently depends upon the experience that the truck driver has.
Hence, proper handling of loading and unloading is of a great importance because these two processes are known as the stressor.
The quality of handling, the animal’s condition, and temperament, as well as the experience of the handler, can indicate the amount of stress that animals will go through.
The statistics say that the loading and unloading are way more stressful to livestock than the livestock hauling itself. Animal-friendly aids such as installation of lights or flags are always a great idea when loading and unloading cattle!
Hence, the livestock truck driver should always have in mind that different types of animals are handled in a different way. The handling practices should always be modified in order to meet the well-being of different types of animals.
In addition, truck drivers should be especially careful when loading and unloading tall animals. First of all, tall animals should never be loaded into a compartment not touching the ceiling.
Always have in mind that good handling procedures can improve the meat quality while at the same time reducing the carcass bruising.
3. Loading Density
The cost of livestock hauling is very high, that is the main reason why trucking companies are always loading the cattle as densely as possible.
Thereupon, every here and now this leads to little space which later on can lead to a potential risk for striking a balance of animal’s welfare as well as meat quality.
But, what is a loading density, and how it can be defined?
In fact, loading density is the space available to the animal when it is loaded into a trailer. This space is most commonly expressed as kg body weight.
The management factor is essential for this livestock hauling step!
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4. Transport Duration and Distance
Trucking companies should pay enormous attention to livestock hauling duration as well.
Did you know that livestock hauling duration is including few more factors besides the actual time that the cattle has been confined on a vehicle?
Well, livestock duration includes as well the time waiting to depart after loading, in-transit time, the stationary periods as well as the period waiting to off-load.
Livestock haulers should not forget the fact that the additional delays during the loading and unloading process can as well add stress to the transportation process. Actually, the loading process should be performed in 20 to 30 min on average.
The livestock that is being transported will be kept in a safer manner if the delays such as are the departure and unloading, including the border stops are being minimized.
