How do I have my South Poll cattle shipped
Whether you’re new to cattle farming or a current farmer, having your herd shipped or delivered to you can be a stressful endeavor.
After all that time of searching for a breeder and coming to an agreement, it takes even more time to find a shipper for your cattle if you don’t have the truck and stock trailer for your farm at the moment. Many people choose this option to have their cattle shipped and delivered even if they do have the equipment to haul their own South Poll cattle.
Anyway, if you’re lucky like we were, our breeder kindly found a reputable hauler for us. We paid for the shipper though and asked the questions to ensure our cattle would be treated well and humanly and would arrive in a timely manner. Our cattle hauler preferred to be paid in full once the cows were all delivered live. He took check, cash, or money orders.
If we needed to purchase South Poll cattle again, we would look to hire a shipper that had at least similar qualities to his business such as:
· Efficient: the hauler stopped only for gas and personal food breaks
· Reliable: the cattle hauler kept in contact with us from pick up day, ETAs, and when he was close to the drop-off
· Trustworthy: the hauler only picked up our South Poll herd and no one else’s. He also did not let the cattle stay in the trailer for unnecessary times during stops
· Fair: the hauler’s price was fair and provided a receipt
· Above-average equipment: the hauler used an open-air trailer
But not every cattle shipper will be as great as this guy was!
One time, we sold a cow from our farm. We acquired her as farms often do, through a simple trade. She was a registered Belted Galloway. And if you want to know one thing about Belted Galloways it is: they are not heat-tolerant with their thick coats. The cattle shipper the buyer found did not discuss his plans for the day of pickup. On one of the hottest days of summer, the shipper was going to stay for most of the day at a livestock auction, after picking up the Galloway. His intention was to leave her in the enclosed trailer in the sweltering heat for hours before buying his own cattle from the auction. Two problems: 1) the cow would’ve probably died in the heat from heatstroke and 2) the cow would’ve been exposed to illness from the auction-bought cows. We immediately called our buyer to let them know and they and the cattle shipper worked it out easily. Communication is key! This shipper wasn’t a bad one – it was a topic that he didn’t consider was important to the buyer. We all learn, even the cattle shippers!
But let’s circle back to the pros of the hauler we hired.
It’s good to ensure the hauler won’t be making unplanned stops that are unnecessary, like stopping at an all-day cattle auction. The breeder can only guarantee that the livestock left healthfully. What happens between the breeder’s place and drop-off is between you and the cattle hauler hired. And really, what best practice can you agree on with the hauler besides getting an update at the time of pickup, an ETA or two during the drive, and a heads-up with the hauler is near? It keeps both hauler and farmer accountable to make sure both businesses have their time respected.
Another best practice is to ensure the hauler won’t be picking up cows outside the herd you’ve bought. South Polls usually come from closed herds with no vaccines or medications. So to introduce any other cow from any other herd means you may have your brand new herd of healthy cattle exposed to illness-harboring others. In addition, especially during the heat of summer, you want to make sure the hauler isn’t stopping unnecessarily because no matter how hardy the breed, even the mighty South Poll genetics, stress will occur and you don’t want to add heat-stroke to that list too.
Of course, it’s good to make sure the price for the hauling fee is fair on both ends. If it seems too good to be true, it might just be. You may end up with an inexperienced cattle hauler who puts your investment in jeopardy or even just wastes your time as you wait for them to arrive eight-hours after they said they would.
One benefit of making sure the price for the cattle hauler is fair on both ends is that you are more likely to find an experienced hauler and they are more likely to have better equipment including trucks that are less likely to breakdown during the trip and heavy-duty trailers that can handle larger groups of cattle at once. We also preferred the open-air trailer compared to the enclosed for the health standards of the herd we bought. Open-air is easier to be cleaned out and if it doesn’t get cleaned out, which you should request, at least the cattle will be exposed to fresh air and not confined to any potential illness that may waft up from previous cattle’s manure and the like.
To put it simply, these are a few questions to ask your South Poll cattle hauler to help make sure they arrive on-time and healthy:
1. How long is the drive
2. Are you picking up other livestock
3. What stops do you have planned
4. How do you accept payment and when
5. What do you need us to have prepared to unload
We hope at Never Tread that we’ve made it a bit less stressful and a little easier to get your South Poll cattle, or any livestock, shipped and delivered to you.
Never Tread is a mission-based for-profit business. We support the pursuit of life through the choice of healthy foods and lowered exposures to environmental toxins, liberty through the freedom to practice regenerative farming, and happiness through encouraging families to centralize their lives with homesteading practices. If you would like to support our mission to keep information on these as accessible and free as possible, please visit our Patreon page