Just wondering if this trailer is typical of those used stateside. If so, are they able to accommodate two full decks? Bit different to what we commonly use here. These are in b double configuration, the most efficient combination allowable for our particular area. Each combination will carry, say 78, 450kg (990lb) steers. Cheers, Greg
Yes, that's pretty typical here. That's a Goldline Merritt which is what we run. That trailer has two decks. The decks over the drive tires on the tractor are referred to as the nose, top and bottom. The floor of It's top deck is made out of aluminum boards which can be removed and pitched up in a rack if you have big cattle. The two middle decks are called the bellies and have a little more height to them. Then there's the back. The top deck in the back is called the doghouse. It's extra short and left unused in bigger cattle. It's only good up to about 400 lb calves.
Yair . . . Good one Queenslander . I think this is the first time I have seen a post on stock transports. I had a good mate based in Normanton who used to pull cattle down out of the Peninsular and I drove the water truck for him one season. He used to pull four standard trailers into Normanton and then go legal with three on the bitumen. In places the bulldust would be eighteen inches or more deep and we used to hose them down to cool them and clear their nostrils. On a still day at fifteen or twenty miles an hour in and out the trees on station tracks the dust was something to behold. For our friends in other countries this is an overhead view of a three trailer rig running on a good dirt road and he would tag another on the back of that. Cheers.
That's interesting roddyo, how many of those bigger steers would you carry? The b double carries 26 on the A trailer and 52 on the rear. A type 2 road train, with 3 trailers, can handle a total of 156 Road transport here shifts some 99% of the livestock load now and is driven by efficiency. It would be very rare to see a loaded trailer with unused space. . Cheers, Greg
Yair . . . Great shot Queenslander Looks like the boys are lined up to shift three thousand head or so. My brother was head stockman on "Soudan" on the Barkly back in seventies and he speaks of loading seven thousand in a dry time with the trucks backed up to the horizon . . . as usual with us blokes though, no photos. Cheers.
You can figure a 48,000lb payload however the numbers work out. We was running five trailers at one time and sold down to our two newest ones. They are both 53 foot spread axles. Some states allow more gross weight for the spread but mine doesn't. Some states also allow more weight for more axles, that tends to give their residents an advantage for intra state transport.
Lots of 8 axles up here in the Northwest, and there's still a few sets of doubles running around. I see a California style truck and pup every once in a while. I don't know why you don't see more of them, very light and 56' of deck.
Queenslander, that last pic reminds me of the loops the big grain elevators have for loading unit trains. At first glance i thought it was a train. That's a lot of cattle about to take a trip. Chevota, I've caught glimpses of a red cabover pulling mountain double set of pots out west. I wasn't real sure what i was looking at the first time I met it on I80 in the dark. The lights looked like a pot but it had ~22' pup. I wouldn't want to be backing a pup, behind a truck or otherwise, up to a lot of the load out chutes around here.
My dad had a truck and pup setup years ago, he said the first time he took it to Texas all the chutes were setup for rear unload. He blocked off 5 or 6 of them unloading off the side, they were not impressed lol
The kiwis use truck and dogs, or pups, almost exclusively. This one shown here with drawbar retracted for loading. So that works out to 48 head, not a big difference to the 52 we would put on a single, three axle trailer. Livestock transporters in most states here are able to run under volumetric loading, a concessional scheme allowing operators to load to capacity, not weight. However, single trailers are restricted to 41 ft. loaded deck length and b doubles 62. Cheers, Greg
Chevota, i didn't even notice the side gates. If there aren't rear gates that wouldn't work at all at some worse setup barns around here.
One thing about the bigger trailers is so many places they won't fit. Running the 53 footers eliminated a lot of our in bounding to the sale barns which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.