Blumenort based Steve’s Livestock Transport has started testing a new livestock trailer designed to make loading livestock easier on both the workers and the animals. The new all-aluminum hydraulic lift deck system is designed to reduce animal fatigue, stress and injury while transporting livestock.
The trailer was developed by Steve’s Livestock Transport in partnership with Sioux City, Iowa based Wilson Trailer Company.
Bill Rempel, the vice president operations, support services for Steve’s Livestock told those on hand last week, for Alberta’s Pork’s monthly PED Town Hall Update, the new design consists of three floors and two decks that move.
It works a bit like an elevator and it’s designed to reduce animal fatigue and also reduce the stress and injury of moving livestock.
It works with a combination of hydraulics and cables, it requires the truck to have a wet kit to move the deck and it can be set in several different levels.
Loading and unloading of livestock trailers is physically demanding work so this trailer also makes it easier for the driver, not having to go up and down the ramps and crouch down, the decks can be moved.
Essentially the decks sit at the bottom of the trailer, one floor is lifted and the whole floor is lifted into place and the next floor is loaded and then the bottom floor so a total of three decks that can be used in combination of two decks or three decks.
It was designed with Wilson and ourselves and we’ve worked on that for the last two years and we’re very pleased to be able to start testing it.
It is a prototype.
We’ve already identified some changes to it and those are happening right now.
We’re going to start using it and doing some studies and obviously verifying that what we had intended it to be used for, that it will work for that.
The trailer also features improved ventilation and eliminates areas where contamination can occur, making it easier to wash and more bio-secure.
