BRINGING MEAT TO MARKET BY MOTOR.
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The Activities of a Prominent Liverpool Company of Commission Salesmen Who Find Motors of Real Value.
nNE of the dominant reasons why so many concerns engaged in the wholesale meat business are now employing high-sided motor lorries for the conveyance of livestock from farms or railway depots to the place of slaughter is economic. Not merely is it a ques
tion of the cheapness of one system of transport as against that of another, so much as cheapness in relation to the condition and weight of the animal when it reaches the place of slaughter.
In an interview with Mr. Barry Rigby, of Rigby and Co. (Liverpool).
Ltd., of the abattoirs, Liverpool, a, representative of The Commercial Motor was informed that animals travelling on foot, say, between a railway siding and the place of slaughter sacrifice weight and condition, and this results in loss when the animals come to he marketed. The distance from the Stanley cattle market, Liverpool, to the Trowbridge Street abattoir is about two miles, and wholesale butchers reckon on the loss of about 1 lb. in the weight of a sheep, when it makes this journey on foot. Such a loss in respect of annual clearances totalling thousands of animals, becomes a very serious matter when viewed from the standpoint of average traffic.
Messrs. Rigby employ three Ford motor lorries, two of them having special low-built bodies with a platform only 2 ft. from the ground. This is specially useful in the loading and unloading of cattle, sheep and pigs. The third lorri has high sides and rails and eros-stays on which to hang caresses. All the lorries are shod with pneumatic tyres, and those which are used exclusively for the carrying of livestock are equipped with a winch and roller, which are serviceable auxiliaries on occasions when an animal has sustained injury and requires to be handled carefully.
The Fords each carry as a minimum load two bulls or cows, 16 calves or 20 small lambs. Their work is somewhat irregular but normally commences at
a.m. The most frequent long journey is from the abattoir to the Stanley cattle market about two miles away. From this point, most of the livestock which arrives by rail is cleared. The weight of the loads may be computed by reckoning deadweights as follows:— Sheep, 40-45 lb.; cows, 560 lb.; and calves, 80-90 lb.
Although some firms drive the animals through the streets to the abattoirs, there have recently been so many incidents arising from frisky bullocks run Ding amok, that wholesalers have been rendered rather uneasy in mind, on the question of risks, Damage both to person and property, through depredations of animals, has been of frequent occurrence lately, and 'this has made some of the cattle dealers pay more attention to the routes selected for reaching the abattoir, and, alternatively, to show less reserve concerning the employment of motors.
In any case, when flocks of sheep or herds of cattle are sent from Stanley to the Liverpool abattoir, it is always necessary to have a vehicle, either horsedrawn or motor-propelled, in attendance to transport any animal that may develop lameness.
The general area in which Messrs. Rigby's motors are operated is covered by a radius' of 50 miles round Liverpool, particularly to and from farms. Occasional journeys are made to places as far distant as Wrexham, Oswestry, Cumberland, Whitchurch, etc. During a fairly good working week as many as 300 to 500 sheep, about 600 calves and :100 to 400 pigs a,e carried. It often happens that the arrivals of sheep or lambs at either Birkenhead or the Stanley cattle market are so numerous as to overtax the available capacity of the motors. Then it is that the livestock is driven through the streets.
When foot-and-mouth disease broke out and restrictions were enforced forbidding the removal of the animals on foot, there was a tendency for more meat to be slaughtered in the districts outside Liverpool, owing to the fact that the animals could not be driven from the farms. There was nothing, however, to prevent the cattle or the sheep being loaded on to the motors from the held in which they were grazing, and this, to a large extent, was done by Messrs. Rigby's Vehicles.
In addition to this, much dead meat is brought into Liverpool from outlying districts.
It should be explained that Messrs. Rigby's business is mostly carried out on the conunission basis. They act as agents for a large number of stockfeeders, who send their livestock, when it is mature and ready for marketing, to the place where they think they can get the best price. It might be Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham or other places. The animals are then slaughtered and dressed in the style or fashion appropriate to the local trade, and the proceeds, less agreed charges, are handed over to the stock raiser. It is obvious, therefore, that it is in the best interests of all concerned that the animals should be received in the best condition possible, in order that they may command the best prices, and, therefore, encourage the despatch of further consignments.
The small motor fleet of Messrs. Rigby is not operated exclusively for their own business. When they effect transport for other firms they charge 6d. per head for lambs, sheep, calves and pigs; 10s. for one cow and 15s. for two, between Stanley cattle market and the Trowbridge Street abattoir. When outside work is undertaken the hire charge is £2 10s. per day. The average daily mileage is 50 to 60 per vehicle.
Very valuable loads are occasionally Carried. Only a few days ago, Messrs. Rigby had to deal with three pedigree bullocks, worth probably 11,000 each and consigned to the Argentine, which mere conveyed from Lime Street Station, Liverpool, to the steamer, a matter of about one mile.
High-sided bodies are an absolute essential for the transport of livestock, and 4 ft. is little enough. A greater height provides a greater measure of safety, as the following incident will show :— A local theatre management applied to Messrs. Rigby' for the hire of transport for the conveyance of a bullock which participated in a Rodeo display. The animal was attached by a rope to a ring fixed in the floorboards of.the body. It apparently mistook the time of the commencement of the performance and with a gigantic effort snapped the rope and clean jumped the sides.
After the day's work, each of the vehicles is thoroughly sluiced_ and disinfected, so as to destroy any latent germs of disease.