Moving 150 tons of Poultry a Week
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" OAD transport is playing a major
part in one of Britain's fastest. growing industries—the broiler chicken )usiness. Typical of the reliance put ipon a fleet, and its integration with he production-line methods of poultry-aising in broilers, is the organization )f S. P. Wood and Sons (Poultry), Ltd., )f Craven Arms, Shropshire.
The concern's yearly production is ;omething like five million head
4quiva1ent to 150 tons a week. A latchery supplies day-old chicks to 'grower " farmers, who rear the birds Rider contract and sell them back to he processing and packing station.
Bedford Fleet
The use of a modern Bedford fleet lot only facilitates economic collection )f birds from 50 growers within a i0-mile radius of the processing station, )ut allows a tight schedule to be operited to ensure the precise arrival of oads to match the plant's working ;peed of 2,500 chickens an hour.
Live-bird collection is mainly night vork. The Bedfords on this task are 7-ton flat platform vehicles, taking wooden crates totalling 2,500 birds to the load. A staff of 250 is engaged on processing the birds at the Craven Arms plant.
Similar vehicles are also used on the daily delivery runs to London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, the South Coast and South Wales, for distribution to markets, chain stores and super
markets. The chickens, oven-prepared and weighing from II to 4 lb. apiece dressed weight, are conveyed in insulated van bodies, or in containers mounted on flat platforms.
The fleet is growing along with the demand for broiler chickens, and two new Bedford TKs have recently gone into service.