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Farm Haulage is
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BIG BUSINESS AGRICULTURE is still Britain's largest industry, despite intense industrialization. The value of its annual food production exceeds £1,400m. and the resulting traffic is over 50m. tons:
It is estimated that a total of £120m. a year is paid for carriage by the. farmer, £20m.. being for the delivery of Machinery and requisites to fãrms. -Payment of the rettaitting £100m. is-divided approximately equally between the railways, the professional road haulier and farmers' own vehicles.
Moreover, despite the increase in 'agricultural productivity already achieved in recent, years, the trend 'continues. Only this month, for example, the Milk.Marketing Board forecast an increase of 40m. gal. in milk production for 1957-58.
Even to the established agricultural haulier the volume of traffic available rhay come as some surprise, particularly if he Specializes in the carriage of only one or two varieties of farm produce. I propose, therefore, to survey briefly the potentialities and peculiar characteristics of the main traffics -offered by agriculture £6.3m. for Milk Haulage
Milk collection from the farm and delivery to its first destination has been the responsibility of the Milk Marketing Board since 1942. To 'do this it can employ the vehicles of the producer, the professional haulier, the purchaser or the Board itself. Last year over £6.3m: was paid by the Board for milk haulage from 136,000 producers.
Collection and delivery of milk can be from the farm to the depot (or wholesaler), to the retailer or to the consumer. Where milk is delivered to collection depots or creameries, further traffic can be available for the haulier in delivering any unused milk to its final destination.
Because milk is so perishable the utmost reliability of transport is imperative. It must operate 365 days in the year whatever the weather, and however outlandish the farm. The producer is responsible for providing a stand or other loading assistance when churns are used.
Recently there has been a development in the collection of milk in bulk tankers direct from the farm. This, of course, is in addition to the conveyance of milk in bulk in large tankers on intermediate journeys; once it has been delivered in traditional manner to the first destination. By developing the process back to the producer, the cost arid weight (often a third of theload) of churns could be eliminated, as could handling costs. As with other types of bulk delivery, however, the rate of development may well depend more on the provision of bulk storage facilities at the collection points than on the specialized vehicles which progressive hauliers will provide.
D32 Livestock, of all the traffics that the agricultural industr3 has to offer the haulier, calls for the most specialized knowledge. He must be almost as familiar with the habits of the animals he transports as the farmer or breeder himself.
Rates of charges for the carriage of livestock are laid down by the Fatstock Marketing Corporation, whilst recom mended schedules of rates are also issued by .the Road Haulage Association. In considering this type of traffic, and its potential .profitability, it must be remembered that the specialized vehicles it necessitates are expensive. Their use may be spasmodic, depending on local markets.
The movement of livestock falls mainly into two groups:, either from farms to local markets or, from farms or breed ing centres, to special breeding sales. The first group would
probably be limited to journeys of 30 miles or so, but in the second group livestock may be required. to be conveyed practically any distance. Also, because the breeding of pedigree animals is often limited to one group in one area, the local haulier likewise become S not only a specialist in livestock, but in one particular group.
A livestock haulier attending the local markets, however, would convey all types of animal and have a detailed knowledge of the location and unloading facilities at all farms in the neighbourhood.
Based on a 20-ft. body length, comparative loading capacities would be 70-80 sheep, 120 lambs, and 8-10 cattle.
In terms of weight, store cattle could be 6-8 cwt., sheep40-45 lb., and a calf or pig 80-90 lb., but there must obviously be wide variations from one load to another.
Competition for Livestock
At livestock sales there is keen competition for traffic between road and rail. Speedy and safe conveyance in the right type of vehicle is essential, and the haulier must be familiar and comply with the requirements of regulations governing the conveyance of livestock. These concern the thorough cleansing of vehicles after the completion of each delivery, the avoidance of suffering to animals in transit and the employment of suitable loading facilities.
Sugar-beet, as with milk and livestock, is peculiar in that its conveyance is, to a large extent, controlled by one organization. In the case of beet it is the British Sugar Corporation.
Over 5m. tons of beet were conveyed from 45,000 growers to the Corporation's 18 factories during the last campaign. For approximately three months during the season, the factories work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. .
Although primarily the grower is responsible for the delivery of his beet to the factory, the method, time and rate of delivery are controlled by the factory by means of a permit system. Experience has shown that a mild form of control is preferable to the complete chaos that could arise if unregulated delivery of large tonnages were permitted.
Road haulage delivers 75 per cent, of all beet sent to the Corporation's factories. Either platform or tipping vehicles can be employed. With the platform lorry, unloading is normally effected by a jet of water delivered through an Elfa gun. More recently the construction of elevated roadways at the factories has permitted increasing use of tipping lorries. Their independence of Elfa-gun bays reduces waiting time, although once under the water gun unloading can be done in a few minutes.
It is the grower's responsibility to have the beet stacked alongside a bard road, the loading of the vehicle being mainly manual, though elevators are also used. It is important that hauliers tendering for beet traffic should first accurately assess terminal times and the resulting number of trips possible per day. Because of the adoption of the permit system the haulier must provide the grower with a reliable service on the Ipecitled day. Rates for beet haulage are left to commercial bargaining between grower and haulier, although recommended rate schedules are issued annually by the R.H.A.
Potatoes are another crop that provides hauliers with substantial traffic, annual tonnages being about 8m. Traffic is staggered to some extent by the growing of two crops— early and main. Because early potatoes are highly perishable, they must be marketed immediately after harvesting and overnight delivery is demanded from the haulier. To avoid swamping any particular market, deliveries must also be made to a wide area. The flexibility of road transport makes it ideally suited to meet both these requirements.
Main-crop potatoes, not being so perishable, can be loaded either direct from the fields or from clamps, though in the latter case loading assistance may not always be available.
Capricious Horticulture
Horticulture, of all agricultural produce, provides the carrier with probably the greatest problems. Not only is the traffic highly perishable, but the quantity available at any time can be erratic in the extreme. A slight change in weather can result in a change in the expected tonnage available, the date available and the ultimate destination.
To even out their own labour demands (as well as subsequent distribution), growers plan successive crops. Nevertheless, the weather is often the ultimate determining factor and joint harvests result.
Such events can be alleviated only by even wider distribu tion than originally planned, because the capacity of each grower's normal markets is limited.
Road haulage is particularly suited to such circumstances, its flexibility in routeing being limited only by its ability to reach the wholesale markets in the early morning of the day following harvesting. It can also return empties with the minimum of delay—a vital factor at harvest time.
But whilst road transport has the inherent ability to provide the type of service demanded by horticulture, it can do so only if the haulier is as well acquainted and considerate as the grower himself of all the variable factors involved.
Cereals, by comparison, do not demand such urgent transport, though a high standard of service is still required. Over 8m. tons a year are produced, wheat, barley and oats being by far the three largest groups.
The advent of the combine harvester has unfortunately added to the transporters' difficulties. Greater quantities have now to be conveyed over a shorter period. With the best prior organization, terminal delays are often inevitable. It is a factor hauliers should allow for when quoting rates.
Possibilities in Bulk
To reduce handling costs and terminal delays, however, bulk transport of grain from the farm to the first destination is now being developed. Before entering into agreements to convey grain in this manner the haulier would be well advised to consider carefully all the relevant factors. A bulk-delivery vehicle must obviously be more expensive to purchase and less adaptable to operate than a platform lorry. If at the receiving end the bulk grain is conveyed away from the discharge hopper only at the same rate as grain from a normal sack-unloading bay, the haulier may well derive no benefit in terms of extra trips per day, with the solitary exception of the first vehicle in the queue each morning.
Sacked loads, however, still form the largest proportion of grain traflic and hauliers must be familiar with relative weights. A quarter of wheat weighs 36 stone, comprising two sacks each weighing 252 lb. Barley and oats weigh 32 stone and 24 stone to the quarter, with respective sack weights of 224 lb. and 168 lb. Peas and beans weigh 266 lb. to the sack, though there has been an increasing tendency recently to use the smaller 16-stone sack.
In addition to the smaller groups of agricultural products requiring conveyance, such as eggs and poultry, there are also many other traffics available from the first destination onwards. Obvious examples would be meat, flour and animal feeding stuffs, whilst seed and fertilizer first require delivery to the farmer. S.B.