Have Truck, Will Move Livestock
July 23rd, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in farming
Turning truck bed into animal carrier
There’s a big surprise in store tomorrow and it involves transporting farm animals. Since I don’t have a livestock trailer, I had to find a way to enclose the back of my Ford pickup. It didn’t come with factory railings, so I had to build them. That’s what you see here: posts and railings, plus cross members over the top to complete the structure and keep creatures from escaping.
Remember the couple who started a barbecue stand at the Mason’s post down the road? Well, the wife’s family just happens to run a sawmill in Greenwich, the Windy Hill Sawmill. I figured if there was anyone in the area who could help me figure out how to build this thing, it would be them. Sure enough, the owner, Dan Shaw, took time out of his busy schedule to flesh out my conception of the new rig, then walked me around his yard picking out lumber.
This is rough cut lumber from local trees, so it’s not nearly as expensive as what you’d pay at Home Depot. Or, maybe the price isn’t so much lower, but the lumber is a whole lot better. Thicker. Dan found two long pieces of oak for the posts. “You don’t have to pay for these,” he said, tossing them my way. “I’m happy to get them off the property.” Then he started pulling planks of one-by-six-inch pine and hemlock from a tall pile. Those would be for the rails.
I had to make a second trip to the mill after I decided to use wood instead of a tarp for the roof. Total cost for the lumber: $35. Add a $5 box of coated screws to hold it all together and my livestock transport system is complete. Oh, a few cuts on the table saw were required.
We’ll know tomorrow whether it works.
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