Chicken Haulers

I hauled them, and still do once in awhile, more than I like which would be never again. The hours are bad and you are expected to get there and get back in any weather, at least, we can now refuse to go out if a no tow warning is posted for travel.

I used to follow others back shedding feathers and dust, and watching them come out of the buildings there would be a cloud of dust surrounding the modules if it was calm and dry. Our trailers get covered with tarps much of the year to protect the chickens from the cold and wind. The trailers are step decks with roofs attached to hang rolled tarps from.

The USDA is watchful, and that is one thing they do well, checking gain and weight and documenting death loss all the way from hatching to the plant.

You don't often see them during the day, they are loaded in the dark most places, except where they set up to load by darkening the building. The places that loaded for us almost always loaded after dark.

I know some growers personally, but not in Arkansas. Most of them do a pretty good job where our chickens are grown. The ones who don't, either quit or use the buildings for something else. Steroids are too expensive for the benefit, if any, they would bring. The genetics of broiler production is almost unreal, and unhardy crosses are too much trouble and result in too much death loss and so end up being removed from practice. Most of the chickens I hauled were reasonably healthy, we also had some growers producing AB free chickens where antibiotics aren't used to promote growth

Operations are all over the country. I saw a plant while on vacation in West Virginia,or probably Virginia along US33. I can't imagine running a turkey rack along that road.


I think there are probably more animal units (equivalent of a cow) of livestock in Northwest Iowa than anywhere else in this country, just not all chickens, MN has the most turkeys. I live close to the Mississippi River and livestock is much less prevalent here, lots of grain and many by-products of ethanol production end up in export channels.