New Poultry Trailers to Aid Companies

Cobb-Vantress Inc. of Siloam Springs and Smithway Inc. of Fairview, N.C., began sharing ideas in 1998 in an effort to come up with a vehicle that would dramatically reduce chicken fatalities during transportation.

Soon, a few new trailers will be hauling chickens across the country in a style no fowl has ever traveled before.

“This is head and shoulders above what we’ve been used to seeing,” said Merrill Bishop, director of feed operations and transportation at C-V. Bishop has been with C-V for more than a year and previously held a position at C-V’s parent company, Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, for 11 years. “This is the best thing I have seen in chick transport,” he said.

The first of the revolutionary trailers will be on the road as early as this month. C-V has three on order and will convert two older models, while Tyson Foods and George’s Inc. both have one on order.

In a trial run, the Smithway Transport System hauled 1-day-old chicks through California’s Death Valley in 110-degree temperatures without incident. Another run was made from frigid Wisconsin to very warm Mexico. Once again, no problems were experienced.

Smithway vice president Rocky Smith said the first couple of designs failed in high-humidity areas such as the Arkansas River Valley in the summer. It took two and a half years to get the current design, which Smith said is “a total air-conditioned system.”

Not only is the temperature monitored, but the carbon dioxide levels are controlled throughout a trip so that the air that chicks and chickens breath will not be too dry or too wet.

“We are shooting for zero” dead-on-arrival birds, Smith said.

C-V has 50 percent of the U.S. market share on breeder stock chickens, and one trailerload could hold $150,000-$170,000 worth of merchandise, Bishop said.

And the price of the new trailers is similar to that of the older styles. Large ones go for about $100,000.