Revolutionary Trailers Should Ease Chicks? Trips

Thanks to research efforts between some businessmen in Arkansas and North Carolina, some chickens now have the opportunity to travel first class rather than coach.

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 drastically cut down on chicken fatalities during transportation.

Soon, a few new trailers will be traveling the country, hauling chickens in comfort few fowl have ever experienced.

“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 new trailers will be on the road as early as this month. Locally, C-V has three on order and will convert two older Smithway trailers, while Tyson and another Springdale poultry company, George’s Inc., both have one on order. Tyson rival ConAgra Inc. of Omaha, Neb., also has one coming down the road.

“We don’t have any enemies,” quipped Rocky Smith, vice president of Smithway.

There will still be many more of the old school-bus types hauling chickens, in which the most innovative form of air conditioning is rolled-down windows.

But slowly, these new trailers will work their way into the massive fleets some of the poultry companies possess.

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

Smith said the first couple of efforts failed in high-humidity areas such as the Arkansas River Valley in the summer. It took 2.5 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 an entire trip so the air the chicks and chickens breath will not be too dry or too wet.

Chicks are particularly susceptible to adverse conditions. They are usually transported the morning after hatching, sometimes cross-country, Arkansas to California, for instance. Ideally, the temperature for the chicks is 78-80 degrees. In its first trial run with the newest product, Smithway managed an average temperature of 79.5 degrees.

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 these trailers is near the prices of the older styles. Large ones go for about $100,000.

All parameters on the trailers are downloaded into the on-board computer system so that the guesswork is taken away from the driver. And there is a small backup generator in the event of a power failure. The system can be built to a company’s needs.

“We feel like this is going to revolutionize chicken deliveries,” Bishop said. “From coast to coast and from the Mexican border into Canada, you face temperature change challenges. But this new product applied to the trailer, the chicks can be delivered the morning after the hatch with no temperature swings anywhere. The temperature will be controlled from the hatchery to the house.”

Smith added, “We are shooting for zero [dead-on-arrivals].”

C-V’s first truck will make a pit stop in Atlanta, where it will be on display at the National Poultry Convention on Jan. 12. C-V will begin putting the truck to use Jan. 22.