I used to work near one and often saw trucks full of pigs.
The noise was really terrible, you could tell they didn’t like it and they were packed in super tight.
Also the drivers always had to put up with protesters blocking their way.
So. What’s it like? Has anyone done it? Is the pay good?
Don’t get me wrong I like meat I just believe these animals particularly pigs do have a higher level of intellect and should not be put through any unnecessary pain/stress.
That being said, they taste good. But the pay would have to be something pretty special for me to even consider it.
Unless you have animal experience, eg farm worker, you won’t get a job driving floats. Have only done the finished product from abbaitors, I don’t have a problem with the noise,smell or screeching beasts, it’s food,.
Hi there, aye carried plenty in my time on floats, tight to load but after an hour you can put another five in each section, plus usually lie down an sleep when travelling, oh until you want them off and that’s when all hell break’s loose, but you do get used to noise, smells, oh aye and ■■■■ and sn@t,also you dont need go inside and give them there last rights, just tip, wash out an go. Sheep cattle need to stop now and again to keep them on there feet, not so with the guffys, and most floats now have hydraulic decks, no pushing and shoving getting them up decks. As Big griffen says some animal knowledge would be useful. Hope thats of some help. Cheers Bobs
I used to live near a slaughter house that dealt with pigs and the way they were driven there was appalling. When I applied for a driving job there I was told "We prefer not to employ English people.
I collect from slaughterhouses. And it’s not the stuff that you see on your dinner plate.
Pigs are just noisy in general rather than being distressed and once in the lairage they quickly settle down. They aren’t crammed in the floats either there is space to move.
Protesters are part and parcel of the job even for us. Have had them try to block entry and on one occasion try to pull the pin when I was leaving with a loaded trailer.
Visiting the sites themselves in my experience is good. In and out no messing around, no over the top health and safety or jumped up gate staff. I’ve never even be asked to put a hiviz on in the 4 odd years I’ve been doing it.
You can see as much or as little as you want in terms of the gruesome stuff. Yes there’s dolavs filled with various body parts but if you don’t look at them you won’t see them. Don’t go near the slaughtering hall and you won’t see any killing.
Obviously anything that involves animals isn’t going to be a clean job whether they’re alive or dead so getting covered in body fluids is again part and parcel of the job.
My late father used to be a pig farmer, i used to get the job carting the pigs to the slaughterhouse. It was best to keep them in quite tight so they didn’t fall over when you braked. Pigs are noisy animals anyway (a bit like my wife) but it doesn’t mean they are under stress. They tend to settle down quickly on a journey, I used to put down plenty of straw which helped.
I just believe these animals particularly pigs do have a higher level of intellect and should not be put through any unnecessary pain/stress.
I hope you are not saying it does not matter about animals with a lower intellect?
Never worked with pigs only chickens and that was quite an experience. Got a mate who transports cows etc and they have some fairly strict rules and regs from what I can gather.
If you have a strong sense of smell, give it a miss!
jakethesnake: I just believe these animals particularly pigs do have a higher level of intellect and should not be put through any unnecessary pain/stress.
I hope you are not saying it does not matter about animals with a lower intellect?
jakethesnake: I just believe these animals particularly pigs do have a higher level of intellect and should not be put through any unnecessary pain/stress.
I hope you are not saying it does not matter about animals with a lower intellect?
Its exactly what I’m saying.
Why the hell would you say that? Any animals that are transported by road are covered by the same rules and regs. Nothing to do with their intellect.
Way back in the 60s I worked for a company that made machinery for the catering industry and I vividly remember my first abattoir delivery.
I was directed to the back and found myself in a long area where people in white coats and wellies were working. As I spoke to one guy, there was a bin beside us and every minute or two a cow’s liver would slip down a chute and splat into the bloody heap. He sent he back out - “Turn left and follow your nose”, he said. As I rounded the corner I was hit by the most appalling stench; it was an old guy with a big pot on a gas fire boiling tripe and the machine I was delivering was for him.
I soon learned about butchers: How sausages are really a way of using up unsaleable meat. How faggots are a way of using the bits that can’t even be used in sausages. How ham is injected with enzymes to make it tender and boost the weight… I could go on. I remember taking some machines to a demonstration at a catering college and seeing two students turn green and run off when the salesman was showing them how to make faggots - it was the sheep’s eyes going ‘gloop’ down into the mincer that did for them.
Decades later I often did collections from abattoirs and they were mostly pretty clean and hygienic. There was one in Langport, near Bridgewater, that was really hard to find down the country lanes. Naively, I asked why they didn’t have signposts.
jakethesnake: I just believe these animals particularly pigs do have a higher level of intellect and should not be put through any unnecessary pain/stress.
I hope you are not saying it does not matter about animals with a lower intellect?
Its exactly what I’m saying.
Why the hell would you say that? Any animals that are transported by road are covered by the same rules and regs. Nothing to do with their intellect.
I vaguely seem to remember from doing my CPC that there are different rules for different animals?
Used to buy dog meat off a knackers yard in dethick in derbyshire(home of blue Peter’s simon groom)
This was all fallen stock…so the animals were already dead.
Even so…first time seeing a skinned horse,opens your eyes.
Got the bloke to counter sign my passport application.
Occupation:BUCTHER
jakethesnake: I just believe these animals particularly pigs do have a higher level of intellect and should not be put through any unnecessary pain/stress.
I hope you are not saying it does not matter about animals with a lower intellect?
Its exactly what I’m saying.
Why the hell would you say that? Any animals that are transported by road are covered by the same rules and regs. Nothing to do with their intellect.
I vaguely seem to remember from doing my CPC that there are different rules for different animals?
Ha, cpc and you believe it although it’s vague as well. I can assure you when it comes to transporting animals they ALL have to be treated properly and it’s naff all to do with intellect.
Unfortunately not all drivers stick to the rules though.
jakethesnake:
Ha, cpc and you believe it although it’s vague as well. I can assure you when it comes to transporting animals they ALL have to be treated properly and it’s naff all to do with intellect.
Unfortunately not all drivers stick to the rules though.
This is the Operator’s CPC I’m talking about here, not the driver CPC. I believe the maximum transport times and minimum rest periods are different for different animals. I’ll see if I can find a reference online as I don’t have my manual to hand.
Not taken animals in but done plenty of work for Canvins which became NR Evans and were based in a local abbatoir. At one of their depots the fuel pumps were next to the holding pens and round the back there would be dolafs full of blood and guts and the unwanted bits which took a bit of getting used to.
That never bothered me but when there was the foot and mouth disease cull on the go I went to an abbatoir in Saltcoates and had to drive past skips full of cows skulls complete with eyeballs still in which had been coated in a blue dye and I found that a bit disturbing.
jakethesnake:
Ha, cpc and you believe it although it’s vague as well. I can assure you when it comes to transporting animals they ALL have to be treated properly and it’s naff all to do with intellect.
Unfortunately not all drivers stick to the rules though.
This is the Operator’s CPC I’m talking about here, not the driver CPC. I believe the maximum transport times and minimum rest periods are different for different animals. I’ll see if I can find a reference online as I don’t have my manual to hand.
jakethesnake:
Ha, cpc and you believe it although it’s vague as well. I can assure you when it comes to transporting animals they ALL have to be treated properly and it’s naff all to do with intellect.
Unfortunately not all drivers stick to the rules though.
This is the Operator’s CPC I’m talking about here, not the driver CPC. I believe the maximum transport times and minimum rest periods are different for different animals. I’ll see if I can find a reference online as I don’t have my manual to hand.
Ah, you should have said. I did it myself back in the 80’s , can’t remember much meself. Jeez it was a lot to remember and a proper exam at the end!
jakethesnake:
Ha, cpc and you believe it although it’s vague as well. I can assure you when it comes to transporting animals they ALL have to be treated properly and it’s naff all to do with intellect.
Unfortunately not all drivers stick to the rules though.
This is the Operator’s CPC I’m talking about here, not the driver CPC. I believe the maximum transport times and minimum rest periods are different for different animals. I’ll see if I can find a reference online as I don’t have my manual to hand.
Harry’s right a quick google brings up some regulations and guidelines on different species transportation. Cows and sheep are herd animals and quite happy being in the company of others from the same species, Pigs would be more likely to fight with each other.
There was an article posted in the old timers forum about taking Pregnant Heifers to Spain, for sale to farmers, on behalf of Gilders i think. Years old but quite interesting i thought and touched on a few regulations too
Take plenty from slaughterhouses. The smells and sights don’t bother me, lost my appetite after watching a box of offal fall off a forklift once though. Hides bother me more than anything. Properly turn my stomach.
Wouldn’t want a job taking the poor beasts in, love eating them, no problems moving them while they hang off a hook but I don’t really want anything to do with taking them to their end. Plus the thought of washing jobby out of a trailer somehow doesn’t fill me with joy.
Some extracts from a RTITB livestock handling manual produced in the seventies.
We ran several livestock vehicles so I was introduced to slaughterhouses, farms & cattle markets at a very early age. The sights and sounds never bothered me. We would deliver to big corporate s/houses and butchers back shops so standards varied. I have seen sheep stunned by electrocution, a spring bolt to the head, knocked on the head with a meat hook and sometimes just put on the rack, the head pulled back to tighten the neck and a sharp knife to do the rest. Pigs were usually electrocuted and cattle had a bolt gun to the forehead.
Some basic things to remember when loading, pigs did not like the wind, sheep were difficult to load when it was raining and the fleece was soaking, cattle did not like the smell or sound of pigs so were difficult if the previous load had been pigs, even if the container had been washed and disinfected.
