jeep or 3.5 ton for cattle/sheep

hellolad

hi was thinking of buying a jeep and trailer or a 3.5 ton lorry for transporting cattle and sheep mainly sheep was wondering what would be best lorry would have livestock body welded on not towed thanks

kay 9

Tax on cattle bodies is considerably expensive. Ya would need to be using it regularly to make it pay. Another option is get a flat bed and tax as a flat bed, then when needs arise put on the cattle body. Don't quote me, but know a couple of lads that used to do this to get cheaper tax rate etc.

tabby aspreme

If you put a livestock body on a transit chassis and cab you wouldn't have much stock in it before it's over 3.5 tonne

rangler1

hellolad wrote: »

hi was thinking of buying a jeep and trailer or a 3.5 ton lorry for transporting cattle and sheep mainly sheep was wondering what would be best lorry would have livestock body welded on not towed thanks

Often thought of it myself, my license covers a 7.5 ton lorry or a 12 ton lorry+ trailer combination( I think most auld fellows licenses covers that)......lorry for small loads and the option of trailer for bigger bunches............then I go off and dream about something else

Base price

Unless you have a weekly or so run for your own livestock (without holding a E+C1 licence), then you are better off paying a local livestock haulier to do the haulage. They should have correct DOE, licences, DAFF approved vehicle & trailer certs and appropriate insurance.

rangler1

Having a good livestock trailer for your tractor is the cheapest and most straight forward way of moving stock,
No hardship in driving tractors nowadays, even if you have to go a distance

Base price

rangler1 wrote: »

Often thought of it myself, my license covers a 7.5 ton lorry or a 12 ton lorry+ trailer combination( I think most auld fellows licenses covers that)......lorry for small loads and the option of trailer for bigger bunches............then I go off and dream about something else

Dream on rangler....
I have the same auld fellows licence that you have
E+C1 which I think is the maximum that we auld ones have as standard, covers us for towing a cattle trailer behind a jeep.
By the way the E+C1 licence covers a lorry + trailer combination to the max of 12 ton be it laden or unladen.

Green farmer

Thing about big lorry is you cannt just nip down to shops etc with it unlike jeep. Jeep might do same mpg as lorry with trailer attached etc, but un hook trailer and jeep goes double mpg of lorry.

blue5000

OP how much work have you for it? I reckon you'd want to be using a lorry 2 or 3 times a week to justify it. A jeep is way more flexible on a farm, everything from fencing, filling a creep feeder, drawing cattle to the school run/shopping.

Small cattle truck can be bought fairly right, but I don't know what the running costs are.

Green farmer

I think I was told by a guy once the lorries do 12-15 mpg. I've never had one so cannt confirm.
I've seen ford transits factory fitted for horses etc, but they are very expensive to buy. Pity where wasn't a basic light livestock option suitable for sheep, that was cost effective to buy and run.

lakill Farm

back to the issue but 50k gearbox or an older JCB fasttrack with 18/20ft trailer with sheep desks? even an old drag trailer with the desks already in it?

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

I think I was told by a guy once the lorries do 12-15 mpg. I've never had one so cannt confirm.
I've seen ford transits factory fitted for horses etc, but they are very expensive to buy. Pity where wasn't a basic light livestock option suitable for sheep, that was cost effective to buy and run.

Saw two small trucks in Roscommon Mart today fitted with Ifor Williams livestock bodies that you get for the flat trailer with the wheels underneath.
One body was 14by6 and the other was 12by 6......ramp might be a bit steep/short