Chapter 08 - “Welshpool Ewes!!! Ludlow Lambs!!!”

… Philip’s Lorry Trip

All cattle over thirty months (OTM) must now be taken to Somerset to be slaughtered. This is one of the outcomes of closing Madron Meat Company and means a three hour journey from this area to their final destination.

A couple of years ago our son Philip was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take a week’s intensive course to gain his Grade 1 HGV licence; this he achieved. It enables him to drive his employer’s massive articulated livestock carrier. The lorry is fifty-four feet long, has twenty wheels and, when loaded, weighs forty-four tons and has a diesel tank capacity of six hundred litres. The trailer to carry the cattle came from Italy and has two decks which are operated by remote control and held up by pins; the remote control is also used to higher and lower the roof. This trailer can carry up to forty fat cattle, sectioned off to take five in each section. The other trailer, a Hawton, has four fold-up sheep decks and can transport over five hundred lambs which are sectioned off to carry twenty-seven lambs per section or twenty-two ewes.

On this particular day, Philip was going to take thirty-nine cattle to Langport in Somerset and bring back almost five hundred sheep. Twenty-six cattle were loaded at Trencrom and their Passports safely deposited in the cab. We then climbed up into the cab, for me easier said than done! Phil carefully eased the lorry out of the yard and slowly made his way down the lane to join the main road. Once on the duel carriageway it was easy going. Phil drove up the A30 and turned off just south of Okehampton, took the A386 to Tavistock and drove up to the market to load up thirteen more cattle. The market is a collection point for a group of farmers in the area who send their cattle to Langport. The back deck was lowered so that the cattle could be loaded and the ramp at the back of the lorry let down. There were a couple of drovers there to help load and Philip, with the remote control, sorted out the decks and secured the pins. To do this he has to use a step-ladder which is stored away in a compartment under the lorry. The passports for the newly-loaded cattle were handed over and, after phoning Martin, the other driver with whom later on we would be meeting up, we made our way out of Tavistock Market, which in itself was quite a feat because it was not built with huge lorries in mind!!

The journey now took us up onto the motorway where we turned off at junction 25 to Southern Counties Food Ltd. at Langport. The roads near here where not made for such large vehicles either but Phil manoeuvred that lorry with such skill. When we actually got on to the premises and I saw the barriers he had to reverse between I really thought it would be impossible, especially in the dark! However Phil reversed with about two inches to spare each side and prepared to unload the cattle. The numbers written up on a board corresponded exactly with the number of cattle we had and they were safely unloaded into pens allocated to us. The pens were clean and not over crowded and had fresh water and bedding, the passports were handed over and Phil drove over to the washing-out area. He undid another compartment under the lorry and pulled out his oilskin overalls and top. Making sure it was well done up and hood up, he then turned on the pressure washer. It took ages to wash out the lorry. First the top deck, which was down at ground level was thoroughly cleaned then put back up, step-ladder job again to secure the pins. The process was repeated for the bottom deck. My job in all this was to brush away the surplus water (brush provided!) to the keep the drain clear. This mission completed, boots washed and stored in yet another container under the lorry (only shoes in the cab!) it was then time to have our flask of coffee and sandwiches. Philip was now checking his hours and phoning Martin who was on the way down from mid Wales with a lorry load of sheep. We are going to meet up with him at Taunton Deane Services to change lorries. With the lorry now empty, we set off again and headed for junction 25, just north of the services where Martin was waiting. I have always been interested in lorries and to be here with these two “artics” was really exciting. After some jovial bantering we put our kit into the other cab and Martin explained exactly how the sheep were loaded and what pens they were to go in when they are unloaded. Martin then drove our empty lorry off into the night, back up to Wales for more sheep.

We carried on back down the motorway and down the A30 turning off at Scorrier for JVR’s, an abattoir near Perranwell Station. There was no one around but the lights were on for us, as by this time it was early morning. How Philip managed to find his way around there I don’t know, it took some driving! At last the lorry was reversed into the gateway of a large pen. Phil was studying Martin’s piece of cardboard which told him what sheep to go where! Pens numbered one to six and the sheep unloaded in the correct order and put into the correct pens … right, simple! Down went the ramp and the first batch came out, then some more from another section and I managed to get them in the third pen where they were supposed to go. The set up in the shed was fine and with the opening and shutting of various gates made it easy to get them into the right pen. Phil was getting them out of the lorry and I was penning them up. After two hundred or so sheep had been unloaded, Phil and I had a check to see that all was going according to the list and it was. It is more difficult to get the sheep out from the back of the lorry so Phil had to go in on his hands and knees to persuade them, shouting “Welshpool ewes!” or “Ludlow lambs!” to me as they unloaded. We had almost finished unloading when we realised that a pen of Ludlow lambs were in where Welshpool ewes should be. Phil turned the piece of cardboard around the other way and double checked, sure enough we had to change two pens around but now there was not enough room in the pens for the remaining fifty-two Welshpool ewes. The set up was such that the wide gangway between the individual pens and the rails dividing the shed could be used for holding them, which is what we did.

In life there have been moments which will always stay firmly planted in my memory. It was in the middle of the night, the weather was dry, still and quiet, apart from the shuffling around and the occasional bleating of the sheep … this was another one of those moments. I enjoyed helping Phil and I do believe he appreciated having some help! I was glad that I was used to animals, otherwise I would have been useless. We left the paperwork in a pre-arranged place, turned the lights out and shut the doors of the shed and I climbed into the lorry for the final time. Phil checked his hours and we were on our way home.
The arranging, planning and phone calls to organise a trip like this, not to mention the paperwork, must be colossal, but the responsibility of driving a lorry of that size and with those numbers of animals on aboard, and also being responsible for their unloading, is equally as daunting!

Very much later I went to bed with “Welshpool ewes!” and “Ludlow lambs!” ringing in my ears!

Monica Olds