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Hauling Cattle with Horns

D

DoubleR

Well-known Member
Location
Mid Mi
The guy down the road asked me to haul a couple of animals to the slaughter house for him. About a 40 mile trip. I have a 16ft. Corn Pro steel trailer that I take good care of and is still like new. When hauling a couple of market animals I normally put one in the front and one in the rear with the divider gate separating them.
He has Scottish Highlanders with long horns. I never dealt with nor wanted to get involved with anything with horns other than dehorning small Holstein steers. He said he would do the loading and unloading.
My question is, will these guys bang up or scratch up the inside of my trailer with their horns? I know Its Just a Trailer but I'm pretty particular about my stuff and I don't want the thing scratched up over a one time sweet heart favor for a neighbor. I tried Google but found nothing that would answer my question.
 
(quoted from post at 14:56:11 08/05/15) The guy down the road asked me to haul a couple of animals to the slaughter house for him. About a 40 mile trip. I have a 16ft. Corn Pro steel trailer that I take good care of and is still like new. When hauling a couple of market animals I normally put one in the front and one in the rear with the divider gate separating them.
He has Scottish Highlanders with long horns. I never dealt with nor wanted to get involved with anything with horns other than dehorning small Holstein steers. He said he would do the loading and unloading.
My question is, will these guys bang up or scratch up the inside of my trailer with their horns? I know Its Just a Trailer but I'm pretty particular about my stuff and I don't want the thing scratched up over a one time sweet heart favor for a neighbor. I tried Google but found nothing that would answer my question.
Click to expand...
his has got to be a joke! You are just pulling our leg.....right?
 
From a bit of experience with an acquaintance who raised some Scottish Highlands, they're typically fairly calm. Maybe a chunk of foam rubber and duct tape around the tips would help if you're worried about scratching.
 
yes.. horned cows could scratch your trailer.. or even put small dimple dents in it, looks the same as hail damage.

While I don't care about scratches or dents in my horse and stock trailers, I was once hauling horned cattle in an open bar stock trailer, and just to keep horns from poking out while I was stopped , I slid in a couple sheets of plywood down each side on the walls, just because I had them leftover from a roofing project. was the cheap OSB stuff for like 15$ a panel.

And that was only because I had to make a couple stops and have the trailer set in a parking lot, and I didn't want 2' of horn to pop out if people walked by or came up to look.

If the cows are TAME.. you MIGHT get away with putting foam on the horn tips with duct tape.. that's your call.
 
There are quite a few longhorn cattle raised in this area. The wife was wondering how they work them. They shurly
won't fit in a chute like our polled Shorthorns do. My theory is those ranchers have friends that bring their horses and rope them and hold old fashioned roundups. That may be the main reason some people keep cattle. Longhorns might be worth more for roping than beef. Then they are sold for beef when roped out.
Sorry to hijack but you got some good answers.
 
I don't have a specific answer, but I understand your hesitation. I wash my trailer inside and out with a pressure washer after every use, and even though it is 5 years old and hauled many loads of cattle, it would be hard pressed to tell it from new. When friends and neighbors want to borrow it, I say sure, but please bring it back in the same condition you took it in. One neighbor took me up on the offer, and did bring it back just as clean as it left. He did say he would never borrow it again though because it was too much work to clean it up to make it look like it did when he took it. I work darn hard for my money, and my things are taken care of. If someone wants to borrow them, fine. But I expect them to be treated the same way I treat them.
 
I appreciate the constructive response and got some ideas from you.
I realize that maybe I do sound a little ridiculous to some. I just have more time than I do money to take care of my things and for me, it pays off. The last two cattle trailers I've owned I brought used and had them in service for well over 10 years each and sold them for more than I paid for them. I doubled the money I paid for the 16 ft. flatbed I brought new 15 years ago when I replaced it with a new 20 footer this last winter.
 
Amen!!!

I mean, to each his own - but it's not really worth buying good stuff if you can't use it.

I've got a brother that keeps his equipment all shiny new and sparkling clean.

Drives me NUTS!

He spends more time keeping it all looking perfect than he does using it - no exaggeration. Ask him to borrow something and you can see the pain on his face as he envisions something getting dirty or scratched.

He restored a little fishing boat and put it in the water once. He's too afraid it'll get dirty, so he bought a beater version that he can actually use. That's been in the water twice - it's nice and he got a good deal on it - so he feels it's too perfect and he wants to keep it that way.

God forbid he ever owned a tractor, I KNOW he'd have armor-alled turf tires on it and swap them out with regular tires any time it had to go near dirt.

So much more to worry about in this world than your stuff showing signs of use - and a stock trailer of all things.

Load it up and smack the last cow on the butt to get some war wounds on the trailer, you'll feel a sense of relief once you no longer have to live in fear of scratches.

Not to mention, anytime anybody sees on on the road they're going to think "look at how perfect everything is, must be one of THOSE horse owners" - and who the heck wants to be mistaken for one of them? :)

There - I have vented.

For the record - this venting is really more about my brother than you!

He really does drive me nuts, and you and a few others here just reminded me of him!
 
if it were me, i'd take a pass on the hauling. tell the guy politely, sorry, but i am not comfortable hauling them. not familiar with them and i dont want anything to happen. it sounds like he want you to do a freebie hauling them. you keep your machinery nice, and if the cows beat up the trailer, then what? your neighbor got his cows hauled for free, and you have a trailer all beat up. been there, done that. i dont haul anything for anybody, nor do i let anybody borrow my trailers. had too much stuff get damaged and i had to eat the repairs.
 
In the neighbor's shoes, it would really bother me if you were upset at the end of the deal because there really wouldn't be much I could do to make it better (short of buying you a new trailer, and in that case I may as well buy my own). If you can live with a couple dings and/or scratches, go for it. If it is really going to bother you that much, you are doing the neighbor a bigger favor by not hauling the cattle.

Having said all of that, why don't you just pull the fuse? Then the horns won't work!

Sorry, its just kinda funny to envision the cattle with these various things stuck on their horns. Be sure to update us on how it goes!
 
(quoted from post at 13:27:20 08/05/15) In the neighbor's shoes, it would really bother me if you were upset at the end of the deal because there really wouldn't be much I could do to make it better (short of buying you a new trailer, and in that case I may as well buy my own). If you can live with a couple dings and/or scratches, go for it. If it is really going to bother you that much, you are doing the neighbor a bigger favor by not hauling the cattle.

Having said all of that, why don't you just pull the fuse? Then the horns won't work!

Sorry, its just kinda funny to envision the cattle with these various things stuck on their horns. Be sure to update us on how it goes!
Click to expand...
r just de-horn them first. Then only have the blood to deal with.
 
Just got my utility trailer back from the friend who borrowed it, with the rear axle chained on top of the bed- "just fell off" going down the interstate. Thankfully, no injuries or damage to anything except my trailer. He wanted to know if I knew of another trailer to borrow, then left. Grandpa always told me to return borrowed items better than you got them, which was not hard with the one or two things he ever borrowed- the owners let him do all the maintenance for them.
 
I like a guy who takes care of his stuff. I don't loan anybody anything anymore, if it does come back still in usable condition its greasy or dirty, most of the time I have to go get it. Brother inlaw sent some idiot down a few years ago that had a problem with a Farmall Super C, told him I'd help him out. Every suggestion I came up with he shot down before I got it out of my mouth, guy wanted to try an extra carb. I had, told him not to bring it back for week, going on vacation. I forgot about it for a year, called the scum up two nights in a row and reminded him of what a slime bag he was. It isn't worth the hassle, I'd respectfully decline.
 
It's your trailer, use it however you want. Hauling cattle even without horns for 40 miles would likely still scratch and dent your trailer paint enough that you will always notice it is no longer new. If the damage will bother you I would refund your neighbor's money and let him find someone else or hire a commercial livestock trucker to haul the livestock.
 
(quoted from post at 06:56:11 08/05/15) The guy down the road asked me to haul a couple of animals to the slaughter house for him. About a 40 mile trip. I have a 16ft. Corn Pro steel trailer that I take good care of and is still like new. When hauling a couple of market animals I normally put one in the front and one in the rear with the divider gate separating them.
He has Scottish Highlanders with long horns. I never dealt with nor wanted to get involved with anything with horns other than dehorning small Holstein steers. He said he would do the loading and unloading.
My question is, will these guys bang up or scratch up the inside of my trailer with their horns? I know Its Just a Trailer but I'm pretty particular about my stuff and I don't want the thing scratched up over a one time sweet heart favor for a neighbor. I tried Google but found nothing that would answer my question.
Click to expand...

Go to your local UPS shipping store and buy a large amount of bubble wrap and wrap the entire set of cows in the bubble wrap. Make sure to leave the nose/mouth area open to allow cow to breath.
 
I haul cattle and goats with horns no big deal and they don't particularly damage anything,but now get a 800 lb calf that has never been rounded up before and they can knock a few dents in the trailer.I bought my trailer to use not to admire and go out on the town in it though.
 
(quoted from post at 16:03:15 08/05/15) There are quite a few longhorn cattle raised in this area. The wife was wondering how they work them. They shurly
won't fit in a chute like our polled Shorthorns do. My theory is those ranchers have friends that bring their horses and rope them and hold old fashioned roundups. That may be the main reason some people keep cattle. Longhorns might be worth more for roping than beef. Then they are sold for beef when roped out.
Sorry to hijack but you got some good answers.
Click to expand...

I work mine in a medina.
 
Well if your really worried about it getting scratched than I would pass on hauling them. There is always the chance that they could scratch the inside of the trailer. I like my stuff nice too but not so nice I am afraid to use it.

As for the horned cattle. I had horned Hereford cattle for years. I never dehorned anything that was staying on the farm like bulls and brood cows. They really where not any harder to handle than the half crazy Angus cattle everyone wants these days.
 
(quoted from post at 09:24:35 08/05/15) go to your local Academy sports center and buy 4 tennis balls and pop em on end of problem
Click to expand...

And put shoes on their feet so they don't get the floor dirty.
 
I hauled my Highland bull (1600 lbs) in the front area & cow in back area, 600 miles. Don't see any scratches or dents & it still looks like new. They know exactly where those horns are at all times & unless you're a very bad driver or they are very wild, the trailer won't get hurt. Even hauling a pair of cows w/calves 300 miles didn't hurt. Your mileage may vary.
 
If you want to keep the trailer walls from scratches and denting,..line the inside with 1/2" plywood
 
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