# Exporting Cattle



## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Rather interesting article on exporting dairy cattle

http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/exporting-live-animals-easier-thanks-to-the-rickenbacker-airport/269521.html


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Interesting article.

I wonder how expensive it is to fly a cow to another country? It cost me $350 to have a puppy flown here from British Columbia.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

Quite a few of the bigger operations here are shipping bred beef cows, heifers, and some bulls over to Kazakhstan. Sounds like they get paid quite well but no idea what it costs to fly em over there.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Some years ago, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the export of several thousand pigs (purebred) to Mexico. Mostly took care of logistics. Pigs were flown as feeder pigs on three separate flights.

We hired an outfit out of Canada to take care of the export legalities and airplane stuff. Pigs departed Atlanta's Hartfield airport and arrived in Veracruz, MX.

We trucked about 1000 head to Atlanta on two trucks with team drivers (X 3 trips over a couple months). Met up with a USDA vet at a facility at Hartsfield built for the purpose of handling the shipments of animals (mostly horses) for the Atlanta Olympics.

From a schedule point of view, the goal was to have the plane load of pigs land in Veracruz ~01, 02:00 hrs. Coolest part of the day for a lengthy unload. Have Mexican trucks loaded up and leaving the airport at daybreak.

So it would start with a 5 am load time at the farm here in the US. A USDA vet was present for loading to confirm paperwork, animal ID's and such. When a truck was loaded, the vet would put tamperproof seals on all of the trailers gates/doors. Once both trucks were loaded, we left together and headed to Atlanta. Arrive Atlanta at the USDA facility at the airport in the mid afternoon. The vet would have us pull into the confines of the facilities fence and we would hook the trucks water fogging systems up to hoses and sit for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours waiting on confirmation the plane was en route. Once confirmation the plane was coming, we left the confines of the USDA facility and was escorted out onto the ramp and the process of containerizing the pigs began.

We went to the freight/cargo area of the airport which seemed like the other side of the airport. Those people on those baggage trains just looked at us like what the hell is going on. The export company we hired built containers to hold the pigs. They were constructed to fit the fuselage of the plane. You've seen a new piece of equipment on a skid that has a wood frame built around it help protect and support it right? That's what we had. A wooden frame covered in bird wire. There were two levels. The bottom one was about 12' wide. The top one was 6-7' wide and centered on the bottom one so that it formed the shape of the fuselage. Every one of these containers were about 5' deep. So in the plane there was a container every 5' from the tail to the bulkhead.

We used airport equipment to handle the containers. There was a cargo lift that would lift the container to the back of the truck. The truck had two decks. Unloaded the top deck first. Had to use a "bridge" between the truck and the container around two foot long for the pigs to walk across. Fill the bottom of the container first then lower it down a little to load to top of the container. Once full, the container was moved onto a cargo "trailer" similar to the baggage carts you see on the ramp. Hook five or six together and a tug would pull them into an empty hangar to wait. We did this container after container for two trucks and took a couple of hours to complete. We turned the exhaust fans on in the empty hangar and opened a door. We park the trains of containers in a semi circle just inside the door so the negative pressure air breeze was blowing across them. Worked good.

Once the plane arrived (early evening) we didn't waste much time. The most important thing about putting these animals on a plane is the ventilation inside the plane while it's being loaded. We had several of those big AC units with the big flexible hoses hooked up to the plane. One hose was stuck in the rear emergency exit pointing forward. Once was stuck in the emergency door over the wing and the other was in the front pointing back.

We had a cargo handling machine with the powered wheels in it's bed to maneuver the containers. Load one on the machine. It would raise it up to the planes' cargo door. The powered wheels would roll it into the plane and two guys in the plane would push the container to the back. One after another until the plane was full. Once full, the doors were closed and we pushed away. I flew on the first and third shipments as a groom.

The air cargo company we used was Lan Chile. The first trip was Chilean based flight crew. They flew up from Miami to pick us up. I climbed into the plane and sat down in a seat next to the bulkhead. I asked the plane's loadmaster (damn good guy) if I could ride in the cockpit. "F*** yea you can ride up there. I opened the door and stepped in. There were three "pilots" in there. The pilot, co pilot, and another pilot who rotated in for long work hours. I sat down in a jump seat, strapped in and put on a headset. We're starting to roll from the hangar and the co pilot gets on the radio to the tower requesting takeoff. This copilot speaks a hard to understand english. He was saying "Flight XXXX reqweesting a preeeority takeoff. Leeve animals on board". Guy in the tower says "uhhh, anybody get that? I didn't understand that." No one did. So one of the other pilots who spoke really good english jumps in and says "Flight XXX requesting a priority takeoff. Live animals on board." Guy in the tower says "Ohh, ok, ya, we'll take care of you hold on a second." Guy comes back and rattles off a bunch of numbers and stuff and we turn right heading down the taxiway. We turn onto the end of the runway, pilot pours the coal to it and we take off. Never stopped. A guy with the export company waited around on the ramp to watch the plane. Once we got wheels up, he called my boss back home to confirm wheels up.

That takeoff sitting in the cockpit was awesome. It was a privilege to ride up there. Never will forget it.

After a flight over the gulf, we'd land in Veracruz in the early morning. The Mexican crew unloaded the plane and put each container onto a flatbed trailer. Our convoy of trucks had an armed escort from the airport six hours to the farm. Never stopped anywhere. Straight through stop lights and stop signs. At the farm, they took the pigs out of the containers and into a barn. The containers were all piled up at the edge of the property and burned.

My second trip on the third flight was pretty much the same. It was an American based flight crew. A woman pilot. She was really cool. I asked her if I could fly the plane. "Uhhh, no, I don't thing so." I have a class A license. Is that good for anything? "No, forget about it." It was all in jist. She suction cupped her new technology, at the time, GPS unit to the window and we left a cookie crumb trail all the way to Veracruz. We had to fly around some T storms that night. She was pointing on the radar where she wanted to fly through the storm. Thread the needle.

As it turns out, she was telling me, Veracruz has a short runway based on our weight. She took a steeper angle of descent vs. a typical approach that would carry more speed. She had two concerns. She wanted to land on the runway, not it it and not run off the end. I'd say she nailed it.

This flight, I got back on the plane and flew with it to Mexico City. From there I picked up a Delta flight back to the states.

As far as costs. It seems expensive but it's the right price if you want to get your stuff a long way away is a short amount of time. Each of these three chartered flights cost $79,000 each.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

That's a dang good story Bonfire....did you get any tickets yet for the Battle at Bristol?

Regards, Mike


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Vol said:


> That's a dang good story Bonfire....did you get any tickets yet for the Battle at Bristol?
> 
> Regards, Mike


No I haven't yet. When I do, I'm going to get yours as well so we all sit together. I'll even sing Rocky Top with ya.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

Wow Haytalk never disappoints for widely varied adventures in AG. Thanks that was a good read.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Dill said:


> Wow Haytalk never disappoints for widely varied adventures in AG. Thanks that was a good read.


Thanks.

There's just so much behind the scenes stuff going on that it can become overwhelming. The most important thing up front is the health status of the animals being exported.

The farm used in the US was a brand new facility and we used it as our isolation prior to shipment. Getting blood samples from 3,500 18lb pigs is a chore in itself. The lab results have to be negative for a litany of diseases. I wasn't too worried about disease problems because of the biosecurtity procedures and lots and lots of input from the vet we had.

I should have mentioned the disinfecting of the inside of the plane prior to loading. Turns out, airline companies are very, very particular about what you may spray inside their plane (rightly so). It's a corrosion issue. No water allowed. Our USDA vet in Atlanta sprayed a disinfectant that is "airplane friendly". Won't have an effect on the AL.

On our third shipment, while transferring from truck to container, Hartsfield's firefighters pulled up and hung out for a while and watched. They got a kick out of it. They had never seen anything like it before. They had been at an empty area of the ramp doing some training and came over when they finished.

Funny thing about a USDA vet involved with the export of animals at an airport. They have lots of authority. They can get gates opened and people moving. When the welfare of the animal is involved, they run the show.

When it was time to leave the USDA facility at Hartsfield and head out onto the ramp, we unhooked the hoses from the trucks fogging system and put the hoses up in the nose of the trailers to run a stream of water down through the trailer so the pigs could get another opportunity to get a drink of water. I was kinda concerned about the water running out the back of the trailers, across 10' of parking lot and into a storm drain, being poo in it and all. I was told it would be fine.

I sure could get a good nap in the bunk of the sleeper berth while waiting in that facility.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

That's very interesting Bonfire. That'd be one experience not very many people get to experience. Heck most people wouldn't even know about exporting livestock


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