Carrying precious cargo across Australia, the livestock transport industry requires a special approach to handling such meaty cargo.
Father and son duo Gerry and Leigh Gotch have developed a finely tuned understanding of what farmers require when transporting their valuable animals.
Over recent years, as demand for the Gotch family’s Willandra Transport services has grown, a 550hp Iveco Stralis rigid and dog was replaced with a Kenworth K200 and a 48′ single deck Truck Art stock trailer.
To complement the 550hp Cummins X15 powered Kenworth, Leigh wanted the flexibility that comes with a rigid and considered the possibilities of using an 8×4 Iveco S-Way. When it came time to acquire the rigid Leigh knew exactly what he wanted, with the decision proving to be spot on.
Home for Leigh and his family, including wife Amy, is 100 acres at Huntley near Orange in central western New South Wales which supports 40 cows and calves. Livestock transport has become the main factor in the family enterprise, and on average the single deck semi travels up to 120,000 kilometres per year, with the rigid covering up to 90,000 kilometres.
Happily declaring himself to be “semi-retired”, Leigh’s father Gerry remains very active in the business he started, and he still drives occasionally.
Gerry originally operated a venerable International T2670 truck and dog combination and was one of the first operators to have an Iveco west of the Blue Mountains. The first Iveco was obtained in 2002, a Eurotech powered by a 430hp Cursor engine, which was subsequently replaced by other Ivecos, including rigid and prime mover Eurotech and Stralis trucks over the ensuing years.
Sometimes travelling to Queensland and Victoria, the current trucks perform a lot of their work out in the hills around Sofala, Hill End, and Sally’s Flat, where Gerry was based when he first started carrying wool to Newcastle two or three times per week, often for months on end. The road from Sally’s Flat to Mudgee was 70 kilometres of dirt, with another 60 kilometres of unsealed road in the other direction to Bathurst.
The Iveco brand holds great sway with the father-son duo, as the latest S-Way is the sixth Iveco the Gotch family has owned.
“We’ve been happy with them and have stuck with them to do rigid work for 20-odd years,” says Leigh. “Not a big truck but comfortable, with good power.
“They tick all the boxes. I didn’t even take it for a test drive, you just know when something is right. This S-Way is the easiest truck I’ve ever driven.”
The S-Way has had its wheelbase extended by 700mm, allowing for a tray length just under 32 feet (9.75 metres) while still keeping the overall length with the regulations 12.5 metres.
Despite the extended wheelbase, Leigh describes the turning circle as “pretty good.” Extending the wheelbase resulted in providing the space for an additional long range fuel tank.
Nixon’s Engineering in Wagga constructed the tray while Truck Art made the stock crate, toolboxes, hose boxes and the dog box.
A major contributor to the success of the S-Way 8X4 has been Sydney Iveco Dealer Principal, Daniel Glynn.
“I can’t speak highly enough of Daniel. He’s fantastic,” says Leigh.
“There were a few hiccups along the way with cutting and extending the chassis and he stepped in and took control.
“Everything he said he was going to do got done when he said it was going to get done and it was just easy.”
The versatility of the eight-wheeler becomes more evident when the stock crate is removed.
It only takes 15 to 20 minutes to remove the stock crate from the S-Way by removing eight bolts per side. Once the crate is supported on its wind-up legs, it’s a simple matter to drop the trucks’ suspension height by adjusting the air bags and driving out from under the crate.
Without the crate, the S-Way can load 86 wool bales stacked four high and still be within its gross weight allowance which highlights the advantage of the twin steer 8×4 configuration, creating a zero risk of overloading.
“We’re constantly going over weighbridges through the mountains,” says Leigh. “With 15 cows each weighing 700kg plus we’re still around three tonnes under the limit on the steer axles.”
The trucks mostly operate to and from the Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange at Carcoar, located between Bathurst and Cowra.
A typical week involves delivering fat cattle on Monday, with sheep and lambs on Tuesday and Wednesday. The rest of the week usually involves transporting hay and wool.
Once a month a load of Wagyu beef cattle is taken from Bathurst to the Warwick abattoir in Queensland.
A regular annual task is transporting around 60 head of show cattle to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, as well as sheep for the shearing competitions.
When Willandra Transport first started back at Sally’s Flat in the late ‘80’s, work was around 80 per cent wool and 20 per cent livestock.
“We were in pretty rough country, so why would a city bloke from, say, Bathurst want to travel 120k of dirt to get a load if they’re flat out in town?” asks Leigh. “Locals asked if we could do other jobs and it just expanded.”
Gerry stored up to 100 bales of wool in his shed and fitted a grab to a tractor to enable him to load two bales at a time, providing a service to graziers to shift their wool.
This avoided farmers waiting a month to get a carrier to collect the wool on a semi simply because the transporter wanted to consolidate a full load.
Now, when there is an excess of work, trusted subcontractors Micky and Emily Dyer from nearby Molong are called in.
“Now that Dad is slowing down, they have come on board during the past two years,” says Leigh.
“Their involvement has been fundamentally important with keeping the WT (Willandra Transport) name out there and moving the business forward and that is very much appreciated.”
As with any business, the challenge is to be competitive and offer a good service.
“The business has been successful and progressive as the years have gone on because we’ve had our own little niche market,” says Leigh.
“There’s a lot of 28-foot bogie trucks getting around as well as 20 footers. But you find if you’re above 30 feet you get an extra 20 lambs on, so instead of 180, we can get 200.
“We can go to a lot of places where’s there’s 15 cows, but a 28-foot crate can only handle twelve.”
As a result of strong stock prices over the past few years many farmers are now investing in better yards and facilities.
“It’s definitely getting better,” says Leigh. “When I first started the majority were still working in their grandfather’s wooden yards, now everyone has got steel yards and are putting their yards in better locations.
“Trucks are also evolving and getting bigger. In the old days a lot of yards were built at the top of a hill, and you had to back up to it and access was often an issue.
“There are still a lot of places we go into where the diff locks are engaged for two or three kilometres whether it’s dry or wet.”
Both Gerry and Leigh have backgrounds in motorsport, particularly rallying, so negotiating “roads” with poor traction is second nature to them, even in a truck with precious live cargo on board.
Ten years ago, Gerry and wife Helen decided to slow down and transfer the business to Leigh and Amy.
“I regard this as my greatest achievement,” says Leigh.
“I certainly have felt the responsibility of running the business that Dad had built up over years of hard work to have a great reputation and always putting the clients first. I’ve always kept that in mind alongside my ambition to grow the business.”
Leigh says one of the best parts of his job is getting to see the countryside.
“I go to a lot of places which look different, and I meet a lot of good people while providing a service that people genuinely appreciate.”
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