It’s quite likely that the ham on your plate got from the farm to the slaughter plant courtesy of Steve Brandt.
At 39, Brandt is young to be the head of a major trucking company, but he said the expansion of Steve’s Livestock Transport is directly tied to the hog industry’s massive growth in recent years.
“As the hog industry started growing, we started trucking hogs and we’ve grown along with it and we’ve come to be what we are today.”
He started with one truck in 1986 and now oversees a fleet of about 100.
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Steve’s Livestock Transport is dedicated to shipping live animals. It takes both cattle and hogs, running its trucks across Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The company is based in Blumenort, Man., near the farm and feedlot where Brandt grew up. It also has wash bays in Brandon and Lacombe, Alta.
At one time most hog farms were small, producing only a handful of market hogs or breeding animals per week. Most farmers would ship their own hogs to market in small trucks.
But most farms are now much larger. Many hogs are transferred from farrowing farms to feeder barns when they are young and biosafety concerns have become paramount. This has meant most commercial producers now prefer to have their animals professionally shipped, and that is where Steve’s Livestock Transport has found its niche.
Following strict sanitary standards isn’t easy, and many other trucking companies haven’t been thrilled to comply with producers’ demands.
“Other truckers weren’t crazy about doing that,” said Brandt. “We had the attitude: tell us what you want and we’ll try to provide it.”
Once commercial producers found a trucker who would allay their health concerns, they began providing Steve’s with steady orders.
“That’s how we grew our business. The industry was crying out for sanitary equipment, biosecurity, down times, drying equipment.”
Hog shipping demands more from a trucker than goods hauling, since most other types of freight are not alive, intelligent and sensitive to the environment and social conditions.
“The driving is probably easier than the livestock handling,” said Brandt, who works closely with a veterinarian to make sure his staff is handling hogs and cattle correctly. Farmers don’t like to see their pigs arrive at the slaughter plant injured, dead or suffering from stress.
“Livestock are supposed to be live. Low stress is critically important.”
The attraction of the Alberta oil patch has caused labour shortages in many industries, and trucking is no exception. Brandt said he’s been able to face the challenge by putting his focus on his drivers, not the trucks.
“All you’re about (as a business) is people,” he said. “It’s a challenge, but we’re finding people.”
