Getting to grips with moving mobiles
The concept of incorporating the latest in automated feeding, drinking and nesting equipment into a chicken house that can be moved is one that has proved popular with many producers.
But when it comes to shifting these structures, which to be commercially viable tend to be large in nature, producers' enthusiasm for the idea can quickly wane.
But not so for BFREPA member Georg van den Berg who, having previously struggled to move his three houses, now positively relishes the job since buying the 1941 Scammel winch truck pictured above.
Georg told the Ranger that when he first bought the 2,000 bird houses they came complete with a video of instructions which featured shots of a tractor effortlessly pulling the house around the field.
"So I lined up a contactor who came with a 120 hp tractor and I pointed to where I wanted the house to go," said Georg, "and nothing happened!
"We then attached two more tractors and still no joy, although by now we were making a grand job of carving up the field."
Georg's next effort involved a tracked excavator which was still not up to the job and finally he got the house moving with a winch fitted to the back of a tractor.
All was going well until the strain caused the winch's gearbox to fall to bits. But to the rescue came a friendly neighbour with an old army vehicle, lovingly restored, but this too ended in tears as that winch suffered massive mechanical failure, this time leaving Georg feeling obliged to pay for repairs.
Georg, who farms organically near Crewkerne, Somerset, finally got the house repositioned using a huge recovery vehicle but was determined not to be caught out like this again and began planning the next move in good time. He got in touch with contractors around the southwest specialising in winch machinery and had several of them come to look at the job.
"Some of them just didn't want to know," said Georg, who believes the task was just too big for them. "I finally found someone who agreed to do it but then they didn't turn up on the day, probably due to a touch of nerves."
Georg was back on the phone, this time gripped with a sense of panic induced by the knowledge that his new flock were due to arrive one week later. He came across the owner of the Scammel who, while happy to take the job on, wanted £2,000 for doing so. Alternatively, he was given the chance to purchase the machine for £7,000, which included delivery from Weston-super-Mere.
"I certainly hadn't budgeted to spend that sort of money but I was getting pretty desperate by this stage," recalls Georg, "and I consoled myself with the thought that it might pay for itself over the coming years."
The Scammel, which saw Second World War service in North Africa and Malaysia, made short work of moving the house and Georg, pictured below, is well pleased with his purchase.
"It is an exhilarating experience," said Georg, as he ran through the procedure. "With the winch cable attached the first thing that happens is the house stays where it is while the truck starts to move backwards until it anchors itself into the ground.
"By this time it's pushed up a heap of soil behind it around a metre high and the front wheels then come off the ground...then the shed begins to move."
Georg says that while the weight of his sheds—which measure 21 metres by 8 metres after the scratch areas have been detached—is just over nine ton, he estimates they require a pull of 60 tons to get them moving.
"It's the initial pull that is the problem as you try and break the seal between the ground and the skids," said Georg. "Once you've got over that I think a tractor probably would manage to tow them around."
And if any mobile chicken house owner wants to hire the machine, that's fine by Georg, although moving it around the country could prove expensive for with a top road speed of only 20 mph a low-loader is the only answer.
