Stock trailer and Tow vehicle for Oxen?

[dlskidmore]

I’m currently trying to decide if I want to fix up my old F-150 (2001, 136,000 miles) or get a vehicle more suited for heavy towing. I need to decide soon as winter tires are one of the things she needs, and although I don’t commute with her every day, I can’t guarantee I won’t need her on a snowy day.

She needs new winter tires, a new cross member under the bed, and we may as well do some rust treatment if I have the bed off for the cross member repair. I also need to add a hitch and make sure she’s up to spec for towing brake and cooling wise. She is geared for towing, very low first gear, manual transmission. She is a nice truck, I like her, but I’m ready to move on if she’s not going to meet my future farm needs. I’ve rather been wishing I’d gotten 4 wheel drive the first time…

The garage thinks I can keep on trucking without repairing the member, but she makes horrible noises, and I worry about what may happen when I have a half ton of pumpkins in the bed…

I’m considering picking up a pair of oxen in the future, and I may want to take them to some community fairs and such, (and eventually the butcher) so I need to a stock trailer that can haul a full grown pair of oxen and a bit of equipment. (I’m not going real far, just local county shows, and even the state show is less than 2 hour drive, so I could drive larger equipment like a wagon down ahead of time and take two trips.) I also need my truck capable of hauling that load.

I will probably more often use the stock trailer to move sheep, but I can probably rig up some divider panels for that use in a larger trailer. I’m not moving enough animals far enough to justify a double decker sheep trailer.

Recommended stock trailer specs? Will a 2001 Ford F-150 cut the mustard if I fix her up?

[dominiquer60]

If you want to move a pair and some equipment, you may want a 16′ stock trailer. A bumper pull can be tongue heavy. I would be more comfortable using a 3/4T with a full sized pair of oxen, but the 150 may work for a couple of years until you need something for a larger pair.

[Brad Johnson]

Getting a load going with a 1/2 ton works fine, but controlled breaking is tough given how light the truck is. I use a 3/4 ton with a 16′ bumper pull trailer for my two drafts and log arch all in together.
-Brad

[dlskidmore]

Wow, I asked a question on the internet, and all the answers agree!

If the truck is beefy enough to handle the 16′ as a bumper tow, is there an advantage to going with a goose neck instead?

[dominiquer60]

The gooseneck makes the trailer longer and heavier. The gooseneck offers more room for stuff and some find them easier to drive and back up. It is a matter of personal preference.

[dlskidmore]

…but you’re always stuck with that goose neck connection in the bed of the truck, and you loose the cargo space in the truck when you’ve got the goose neck trailer hitched up?

[Will Stephens]

Neck can be done with a reversible ball, etc. You could add air bladder to rear suspension to deal with increased tongue weight. Trailer brakes take care of most of the problems with the smaller capacity brakes you have on your truck. The new cross member can be done in an afternoon with wood (we did a friends ’01 f-150 last winter and its working fine.
I run a F-250 and still use trailer brakes towing anything over 3500 pounds to save brake and transmission wear. 12,000 lbs. with my F-450 I use trailer brakes.

By the time you buy all the parts you have an older rusting truck with a bunch of expensive parts and new tires that still isn’t FWD. I would try to find truck that has what you already want and sell your truck for money towards the new one. I just sold my 1997 F-250 with FWD, tow bar, electric brake controller, lots of new parts ( I’m a maintenance nut!) and destroyed front seat and 110,000 miles on it for $3500.00. Your truck is worth $1500 – $2,000 now (unless its really bad). If you have some more money, all the better. BTW not sure if it sold yet but there has been a 16 ft stock trailer for sale on the green mountain draft horse association web site for a while. Would maybe make a deal.

Too bad there is no more Car Talk on NPR 🙁

[dlskidmore]

I’m definitely leaning towards 4 wheel drive and heavier truck, probably in the spring. Would love to have that and a stock box or trailer before I make butchering appointments for next winter. (Local place books up early, I’ll make appointments not long after I have a head count in the spring. Current stock mover won’t handle everybody that needs to go in one sitting.)

[dlskidmore]

Hubby is down on the oxen this year plan, but he’s on board with upgrading the truck and getting either a stock box or a trailer. Will be glad to be able to haul more than 3 lambs at a time. (Been using a 54″ dog crate.) I’m leaning towards the trailer, it’s a lesser climb for the stock, and more flexible for future endeavors. The stock box does have the fuel economy advantage in small long hauls, but I can always go back to the dog crate method if I want to pick up a single ram.

[Crabapple Farm]

For up to 15 lambs, we’ve always thrown together a box in the truck bed out of cattle panels. When it’s cold, I use a piece of plywood for the roof (supported by lumber racks) instead of the welded wire panels. We’ve got convenient length cattle and hog panels because we use them for lambing jugs and sorting/handling pens. All held together with baling twine and wiggle wires (spiraled wire connectors that we get from Premier). Quick to put together and quick to take apart again. And more comfortable than a dog crate.
But we just got a trailer that has made everything so much better, and our truck is falling apart so we’re using the market Van as a hauling vehicle, so this year the lambs got to go to the slaughterhouse in a proper rig.
A passenger van pulling a stock trailer does get some funny looks as we go down the road, but it works.

[dlskidmore]

I’ve considered making a larger crate from sheep panels. Does it even need a roof in good weather? But I don’t know as if that would hold up well when transporting pigs? (Pigs is the next project, hubby likes bacon too much to hold firmly to the no new projects line.)

[grey]

You do need a roof on your stock rack so the animals don’t volcano out the top in a panic. Even if it is just another cattle panel or a piece of plywood.

Rather than try to bolster up your current ride, I would upgrade to a 3/4T and 4WD that’s equipped to tow. You won’t be sorry and it will be cheaper in the long run. I liked the additional traction and tighter turning radius I had with my gooseneck but resented the loss of bedspace while the trailer was hooked up. This could have been cured by simply getting a slightly longer trailer.

I invested in the turnover hitch, which was totally worth it. Pull a pin and remove the ball. Re-insert the receiver ball upside-down. Results: a nearly-flush bed.

Two drafts hauled much better in a gooseneck than in a bumper-pull. I didn’t have any anti-sway bars, though, and that would have helped the bumper-pull situation.

[dlskidmore]

It’s come down to needing to actually act on this plan. The F-150 isn’t going to pass inspection in November. I’m not all that mechanically savvy, but I’m pretty sure parts of the suspension are not supposed to be sticking up through the bed of the truck. We’ve severely abused her this year, putting a ton in the back of the half ton pickup a couple of times, then there was the time a couple years ago when we got her stuck in the mud and a neighbor supplied an awful lot of force in the form of a very large tractor to get her out.

I’d started out looking on Craigslist. Saw a few good deals that got snatched up before I could get to them, then a bit of a dry spell. Looks like I could get another half ton pickup in a hurry if it came down to it, not a lot of 3/4 tons around, a few full tons here and there. The full tons are generally lower mileage and better shape than the 3/4 tons at the same price, I don’t drive a lot so the gas mileage doesn’t bother me much, only worry is how to park the thing when I do need to take it into town once a week or so. I’m thinking I’m probably going to need to get out a loan if I’m getting a 3/4 or full ton. I could take half my cash on hand and pay off my last school loan, then I’d have that payment money to put towards a truck loan. Only half tons are available in my cash range besides the occasional fleeting deal.

[dominiquer60]

I found a great truck at this place, the owner goes to the southern auction every week in CT. If he doesn’t have something, he might be able to find you something. He vets his vehicles well and was a pleasure to work with. It may be out of your way, but for me it was worth the 5 hour drive to the place.

http://northcountrymotorsinc.com/

Best Wishes,
Erika

[dlskidmore]

Thanks for the recommendation! They’re only 2 hours from me. Look like they have some nice deals available. Still in the borrow money range, but the borrow less money range. Hubby and I chatted, we committed to paying off the school loan so we have car payment budget. The credit union APR is a mite bit lower than the school loan, so that works out in our favor too.

Will probably put the stock trailer off until next year and stick with the crate in the back solution one more year.

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