Livestock haulage by its very nature is one of the more specialised fields in road transport which has its own set of unique challenges and requirements for operators.
Within that, the movement of live bees is definitely a niche area and one that has to be carried out with a great deal of care and attention.
For honey producer Anthony Pullen, his Freightliner Argosy is the workhorse of his business, shifting his 1200 hives and bees around following the blossom and generating ‘golden goodness’.
Based at Murrami between Leeton and Griffith in New South Wales, the Pullen’s Honey operation works right across New South Wales and down into Victoria, with Anthony’s rigid Argosy having plenty of get-up and go available to shift his hives safely and quickly from place to place.
Anthony, along with partner Louise and son Thomas had the Argosy polished up for its annual ‘day out’ at the recent Weetalle Truck Show where it had been a category winner in past years.
“She’s a farm truck – not a show pony by any stretch,” said Anthony with a smile.
“I found it on Facebook up at Barradine up in northern New South Wales and bought her home – initially it was a prime mover, but Nixons in Wagga did all the modifications to stretch it and fit the 7.5 metre tray,” he explained.
Having got the 2005-model truck on the road and put to work, disaster struck with the motor detonating itself with Anthony having only clocked 13,000 kilometres with his new rig.
“It was a bit of a rough start; I had the whole thing on the road for 50 grand and then it cost me another 50 for the new motor.
“I have only done around 30,000 kilometres on the new motor; everything is brand new. It’s got a Cummins Signature Gen 2 rated at 620hp – it’s the biggest rigid known around the place, 620 horses for a 12-tonne truck – it’s a bit of overkill.
“I came up the Clyde Mountain fully loaded and was passing cars, so I had to back it off a bit,” he said with a grin.
Having had a 6-tonne UD previously, the step up to the Freightliner was a big one and one that made a significant difference Anthony in getting his hives and bees where they need to be, with a lot of driving off the blacktop.
“You can’t buy any rigids with decent horsepower – you have a bigger rigid with 300 horsepower, and you put a trailer running behind it through the hills you’re back to first gear.
“With this we are 22.5 tonne loaded so it’s obviously a bit of a step-up from the UD.
“We can cart 120 hives at a time, and I have an articulated loader as well, we just drop the bags and run a couple of ramps, and it sits on the back to the tray pretty well.”
“Length is also a factor, so we went with the cab-over – it has the big bunk so we both sleep in it when we go away and it’s really comfortable,” said Anthony.
Clocking up around 50,000 kilometres annually the Freightliner would not be considered a linehaul truck, but the work it does cannot be understated, with the Argosy having prior to the Weethalle Truck Show just done trips to Casino in northern New South Wales and south to Kyalite on the Victorian border.
“It can be a hard gig…getting stung is just part of the job! it is a bit of a speciality thing, and you have to travel through the night. It’s a matter of following the seasons and the flowering of crops at various times.
We have 1200 hives – 10 truckloads to cart about. Generally, they are on-site for a couple of weeks, we are on almond pollination at the minute so they will be there for four weeks and then the seed canola pollination for another four to six weeks,” he explained.
With Weethalle rolling around again, the Freightliner had received a bit of TLC in the week before its annual journey to take its place in the truck show lineup.
“Thomas isn’t keen on the bees as he hates getting stung but he likes working on the truck so all the kids polish her up and put it in – we won second best rigid with it last year, so we will see if there is any glory here for it this year,” Anthnoy said.
Perhaps one of the most telling statements was written on the mudflaps fitted to the front of the Freightliner which stated: “No Bees = No Food…buy Australian Honey,” highlighting the importance of bees and role they play in primary production, and the fact that Australian beekeepers and their livelihoods are under threat from imported honey ending up on the supermarket shelf.
It’s a fact not lost on Anthony: “Everyone goes and buys the cheapest honey from China, and they are not reading the label…it’s very important that everyone buys Australian honey – it’s a dying industry.
“I don’t really care who’s honey it is just buy Australian – it helps everyone.”