Livestock rails

[Bettacreek]

So, I need to know how to do the livestock rails for trucks to haul livestock in the back of a pickup. The sides are pretty much self explanatory, but what about the back above the tailgate? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[big brown horse]

Bee will know, she hauled a whole cow in the back of her pickup. Holy Cow!!

 

[Up-the-Creek]

The back you hinge it like a gate,..in two pieces that meet in the middle and latch. You can use the tailgate of the truck or make your gates taller and remove the tailgate or just leave it dropped. Removing the tailgate can make things easier,especially if your moving large livestock.

 

[Bettacreek]

especially if your moving large livestock.

Just how big are we talking here? How big can you go in one of these set-ups?

 

[Up-the-Creek]

especially if your moving large livestock.

Just how big are we talking here? How big can you go in one of these set-ups?

We've moved cattle like this and horses if the need arised.

 

[Beekissed]

My racks were given to me by a guy who had a bigger truck, so I had to cut them down to fit my truck. I didn't remove the tailgate, as these racks were made to accomodate the tailgate. Some folks hinge their back gate, but mine just has hasps that have pegs that fit down in them. Same with the section that fits on the other end of the truck bed~which is a handy to thing to have...don't want to have a hoof come through one's back glass.

A hinge is nice but it has to be pretty strong to prevent sagging, and this gets in the way when you want to take the racks off. My racks all come off separately, all have the hasps with the wooden pegs that fit down in to connect them at the corners. It's really quite sturdy when it's all put together.

I didn't have any place on this silly truck to fit the 2x4s on the racks, so I had to improvise and jimmy things around a bit. The guys at the feed store were quite impressed with my ingenuity....

I wish I had a pic but I have converted my racks into gates when they are not being used on the truck. Now that I don't have cows to haul around, I am going to devise a much lighter, shorter set of racks so that I can use them for my sheep.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Everyone builds these racks differently, hinged, pegged,..there is no set design to do it. Build them the way they will work best for you. The front rack is important as Bee said,..you don't want a hoof through your back glass,.BUT,..it can still happen,...That is like the tailgate,..depending on what you are moving and how much you value your tailgate would also add to how you design your racks. Tailgates arent cheap to replace and a cow can do some serious damage to one,...well actually they can seriously damage the whole truck,...especially a mad bull,... but that's another story.