North Tyne railway stories: The surfacemens’ bogey

By Clive Dalton

One of the great fascinations for us Noble Street kids going home from school in the village up past the railway yard, was to watch the arrival of the little bogey which carried the surfacemen (platelayers) from their Bellingham base to where they were working on the track. They did most of their work up the Tyne from Bellingham as the next gang was at Falstone. The Reedsmouth gang worked down the Tyne and did part of the Wansbeck line.

This little vehicle was basically a small wooden shed on a chassis with four wheels driven by a J.A.P. (J.A. Prestwich), air-cooled, two-stroke engine. I never saw how the power got from the engine to the wheels but it must have been a very simple drive, probably by belts.

There was a long wooden bench along one side to seat three men, and the same along the other. One man sitting at the front drove the bogey, looking out through one of two round windows of the front wall. In the Bellingham gang Jack Gibson was the driver.

The sides had solid wooden sliding doors of tongue and groove timber (with no windows), which were closed for travel in cold and wet weather.

You could here the bogey coming a long way up the line, with its popping engine and iron wheels clickety-clacking on the iron track. It used to come down under the Otterburn road bridge (by the Fairstead) and the mart field at a fair lick, until it slowed to drive into the siding and up to the door of its shed in the yard.

I'm nor sure now if they bogey carried a tablet like the engine drivers to avoid two trains being on the one line at the same time. If they didn't, they must have had some system of letting the signalman know at Bellingham when they were leaving their work location, so the signalman could change the points for them. Beside each surfacemen's hut there were some short rails at right angles to main line to park the bogey when the men were working.

I was allowed the privilege of watching the nightly arrival of the bogey at Bellingham because Tommy Davidson who was a surfaceman was our neighbour, and after the bogey had been put away, we would walk home together, having ‘a bit crack’.

To get the bogey off the track, the first job was to put a solid block of wood into a large iron pin in the middle of a sleeper directly opposite the middle of the shed. On this was placed a light iron frame of two rails which sat slightly higher than the main track when level.

This was tilted back to rest on the rails so the bogey could run up on to it. It was then slowly swung around by the handles on the outside made for the job. When in direct line with the shed, the back of the bogey was lifted by two or three men and it ran by itself into the she on small rails.

The driver who stood by the side of the bogey during this exercise then grabbed the brake before the bogey hit the shed wall. All very neatly done.

This same process was used to move the bogey off the main line when the men were working. There was always a bogey parking area beside the surfacemens’ huts which were built along the main line.

All the men had their bait bags and bottles of tea in old socks to keep them warm. It was wartime and the very early days of the thermos flask so few were about. The men all wore clogs instead of boots as they were lighter for working in they said. They spent a lot of their time walking on the cinder ballast, which was hard on leather soles, and the wood of clogs was more resistant.

I remember Tommy Davidson spending many hours putting new irons on his clogs. He used old match sticks to fill the holes where the special square nails had come out so the new ones would hold. The clogs had to go to the cobblers when they needed ‘re-clogging’, which would be expertly done by Bob Mole.

More information. I would be delighted if anyone could add anything to this information.

Cattle farm husbandry - cattle for meat

Cattle, farming, husbandry, meat, the law, slaughter, marketing, meat schedules, selling options, dressing (killing out percentage), transport, hormone growth promoters.

By Dr Clive Dalton

Meat cattle need careful handling as bruises don't show on the outside!

Meat and the law
After over 100 years in the meat exporting business, a mass of legislation has grown up in New Zealand to protect producers, processors and exporters, so farmers need to be aware of this fact and where necessary comply with it. Remember the customer is always right! So there is:

1. The Meat Act 1981
2. The Biosecurity Act 1993
3. The Animals Product Act 1999
4. The Biosecurity (Ruminant Protein) Regulations 1999
5. The Biosecurity (Animal Identification Systems) Regulations 1999
   

When are cattle ready for slaughter?

Would you make more money sending these cattle to the meat
worksor keep them a bit longer to put some more weight on them?
What's pasture growth going to be like in the next few months?
What should you do? Where do you get advice from someone you can trust!

The main question in farming cattle for meat is when will they be ready for slaughter? This can be a tricky question because of the Beef Carcass Classification or Grading System used in New Zealand, and you would be wise to become familiar with it and seek good advice before you do anything.

• Beef in New Zealand is either “prime” beef which is exported as cuts, either as chilled or frozen. Chilled beef gets the top price. Then there is “processing or manufacturing” beef which is boned, boxed and frozen before export.
• The grading system is designed to farmers for what the meat company considers the export market wants, and penalise them for what is not wanted such as over-fat animals.
  
• It assesses the maturity, sex, fat cover over the 12th rib and muscling of the carcass (called the GR measurement), to work out the payment rate.
• There are three muscling classes and four fat classes. Fat cover is especially important these days as consumers generally don’t want fat. Some fat is required but not in excess.
  
• The range in the fat covers in each class goes from L at 3mm, P from 3-10mm, T from 11-16 to finally F at 17mm or over. Fat class P is usually the one quoted in schedules published in the farming press.
• If you sell steers, heifers (with no more than 6 permanent incisors), or cows (with more than 6 permanent incisors), then these carcasses will be graded. Bulls are not graded so you get paid on weight alone.
  
• There is also a grade for vealers. These include maiden heifers, steers or bulls that are not showing masculine characteristics up to 14 months of age. Few of these are produced these days.
• So you need to work out the weight range that the carcass will fall into for its sex, then the fat class, and then its muscling score.
• Then you have the challenge of working out other options. For example, would you be better off to keep the stock longer and go up another weight class and be paid for more weight, but risk the penalty of going up a fat class too and being penalised. Can you see why you may need some advice?
  

Typical meat schedule prices
The table below is an example of a typical Meat Schedule available from meat companies or published on specialist websites for a particular week for North Island beef. For South Island take off 10c/kg.

Key points from the table

• It lets you see how things are this week and how things have changed recently.
  
• The real skill is to predict what’s going to happen in the weeks ahead and whether you should buy or sell taking into account the weather, pasture growth, what’s happening in the US economy, changes in the exchange rate, saleyard rumour and downright lies!
  
• There’s a challenge for a smart young IT person to write some software for a palm computer to predict all this for you – but it would take a lot of the fun out of it.
  

Killing out or dressing percentage

• The meat company pays you for the weight of the carcass, so now comes the question of how much of the live animal you sent to the meat plant weighed out as a carcass.
  
• The carcass weight, taken immediately after slaughter when hot is the animal’s total live weight, less the weight of intestines and their contents, head, feet, tail, testicles and penis, kidneys and channel fat, and fat trimmed off other parts. In other words it’s the weight of the animal after its carcass has been “dressed”.
• So the terms Killing Out Percentage (KO%) or Dressing Percentage are used and are calculated by dividing the hot carcass weight by the live weight and multiplying this by 100 over 1.
  

[(Hot carcass weight)/(Live weight without fasting)] x [100/1]

The values vary quite a bit depending on the way cattle were fed – see table below:

• It’s important to remember that if you weigh stock before they leave the farm, they will vary greatly in the amount of “fill’ or gut contents, and this may come as a big surprise when you see the KO%. Gut fill in adult cattle can range from 12 to 22% of the live weight of a beast.
• The longer you empty stock out by leaving them on a bare paddock or yard before slaughter, the less the loss will be.
  

• Meat company buyers who come to your farm are very experienced at looking at live animals and predicting their carcass weight. However, having an on-farm live weight is a great help for them to give you more confidence in their predictions.
  
• The killing sheets from the meat company give you the final true picture including killing charges, and it’s interesting and often frustrating to see on these sheets what defects like bruising and old injection abscesses cost you, especially if these were not have been of your doing!
  

Fit for human consumption?

• After slaughter and processing, every carcass whether for export or the domestic market is checked by a meat inspector from Asure (New Zealand) Ltd on behalf of the New Zealand government by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, to make sure it is fit for human consumption.
• Any carcass that fails to pass inspection is condemned and rendered down for blood and bone fertiliser
• After passing inspection, the carcass is weighed while still warm, and graded by a meat grader employed by the meat company and regularly audited by AusMeat.
  

Transporting stock to slaughter
Prime cattle for slaughter are a quality export product so remember the following:

• At least a week before transport, sort out stock for slaughter into their new groups to give them time to sort out their new social order. So they wait for slaughter and end their days with their mates.
• This is to avoid stress which affects the pH of the meat. This reduces shelf life when sold as a higher-value chilled product in supermarkets rather than just frozen.
  
• Ideally meat should have a pH of around 5.5 and it’s acceptable up to 5.8. This will produce good red meat that will be excellent to eat. In a range from 5.8 to 6.2, the meat begins to be unacceptable and tough.
  
• Above 6.2 and up to pH of 7.0, the meat will be relatively tender but will go a dark colour and will spoil quickly and have little flavour on cooking. Dark meat when displayed in a supermarket has little customer appeal and shoppers assume it is “going off”.
• If the stock have horns, get the vet to dehorn them (using an anaesthetic) at least a month before slaughter and never buy stock with horns in future. The vet’s account will remind you of this!
• After sorting or any vet treatment, put stock on good pasture to build up their glycogen levels.
• On the day of transport, muster them quietly and let them empty out on a bare paddock or yard with water for at least 8 hours without disturbance. This will keep them cleaner in the truck and reduce the effluent that may contaminate the highway.
• If the transporter is late - don’t let your stock be sacrificed by rushing them, in a bid to make up lost time.
• Load stock quietly without sticks or dogs and only minimal use of an electric probe if needed. Check for any protruding nails or bolts that will damage hides and bruise meat when loading and fix these before the truck arrives.
• Ensure the loading ramp is safe and the truck can back up squarely to it, leaving no gap for legs to get down and cause injury so they cannot be sent for slaughter.
• By law, animals must be able to take their full weight on all four feet to be acceptable for transport. Any animal that cannot will require a veterinary certificate before the truck operator or meat works will accept it.
• A meat processing plant does not accept defective stock or what used to be known as “mercy kills” such as stock with broken legs. Such animals now have to go for pet food which also now has special requirements regarding drug withholding periods.
• All stock must also be accompanied by the correct Tb documentation (on the Animal Status Declaration or ASD) before the truck driver will pick them up.
• Only use reliable transport operators who will give your stock a quiet ride to the meat plant. If transport staff are rough with your stock, don’t use them again and tell the company why. You have been preparing a high quality product for perhaps 14-18 months and to have it ruined by poor handling on its last day is unacceptable.
• Make sure the truck is clean before your stock are loaded - it is supposed to be.
• Ensure the truck operator does not mix your stock with others to save space. This is where fighting and bruising happens.
• The frustrating thing is that when your stock get to the works, they are often hosed down with cold water from a high-pressure hose to remove dung from their coats, or they are walked through a bath up to their bellies in cold water. This, together with all the strange smells at the works certainly adds to stress and cannot help the quality of the meat.
  

Presentation of cattle for slaughter
Again because of legal requirements, meat companies have strict standards about stock accepted for slaughter, so they meet the very strict standards set by the overseas markets. As a result the companies require an “Animal Status Declaration” (ASD).

• If you have any pangs of frustration when filling this in, just remember we have no choice as farmers are in the food business, and red meat is a health food. You’ve got to believe it!
  
• The question asking if the animals were born on your property and if not have you had them for 60 days or more is very important here. If you have just purchased the stock, you should have obtained an Animal Status Declaration form from the previous owner.
  
• If you didn’t, then “the worst case situation” applies which means the meat company cannot slaughter them for a 60-day withholding period. This can cost you extra feed and they may also get overfat.
  

Hormone growth promotants (HGP)
A growth promotant based on a natural oestrogen can be used legally in New Zealand with a trained technician present at the time of application. This is claimed to improve growth rate (23% increases are quoted), feed conversion and meat yield.

All treated animals must carry a special orange tag in one ear to warn future buyers and meat companies of the treatment as meat and offal is banned from some markets. Users must keep a full auditable record of treatments. See your veterinarian for details.

Despite the benefits to farmer profit, some meat companies now comment that they would prefer not to have to process HGP beef as they are under increasing pressure from non-EU markets not to send them the product. The extra care needed in processing ads greatly to their costs and some are signaling that they will be discounting the product in the future.


Disclaimer This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Animal behaviour and welfare: Pigs Part 1

PIG BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 1

Senses: Social behaviour: Learning: Abnormal behaviour: Moving pigs

By Dr Clive Dalton

Man and pig

• The pig is farmed in a wide range of farming conditions around the world, except in Moslem countries. It evolved mainly in China and Asia, and our New Zealand Kunikuni pig shows all the traits of these early Chinese ancestors.
• The many types of wild ancestor of the modern pig were domesticated to provide meat and they took well to confinement and being omnivorous and were useful to clean up human waste and garbage.
• If was the first animal apart from the hen, to be subjected to very intensive housing and management.
• Pigs have now become fashionable pets in some modern cultures.
  

Pig senses

Pet pig - house trained and sits on command

Sight

• Pigs are forest dwellers and nocturnal feeders in the wild.
• Their eyes are highly developed and they can see colour like other higher mammals.
• Their sight can be greatly reduced by their floppy ears which act as protection when rooting in scrub.
• The pig's other well-developed senses compensate for any limitations in vision.
• Sight is important in reproduction as the boar uses visual clues as to the oestrous state of the sow.
  

Smell

• The pig has an acute sense of smell, exploited by man in hunting truffles.
• It has a well-developed olfactory lobe in the brain.
• The design of the pig's nose and strong neck give it very powerful rooting abilities.
• Feral pigs use scent to follow trails and can smell feed and carrion from a considerable distance.
• They can locate each other in the wild by smell when spaced out foraging.
• Smell and taste are thought to be important in recognition, as at first meeting pigs sniff each other in the face, along the line of the jaw and around the eyes and ears.
• Smell is very important in piglets to find their own chosen teat for sucking.
  

Hearing

• Pigs have extremely good hearing and clearly recognise a wide range of sounds used in communication between them.
• They can be easily panicked by unfamiliar sounds - which can cause major problems in intensive housing e.g. when jet planes fly over or thunder.
• They must be able to sense very low pitched sound by reports of their early reactions to earthquakes.

Taste

• Pigs have clear taste preferences.
• Creep feed for piglets is sweetened with sugar to encourage intake.
• Mature pigs love apples - they're a great means of getting a pig to follow you.
  

Vocalisation

• Pigs use a wide range of sound to communicate - probably developed because they evolved as forest dwellers.
• Young piglets squeak, grunt, bark and squeal.
• Older pigs use various grunts and squeals to indicate hunger, thirst, alarm, fear, terror, affection, calling a litter to suckle, courtship, and many others.
• Pigs respond very well to human communication, and soon seem to learn what human sounds mean. One researcher suggested that "uff uff" uttered with the lips and your face level and close to the pig was very successful in establishing friendship. To move pigs forward "choo choo" achieved interesting results.
• Pigs squeal can reach 112 decibels which can damage human hearing and stress the animals. Wearing ear muffs, especially at feeding time is essential in large intensive operations. A level of 85 decibels should be the limit aimed for in housing.
• The terror squeal of pigs when held by a nose strop is also damaging to hearing.
  

Social behaviour

• Pigs are very social animals but do not show tight herding behaviour. You soon learn this when trying to drive pigs!
• Wild pigs that are hunted are very nocturnal; otherwise they can be active at any time. Pigs farmed intensively are diurnal and active during the day because of the husbandry system.
• As they are den-living animals, social contact developed at birth is very important for the rest of the pig's life. Pigs enjoy the close company of mates.
• They develop a social rank very early within their litter by vicious blows with their needle teeth while fighting for teats. Farmers clip these teeth off to prevent damage to other piglets and to the sow.

• Pigs have many ways of communicating with each other - sound is the most important because of the bush environment in which they evolved.
• Twenty different calls have been identified - 6 of which can be identified by man such as the grunt, bark and squeal.
• Body language is also important at close quarters, especially in courtship.
• Feral pigs are usually found in groups of about 8 made up of 3 sows and their offspring. Males tend to be solitary.
• Groups of wild pigs have their own home range, and these can overlap with other bands of pigs.
• Pigs don't have sweat glands over their body so wallowing is a common behaviour in feral pigs in warm conditions. However, they'll also wallow and enjoy mud in cold climates.
• If water is deep enough outdoor pigs will swim.
• There is little social grooming in pigs as we know it in other animals. This is surprising as they enjoy rubbing and scratching so much. But they do nuzzle each other along the flank and back - areas they can't reach on their own.
• Lone pigs scratch these parts against objects in their territory.
• Pigs yawn like other farm animals, and this is often combined with stretching the back leg and closing the eyes.
• Pigs also shake themselves after a period of rest, especially if they've been lying in a group.
• Pigs regularly "tuck in" with their mates and by wriggling settle right down into the bedding.
• When growing pigs have selected their own temperatures, they chose warm afternoon temperatures and quite cool conditions at nights when they lie huddled with their mates for warmth.
• Pigs show a lot of play behaviour, and it's very common in young pigs when they leave the nest or lying area.
• They show great play behaviour especially when they go into a new environment as part of their exploration.
• Social play usually consists of fighting with selected littermates. Often one animal runs away eliciting a chase by mates.
• A piglet playing by itself will whirl round trying to scratch itself and may jump up and down on the spot.
• Pigs are great investigators and play by lifting and moving objects on the ground and throwing them in the air.
• With their sensitive nose, rooting is a favourite pastime and treasured finds are carried away with other pigs in pursuit.
  

Pig learning ability

• Pigs learn quickly and show great variation in their ability to learn and solve problems.
• Teaching pigs can be done easily by using mild electric shock avoidance, audio signals and feed rewards.
• They have been taught to control their heating and lighting regime - which saves human labour and reduce costs.
• This learning ability is moderately inherited so you could increase this trait in a herd through selection.
• Pigs quickly learn all the details of a new environment because of their well-developed exploratory behaviour. When tested in a maze, pigs are smarter explorers than any other farm animal. Depriving them of this natural ability can cause great stress as seen in pigs kept in barren concrete environments with no bedding to chew.
  

Pig-human interaction

• There is now plenty of research to show the benefits of pigs that have a strong relationship or bond with their human minders.
• The pigs have clearly been "tamed" and have responded to good handling.
• Taming is best done by quiet and gentle handling of young pigs at feeding time.
• Lay your hand on the pig's had or back, talk gently and scratch or stroke the animal. The best areas to touch are behind the ears, shoulders, along the back and down the sides.
• Pigs soon learn to enjoy this contact and will often lie down to enjoy it. Complete taming can be done in 2-3 weeks after which they will come when called.
  

Dunging behaviour

• Pigs are probably the cleanest and most orderly farm animal if their environment allows this, and if they have learned appropriate behaviours during their early rearing.
• Pigs defaecate and urinate regularly throughout the day and night in intensive housing although they rest a lot between 7pm and 6am the following morning.
• By 3 days old, piglets have learned not to dung where they sleep. After this age further dunging behaviour is learned from their dam - habits they maintain throughout life. A "dirty" sow that dungs and urinates on her bed will produce "dirty" piglets that do the same.
• Good dunging habits can be encouraged by a few management practices:
• When changing pigs from one pen to another, give them a run for a while before they enter the new pen. This will let them empty out and their first urge in the new pen will not be to defaecate and urinate.
• After moving, dampen the dunging area of the new pen, and put some dung from the old pen on it.
• Pigs that are scouring should have the problem fixed as they will have less control of their faeces and where it goes.
• If there are too few pigs in the pen, use temporary barriers to reduce space in the sleeping area so they are forced to dung elsewhere. Put fresh bedding on the sleeping area.
• A false roof maintaining warmth over the sleeping area will encourage them to rest there and they'll hopefully be less keen to foul the area.
• Cleaning their pen at night may help if the problem exists. After cleaning the fouled area, put some bedding and feed on it.
• Pen shape and the position of the feed and water sources can affect where pigs eliminate. Try moving troughs until the pigs modify their habits.

Abnormal pig behaviour

• Pigs show a long list of abnormal behaviour where stress is the major underlying cause.
• Tail biting
• Ear biting
• Cannibalism - killing and eating pen mates
• Belly nibbling
• Tongue rolling
• Rubbing the nasal bone
• Rubbing snout
• Hyperactivity
• Massaging the anus
• Vacuum chewing
• Biting pen bars
• Rocking back and forward when tethered
  

The “runt“ pig and its problems

• It's difficult to describe in precise terms what a runt is. It's not necessarily a small piglet, as these can be the result of poor nutrition.
• These nutritional runts are commonly seen in large litters where pigs are not weaned until 5 or 8 weeks.
• Piglets can be runts because of their position in the uterus, where for some reason they have been deprived of nutrients. These runts never catch up, even with extra feeding as they are physiologically under-developed.
• As litter sizes increases and competition for milk and feed increases, the problem the runt has to survive and grow increases. Commercial pig farmers often see euthanasia as a cost-effective solution.
  

Moving pigs

• Pigs are den-living, home-loving animals and do not show any flocking/herding response when moved.
• In the wild, frightened pigs scatter and crouch in the undergrowth, or race back to their den. Domestic pigs still show this behaviour.
• They just don't like being moved - especially from their darkened den into bright outside light.
• Loading and unloading are the most stressful part of transport when pigs are pushed, dragged by their ears, have their tails pulled, or goaded physically or electrically. (Note that electric prodders should not be used on pigs in New Zealand).
• Suggestions for loading and transport of pigs:
• Select the pigs for market the night before, and hold them in an unfamiliar pen.
• Reduce feed before transport but not water.
• Move them in the early morning.
• Don't attempt to rush, abuse or punish them.
• They'll go better up a ramp or along level ground.
• Avoid having to move them down a ramp.
• Keep ramp sides fully covered so they can't see through.
• Spread some bedding along their path you want them to go.
• Spread some feed or slices of apple along the path and up the ramp.
• Use a hand-held pig board to approach them - this also protects your legs. Use any solid barrier to bring up behind them.
• Don't do anything like pulling ears or tails that will make them squeal. Use a canvas slapper so as not to bruise them.
• To move an awkward individual - put a plastic bucket over its nose and eyes and reverse it along.
  

Transporting pigs

• Transport can be very stressful for pigs. Here are some recommendations to reduce stress:
• Don't transport pigs that are not familiar with each other.
• Provide plenty of ventilation in the truck.
• Avoid transporting when temperatures exceed 28 C.
• Avoid long parking periods on hot sunny days. Always park in the shade.
• Avoid physical exertion and excitement before and during transport.
• Do not feed during the 12 hours before transport.
• Put the pigs direct from their pen on to the truck.
• Transport the following pigs separately:
• Young piglets
• Sows with piglets
• Adult boars
• Unfamiliar groups of pigs
• Sows in advanced pregnancy