BARCLAYS Transport based at Portsoy, in Aberdeenshire, has been transporting livestock and bulk materials for more than 20 years and as a result it has become one of the best-known haulage firms in the region.
Crowned as Scottish Fleet Manager of the Year in 2013, Ronald Davidson and his younger sister, Elma took over the firm in 1997 after it was founded in 1936 by Peter Grant Barclay, at Brydock, Alvah, near Banff. 

It was taken over in 1979 by a farming partnership run by Ronald and Elma’s uncle, George, before the brother and sister team took over the reins and renamed the company. At its peak, Peter G Barclay employed as many as 27 staff, 22 of which were drivers and five who worked as office staff.

Nowadays, the company employs seven drivers, including Ross Geddes, John Stephen, Gordon Mennie, Allan Greig, Raymond Shand, Colin Wright and Cammy Morrison, with Ronald also driving full-time and in the office alongside Elma. The fleet is based on DAF vehicles and includes eight articulated lorries and one rigid lorry along with 10 trailers – six of which are for livestock, three blowers and one tipper. 

“We mainly haul livestock and bulk feed to farms, with daily loads taken from Harbro and weekly loads from East Coast Viners,” said Ronald, who left school in 1978 and worked at home on the family farm for nine years alongside a two-day release agricultural course at Clinterty and one full year NCA, before becoming a driver for Peter G Barclay in 1987.

“We haul feed, raw materials and occasionally wood pellets, but our biggest income comes from Scottish Pig Producers as we transport between 2500 and 3000 pigs per week down to the Brechin abattoir. Due to the fire there in August, 2018, 53% of our income per month from Aug to Nov came from pigs being slaughtered south.”

Ronald, who is assistant vice-chairman for RHA Livestock and Milk Hauliers Group, added: “When we first started hauling pigs, there were 106 pig farms that we hauled for and we transported as many as 5000 to 5500 pigs per week, whereas now there are only 31 pig farms.”

Despite pig numbers having dropped across the North and North-east in the last 20 years, Ronald did point out that yearly figures in terms of income have remained similar. In 1997, the firm’s income saw 38.84% come from pigs; 26.93% from cattle and sheep and 34.25% from bulk materials, while last year’s yearly income saw 38.96% from pigs; 23.04% from cattle and sheep and 37.64% from bulk. 

While the majority of hauling is kept within the North and North-east, as well as daily trips down to Brechin, the boys do occasionally work within Central Scotland when hauling pigs from Aberdeenshire to Ardrossan.

Also, with the recent closure of Dunbia’s facility in Elgin, the firm has made two trips in the last fortnight down to Saltcoats with cattle.

Most drivers stay out two to three nights per week and those driving the feed blowers can stay out for four nights each week. 

“When our uncle was at the helm of the business, he had lorries going down into England. But, to be more economical, we mostly keep to Scotland. We don’t tend to work within the West Coast rank either, as livestock from that area needs to be hauled at the end of the week and this can often effect drivers hours on Mondays.” 

With that in mind, Ronald believes that there is too much red tape when it comes to transporting animals to and from market or to slaughterhouses. 

“Animal welfare rules are far too complicated. Drivers hours, working time directive hours and livestock movement rules just don’t correspond with one another.

“Drivers can drive an average of 90 hours per fortnight but per week, they can only drive up to 56 hours. In doing so, they can only drive 34 hours the week before and the following week as drivers hours run over a rolling three week period, and 11 hours rest within a 24-hour period. For example, if you go to a mart the night before a sale and you have 13 hours and 5 minutes on your card and you sit there for 20 hours, it only counts as nine, so this can really hold drivers back. 

“These rules don’t work well with big sales at marts either as a recent cattle sale at Stirling didn’t finish until 8:40pm and we needed the lorry back home for the next day’s job,” commented Ronald, adding that it can take an average of two hours to wash one lorry.

To comply with regulation rules and for better comfort for livestock, new vehicles within the fleet are designed as higher models. However, this has meant that the mile per gallon has dropped by 0.7mpg.

Not only have costs increased when it comes to fuel and paying wages, but the price of vehicles has more than doubled since in the last two decades.

“If you go back 20 years, DAFs were roughly £40,000 to £50,000 whereas now you’ve to pay about £100,000. Livestock containers were around £40,000 and now they cost fully £120,000,” pointed out Ronald. 

When it comes to buying lorries, though, Ronald tends to go by service, rather than price and with DAF it’s a first-class service they receive. “We can phone out of hours and they’ll give us an answer or be with us, likewise with ATS, from which we buy our Michelin tyres from.

“Artic’ lorries are bought from Nortscot DAF Aberdeen, artic’ trailers are purchased from Houghton Parkhouse, small floats and feed blower repairs come from Jim Dunn, Laurencekirk, while bulk blowers are sourced from Priden.”

Weather has rarely had an impact on journeys for Ronald and the team, but with this year’s Beast from the East hitting the heart of Angus and Tayside, it brought production to a halt at the Brechin abattoir due to lorries being unable to come from the south to empty the chills, leaving no room for new carcases. 

Foot-and-mouth was another period which hit the company hard, but Elma did point out that it was the best time for planning. “Although it was a devastating time, you had to be even more organised than normal,” she said. 

“There was only one uplift and one delivery per day and they had to be licensed. Luckily, we were hauling more than livestock which helped.”

Receiving little support from officials is also an issue Ronald has to contend with, as he explained: “One of the biggest troubles I find is 
that we’re paying a membership for QMS and they’ve done nothing to help the haulage industry in the last two years, yet their biggest payers are slaughterhouses. The QMS Livestock Haulage Committee even cancelled a meeting in April, 2016, as they claimed there was nothing which needed discussed.” 

Like farming, though, haulage is very much a way of life, but as Ronald pointed out, there just isn’t the same amount of free time to enjoy the job.

“It’s a challenge this job. Before, you could enjoy a good jolly with everyone at the mart but there just doesn’t seem to be the same time 
to do that now. The beauty of this industry, though, is that you always meet in with old and new folk," he concluded.