Brenda Campbell: Denmark’s strict rules for livestock hauling

We introduced Grainews readers to Brenda Campbell in the November issue. The 22-year-old from a cow-calf farm near Sundre, Alta., is in Denmark for a six-month working visit on a dairy. We asked her to send regular reports to tell us what she's doing, how farming in Europe is different from farming in Alberta, and what farming tips she learns that she'd like to try back home.

Here is her second instalment, written January 15:

Hello again from Denmark. I have just passed the two-month mark in my adventure, and have many interesting facts to share! Can you imagine paying 180 per cent tax on a vehicle purchase? This is a fact in Demark. This is only one of the interesting facts I have learned about driving and transporting livestock in this country I temporarily call home. I learned many of them while we were hauling our team of horses to a trail ride. Here are a few more:

—You need to pass an extra driving exam in order to legally drive a vehicle towing a trailer with a combined weight of 3,500 kg. 

—Trailers are not permitted to be driven over 70 km/h on most roads, but can go 80 km/h on major highways.

Now the interesting part is when a person is hauling livestock. As far as I understand, there is a five-day course that teaches all aspects of hauling livestock: rules and regulations, care, handling, etc. This course is animal specific and is required for anyone hauling animals as part of a business. This course is optional for farmers, but without the certificate, you:

—cannot drive over 65 km from home with your animals

—cannot haul anyone else’s animals, even for a favour (this could be considered for business)

—can only drive animals owned for personal pleasure and not related to your enterprise. For example, on our farm here, we can haul our team of horses but not any cows because these would be considered part of our business. To follow all rules, we would need to hire someone to haul a heifer we purchased from a neighbour because my host father does not have the required course on livestock transport.

So with all of these rules in place, all slaughter cows and baby calves are picked up by a truck with a lift, as shown in the top photo. I have included two other photos to show how animals are hauled. The middle photo is our horse trailer. The bottom photo is how a neighbour hauls his team of horses.