MTFCA Forum

Hi, I just unloaded my new Model T cattle trailer to be used behind my 1921 unrestored ( Art Moran) touring car. Barn fresh with the chicken crap still on it. The racks are easily removable. early T wheels. It will be a lot of fun this summer. I am going to wash it gently tomorrow and linseed oil it. Bob.

more pictures

I can see a few small pigs but it looks too short for cattle?? Bud

Short cattle!!!

Uhhhh I don’t think that was made to be a ‘cattle’ trailer unless for baby calves. I can’t see anything much larger than a calf being hauled in that trailer. It would have to have a good reinforced floor to haul something in it that’s heavy. If it was used for animals you can tell by the condition of the floor.

Very cool Bob! Save the patina as best you can. Can't wait to see it at the next swap!

Too cool Bob. I am going to build one in the near future but it will never look as good as that original!

I saw the ad for that trailer a few days ago and its location somewhere between Owatonna and Rochester.

Yes and I should say it’s a neat looking trailer. It looks like it has a aftermarket pickup bed that has added on panels to make it a trailer.
From the looks of the splattered white or cream colored splatter it looks like it might have used for hauling chickens in coops. It sort of looks like chicken }{[^\<<\… on the trailer panels!

Couple of baby calves would fit nicely. Otherwise, pigs and lambs.

Cattle wold be a top heavy load in that crate. Even a few sheep, standing/swaying would make for a real handful sitting so high on a transverse spring.
It is great to see such survivors in such good condition, but I would be leary about hauling much of value.
I am still looking for a donor T frame rail for the drawbar on mine. It protrudes barely 2' in front of the tray, making it difficult to back up.

Allan from down under.

On second look, the bed is in an even more precarious position. The whole bed can also sway on the spring shackles. It really is a great conversation piece, but scarily impractical in use. That said, someone got some use out of it. What is the registration situation for vintage trailers? I have not yet Inquired about historic registration for mine. Otherwise, it's going to be $100 or so, so it may just be a relegated to display duties.

Allan from down under.

Just the cows for that trailer! https://www.pinterest.com/pin/414542340683298524/

The more I look the more questions I have. The bent up radius rods will help to keep the drawbar square with the axle. However with the drawbar fixed to the axle, what happens where the drawbar crosses under the front cross member of the bed? As the axle is free to move up and down with road conditions/load, there needs to be some articulation at the front where it is fixed to the tray. Or is it just 'done' up'?

Allan from down under.

Darn, I love that trailer (complete with round felloe wheels) - the patina is great, and I'd say that once you stabilize the bed (maybe blacksmithed round stock from the "fron motor mount" to the end of the bed (wonder why the builder never did that??) it looks like it was built to m-o-o-o-o-ve some stock, but that would make me b-a-a-a-a-d... (Sorry if I'm sounding sheepish)

Seriously nice find!!!

It may have been built to haul something bulky and lightweight, like bagged laundry. If it was indeed built for livestock, my guess would be goats or maybe crated chickens. (Or boxed eggs?)

I’m with Txgoat on this one. The trailer was for utility use in my mind. It may look like a livestock trailer but it probably just a utility trailer. My very humble opinion!

Im sure it was farm built with what they had on hand and engineered with the knowhow on sight. Not made to tow at 55 mph. Slow and steady with carefull load got the job done. I dont think my dad ever owned a " store bought " trailer. A car axle with wood frame rails and tounge and wood bed was it. Later we built a proper trailer.

That has got to be one of the neatest trailers I have ever seen to pull behind a model T!
You might not want to consider carrying full grown cattle in that, but a couple calves, sheep, or hogs? Why not?
"History in the context of its day" again. Poking along at twelve miles per hour was great when a couple years before one would have walked alongside with a leash/rope in hand. Drainage ditches and potholes may have been serious hazards, but stability at 12 mph isn't much of an issue.
Also, any good cattle-hauler knows, that one of the worst things one can haul is a half a trailer load of cattle! Every time you speed up, the cattle stumble and slam into the back of the trailer! Every time you hit the brake, they slip and slide and stumble slamming into the front of the trailer! Every time you take a turn at speed they all slam into the one side of the trailer (my dad grew up on a cattle ranch in the '30s and '40s!). A full trailer they move and 'slosh' around a lot less.

You kids today!
Well, you can always load 1 SMALL CATTLE, and then tuck a few sheep in around the edges, to keep the "sloshing" down.
However, we used to carry Quarter horses in a trailer that small, since the typical quarter horse is 1/4 the size of a regular horse! It was probably built for one of them.
You can also tie some chickens around their necks for additional padding, as well.

Great trailer! You can still see the mark of where the fender had been when the bed was on a regular frame! If I had it, I'd think about a camping trailer with fold down sides, pull out floor extension, and canvas tenting.

You can say that again. We had a cattle hauler bringing a mixed load of herefords (Smaller heifers, larger steers & a pair of full sized cows) and someone at the yard half-loaded the top part of the trailer with the 2 cors and all the steers, then filled the bottom with the lighter heifers... he took a 30 MPH curve at about 45 (about 2 miles from our house), all the steers sloshed over to one side, the trailer was unable to overcome gravity, and over it went into a ditch...

IIRC out of 80-something head total, 18 had to be dispatched immediately once we got them off the trailer, and realized how broken up they were... another 8 were pretty beat up and once we started to move them they either lost a limb or hips that had cracked during the wreck or were so broken inside they wend down hard. and the rest were no picnic, either.

VERY somber day for everyone involved.

Oily Bill, I can't let you get away with it! You are a naughty fellow. A quarter horse is not 1/4 the size of a normal horse. It is a horse developed for special races over 1/4 mile, drag racing for horses if you like.

Allan from down under.

Susanne, I have heard several tales like that over the years. I was also told many years ago that a half load of cattle was the only thing worse than a half full tanker truck!

Well, forgive me, Allan from Down Under!
I must admit that my agricultural expertise is not that sizeable.
I planted buttercups for butter, and milkweed for milk. With that and my quarter-horse experience, that is about my limit, so I don't claim to be an expert.
Needless to say, that is why I am messing around with Model T's today.
I am much better at those than as a farmer, although I must say that many times, I have been found by others to be outstanding in my field.
I have no clue whatsoever about how you Aussies manage to raise flocks of kangaroos, all jumping around like they do. I don't even pretend to comprehend how you can get a leash on them. I assume there is some kind of extra-yummy biscuit that will placate them long enough for you to do that.

Wayne, Milk trailers are the worst as they have no baffles!! In trucking they call them Smooth Boors!! Bud.

Interesting and neat trailer that probably was used for lots of things. While it doesn't look suited for animals it sure would work for hauling loose hay to feed. Much else would overload it.

Any livestock carrier worth his salt will confine whatever load he has to standing room only. This is of benefit to the animals as much as it is to the transporter. When we were showing sheep, the rams went on first, a division lashed forward to keep them restrained, and ewes loaded next. Often, the number of classes entered was directly related to the standing room available in the trailer.

Allan from down under.

Wow, tough crowd here, Bob. I can definitely see a cow in it, just like I always do, wrapped in white paper. A whole cow would fit neatly in that, IMHO. Great trailer, you don’t see complete , well loved period ones very often.

Here is a picture of my 22 TT Livestock truck

Yes a livestock truck.

Yup, livestock!

Bud, I would suspect that with a milk trailer, hauling whole milk, if they put baffles in, it would churn the butter out on the way to the dairy plant! Might be a bit hard to drain!

And my uncle (who is a bowtie affectionado) used to say that a quarter horse was the power rating on most Ford cars...

Bill no the baffles make them hard to clean. After the milk is tested and your told when to dump you drop the milk. After the tank is empty the reciveing crew will insert a automatic washer in the manhole on top and tanks are washed with steam and hot water. I hauled milk for a few months!! Bud.

Dallas, nice to see that homemade rack installed. Dave

Dallas, any idea where that body was made?
My original body had a tag from the Olsen E. Knudson Co. of New Haven Conn.

I think the extensions for front and back are original Dave. The stock gate for the rear looks home built. I havnt tried to install it yet.

It was made by The American Wagon Company near or in Chicago. I cannot recall the name of the town right now. It is an 8in1 Convertible truck body.

I just looked. It was made in Dixon IL.

And Dallas’s ride is very cool to say the least! I am going to put my Speedster in it one day! LOL

Its only 42 inches wide Hank. You will have to get going pretty fast to make it fit!

Here are the pictures of it cleaned and hooked up to my non diesel cattle pulling vehicle. My wife who likes to have as much fun as I do said that the interior of the cattle trailer is about the same size of the car interior and if 4 old heifers fit in the car, 4 old heifers should fit in the trailer. Not politically correct but who cares, I hope you are all having fun, Thanks, Bob. P.S. It sits nice and straight and pulls very good.

That is COOL!

I love it. My 24 Touring needs something like that.

Bob, thats one accesory that not everyone has. Looks great and will be handy for grocery run and conversation where ever you stop. You will have alot of fun telling people thats where the kids ride

Dallas Landers wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 08, 2021 6:49 am

I just looked. It was made in Dixon IL.

Dixon, IL is 63 miles west of Batavia, IL, and was the boyhood home of President Ronald Regan.

If you Google "Dixon IL comptroller" you discover much interesting reading. Only in Illinois!!

Dallas, the front and rear upper center extensions were made from cottonwood, as far as I could tell. No doubt made by the local owner/farmer. JMHO, Dave