Are 'feed' trailers legal on the road?

miniconnect

Member
Location
Argyll
had a stop from local traffic cops this week, one issue was they say that these Watson type feed trailers ( you fill it with silage, tow to field and cattle eat from it ) aren't road legal. due to being over 750kg and having no brakes. or lights for that matter. the lights thing o can understand, and can rectify fairly easily.
But is it a trailer? does the brakes rule apply? we travel along 500m of public road to get to our outwintered heifers, and have done so since feeding silage became a thing.
How can we get around this without falling out with the police?
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
@Simon Chiles put this on a different thread.



It doesn't need brakes if it weighs less than 750 kg or was manufactured before 1/7/1947 and weighs less than 4040 kg and is towed only by an Ag tractor at less than 10 mph.
If it weighs less than 3500 kg and was manufactured before 27/02/1977 it can have overrun brakes or brakes that can be operated by the driver from the drivers seat.
If it was manufactured after 27/2/1977 and weighs less than 14230 kg it must have an efficient braking system that can be operated by the driver from the drivers seat.
Everything else has to have a service brake ( connected to the braking system of the towing vehicle).
If the trailer and the towing vehicle was manufactured after 1/12/1985 the trailer brakes must be capable of being applied progressively by the driver. Trailers manufactured after 1/12/1985 must have brakes on more than half the no of axles and a braking efficiency of not less than 25%.
If the gross weight of the trailer exceeds 4 x the weight of the towing vehicle it must have service brakes.
 

Andrew

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Huntingdon, UK
I think:

Find the weight plate on the feeder. If the max gross weight is more than double the unladen weight, it is a trailer and needs brakes if it’s over 750kg.

If the gross weight is less than double the unladen weight, and less than 14.29t, it is a trailed appliance and doesn’t need brakes.
 

Horn&corn

Member
Police pulled a team of beet trailers The other day. They were fortunate they were empty at the time and trailers were well up together. I can’t see these feed trailers are legal and if someone was running a lot over many miles I’d consider swapping to lightweight hook lift system
 
Baffles me how some farmers mentality is to try and find a loophole or way round a law rather than just doing the job right
The thing that baffles me on this forum is how strict the police are in different areas... the police where I am use there blue lights and sirens to overtake tractors :ROFLMAO: I had a mild heart attack the other week and he sped past me turned them off and carried on as normal ( I had no number plate either)
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
had a stop from local traffic cops this week, one issue was they say that these Watson type feed trailers ( you fill it with silage, tow to field and cattle eat from it ) aren't road legal. due to being over 750kg and having no brakes. or lights for that matter. the lights thing o can understand, and can rectify fairly easily.
But is it a trailer? does the brakes rule apply? we travel along 500m of public road to get to our outwintered heifers, and have done so since feeding silage became a thing.
How can we get around this without falling out with the police?
Could you wrap/stack bales in field?
Save carting along road.
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
With holes in them for feed to fall out and no cover. I’m just saying if they tried to go you for it what’s your defence. Barriers every 4ft.
I just assumed its bales. If it's pit silage some could fall out. There are 4ft high barriers all the way round most feed trailers 1 ft solid at bottom.
 
Last edited:

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
And to think, 30 yrs ago we used to carry 3 bales of silage down the main road to the field, spiked on the muck fork of the old Loadall...
 

miniconnect

Member
Location
Argyll
That pretty much confirms my fears then. thanks.

we run two trailers in rotation, feeding 2 days out of 3, some days it will be a tractor, some days it'll be the manitou with a shear grab of silage (another can of worms that will hopefully remain closed) to drop in the ring feeder.

they're coming back this afternoon to see the manitou which was towing on this occasion as they're not convinced it isn't stolen. 🤦‍♀️ which could be worthy of another thread....
So I'll discuss more then what we can do as a solution.
braked axles are probably the most sensible solution. as we can't not outwinter cattle, and running back and forth with shear grabs of silage isn't really viable.

we farm literally on the road here and there's nothing we can do to avoid it. we try to be legal as the traffic cops could make our lives very difficult.
 

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