Uber-style livestock haulage service 'Moober' launched for farmers

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‘Moober’ is the latest invention of online cattle trading outfit SellMyLivestock and is intended to help cut down on empty journeys when animals are delivered from buyer to seller.

Available to farmers across the country, its founders say the service has the potential to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture.

The industry contributes 10 per cent of the UK’s emissions and earlier this year the National Farmers’ Union set an aspirational target for British farming to go net zero by 2040.

Doug Bairner, chief executive officer at Hectare Agritech, the parent company of Hampshire-based SellMyLivestock, said: “The traditional way of arranging haulage is time consuming and inefficient for both parties.

"This new partnership means farmers are able to access a cost-efficient, secure and regulated haulage solution, at a competitive price, all around the country.

"It will also mean a greener way of transporting livestock, with hauliers able to plan more efficient journeys.”

A collaboration with another business, Haulage Exchange, 'Moober' - or SellMyLivestock Haulage to give the service it's full name - works by giving farmers the ability to request and track the pick-up of livestock bought via the SellMyLivestock website.

Once a purchase is made, buyers will be given the option to request a haulage quote and will be given a window of time to choose pick-up and delivery from.

Hauliers, via Haulage Exchange, will then be given a 24 hour window to submit a quote for the load. Buyers can then choose the haulier they would like to use to complete the delivery.

SellingMyLivestock charges commission direct from hauliers, meaning there are no hidden charges for farmers.

Some 50 hauliers across the UK have signed up to the new platform so far and each is Red Tractor approved and verified by Haulage Exchange.

In a climate of livestock disease risk, the service adheres to strict biosecurity standards, said Andrew Loftus, SellMyLivestock's Yorkshire-based commercial director.

“All registered hauliers using our system are required to comply with The Transport of Animals (Cleansing and Disinfection) (England) (No. 3) Order 2003 (as amended). The majority also choose to comply with the relevant Farm Assurance standards," Mr Loftus said.

"It is our intention to increase the efficiency of livestock haulage by making better information available to hauliers to plan journeys.

"We take biosecurity extremely seriously, and would never encourage the mixing of stock unecessarily. Indeed, biosecurity is actually one of the main reasons many farmers use our marketplace - it reduces unnecessary journeys and mixing, by trading direct farm to farm”

Moober comes after the success of another service, Tudder, which was launched in February as a Tinder-style swipe-based matching app to help cattle buyers find livestock.

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