The Rural Voice, 2001-08, Page 41!w.
Putting nature to work for the environment
By Mark Nonkes
When Luckhart Transport
of Sebringville built a
new plant in 1996 for
their growing trucking company
they did not forget about the envi-
ronment.
The new plant featured a wash
bay, where trucks for haul-
ing livestock are cleaned.
After a shipment of cows,
pigs or sheep the inside of
the trailers are dirty with
manure.
When president Doug
Luckhart built the new
centre he had two choices
to deal with the manure
run off from the wash
bays. He could either
build a large storage tank
or build a marsh, where the
dirty water would be sent and nat-
urally cleaned.
Luckhart opted for the latter
and more expensive choice.
They began digging pits beside
the business. With the help of
Upper Thames Conservation and
the township council Luckhart
designed and began building the
man-made marsh.
The Luckharts built a pond and
two marshes on the back of their
property using backhoes and bull-
dozers. They dug deep into the
up with top soil.
The two marshes were built
with several different levels, the
first a foot deep and the next level
three and a half feet deep. The
plants in the marsh act as a filter
to clean the water.
Close to Black Creek, the
marsh collects manure
water that is sent out from
the wash bays. In the
marsh are plants like cat-
tails and bulrushes which
thrive in this type of envi-
ronment.
The water from the
wash bays goes through a
pipe which traps any
grease or chemicals and
the rest of the water is
deposited into the marsh
'for two hours every day.
The hose has holes every two feet
so the wetlands won't become a
big sinkhole, Luckhart said.
After one week one marsh will
be full so the water is sent to the
second. By the time the water has
A constructed wetland treats waste from the trucks.
ground for the pond, down to the
bedrock or clay level to line it so
no dirty water would escape into
ground water. While the pond is
18 feet deep in the middle for the
marshes most was covered back
Livestock trucking has changed in 50 years
By Mark Nonkes
Change is inevitable, it's a fact of life. Being pre-
pared to ride with the winds of change is an art,
one that Luckhart Transport of Sebringville has
been trying to finesse over the last 50 years.
In charge of change are two brothers, Doug as
President and Doug, as vice-president. Described by
Tom, Doug's job is to spend the money while his to
bring money into the company.
The key to Luckhart Transport is its family roots.
Doug's wife and daughter work in the office. a son-in-
law is on the road, and family pets roam the offices,
while the father, Howard, is still involved in delivering
the occasional item, despite being in his 70s.
In 1951, Howard Luckhart purchased his first truck
and while most of his first business came from a local
feed mill he also started hauling livestock.
Doug remembers the first days of trucking. Just a
little boy, he would ride around with his father with a
load of animals in the trailer behind, hauling animals
from the four slaughter houses in Kitchener to Toronto
on a regular basis. In fact, Doug became so interested
in the business as a child he would be sent with new
drivers to direct them to the Toronto stockyards.
38 THE RURAL VOICE
The business stayed small and ran out of the fami-
ly's home and in 1971, Doug joined with his own
truck. Six years later the business changed hands with
Doug becoming one of the men in charge, along with
Paul Ehgoetz.
In 1986, Paul Ehgoetz sold his shares to Tom. Since
that time the Luckhart's have bought smaller trucking
companies from Kirkton, Tavistock and St. Agatha.
Becoming bigger is required as the industry
changes. Back 50 years ago, there were plenty of small
packing plants in the area, like the four in Kitchener.
But now smaller slaughter houses have disappeared
and left larger packers at further distances. Hogs that
once went to Kitchener are now sent to Indiana and
West Virginia. Back in the early days. truckers would
drive to several farms to fill up a truck, today an entire
load can be picked up from one location.
Luckhart Transport has grown to 42 transport
trucks and employs 35 full time people and
about 13 part-time and student employees.
It's a far cry from Howard and his single truck back
in the '50s. On August 18 Luckhart Transport cele-
brates 50 years in the trucking business with an open
house.0 .