Redesigned turkey cages for transporting turkeys to market that were painted and are now galvanizied.

Hot-dip galvanizing was specified for this project for its durability and protection. The turkey cages are subjected to very harsh environments such as turkey manure, road salt and always being in the outside environment. Previous painted versions just didn't hold up to the environment and the constant loading and off loading using a fork truck. Scratches in the paint, manure and road salts deteriorated the cages. Maintenance was an ongoing costly and time consuming job. The first galvanized cages were put into service and it became very clear to the producers and Dakota Provisions, the processing plant in Huron, SD. that all cages would be converted to a galvanized product.

John Waldner, General Manager of Riverside Industries and his team were able to come up with a redesigned cage that was lighter than the previous product and more user friendly. The doors now stay closed when closed therefore reducing the cost of turkeys being able to get out during transportation and also staying open when the loading of birds is in process. Dakota Provisions is very impressed with this new cage and will be converting all cages to this new redesigned cage by the team at Riverside Industries. We already have orders for an additional 12 semi-trailers and we expect that another order will be coming after we fill this order.

John Waldner, General Manager of Riverside Industries said, "By us redesigning these turkey cages we were able to make them lighter than previous model by 300lbs, even after galvanizing, thus allowing to haul an additional 6,000lbs of turkeys per load. This will be a savings of over $1,000,000 in freight for 3,200,000 birds. This is a direct savings to the producers in these trying times in the current markets"