Symbolised by its iconic red and gold embossed lorries, James Y Burns, based in Morebattle near Kelso, continues to thrive as a family business with over a century of experience under its belt.
Having come a long way from horse-and-cart beginnings, the third and fourth-generation father-and-son team, Alastair and Neil Gray, follow the legacy of James Yair Burns.
In the beginning, James Yair Burns started by hauling coal from Kalemouth Station, before acquiring his inaugural lorry within the first decade of service.
Today, alongside the family, there are three full-time drivers including Geoff Morris, Graham Redpath, and Col Leitch, as well as part-timer Alistair Mulvie, who has worked with the firm for over 30 years. Keeping the operation running smoothly is Steven Bell, who maintains a tally on invoicing and admin work.
Alastair said: “It’s important to look after your drivers – without them, you’d be lost. Also, it can be difficult finding drivers you can trust and rely on when they’re operating up to £380,000 worth of machinery, ladened with sheep or cattle – they need to know what they’re doing.”
Times have changed rapidly since the firm began – it now runs a fleet of six lorries, featuring two Scania V8s in both the R580 and S580 models, along with Volvo FH 540s, with each lorry working up approximately 120,000km annually.
Neil added: “We try to purchase our kit new – we’ve dealt with second-hand in the past, but that doesn’t always pay off when you’re faced with unreliability and a loaded broken-down lorry. Additionally, the back-up service from Volvo is second to none – they’ve been great to deal with.”
Underlining that the workload varies depending on the time of year, he said: “For the most part, we run the five lorries with the extra lorry on standby for busier times of the year.”
It is not uncommon to see the boys in red travelling the length of the country between Aberdeen and Yorkshire, as Alastair mentions: “A notable difference for us, and firms alike, is that the closure of small independent marts and abattoirs over time has forced us to work further afield, in turn adding to costs and drivers’ time on the road.
“As various floats for 4x4s and tractors have come about, many farmers have sourced their own means of getting stock around locally.”
The bread and butter of the business is the haulage of livestock, with an array of trailer units including 45ft and 32ft containers. Neil mentioned: “The 32ft container was one of our most recent purchases, improving manoeuvrability in smaller yards and on narrow tracks.”
Containers are sourced from Plowman Brothers Livestock, based at a facility near York. Using its ATLAS Step Frame trailers, these come with hydraulic decks capable of folding to four or two levels depending on whether sheep or cattle are being hauled.
As stock is moved around using the lifting decks, four partition sections ensure stock is safely secured, providing optimum space while being transported. This system also allows for an orderly approach when loading and unloading the lorries, safeguarding that the weight of the animals can be kept at a low centre of gravity during multi-stop drop-offs. Located underneath the livestock area is a tool locker containing the hydraulic cabinet, batteries, water tank, and sawdust storage.
In an average year, the firm will haul around 160,000 sheep and 5000 cattle. This includes both stock for breeding, fat, and store from marts including St Boswells, Bentham, Thainstone, Carlisle, Stirling and Longtown. Furthermore, on a weekly basis, they move pigs from the north of Scotland down to the Borders.
On a long draw, stock is rested at the firm’s collection yard near Morebattle. This site holds sheep and cattle, including organic cattle, and is used to keep livestock to break up journeys that take longer than eight hours.
With all this movement of stock, sawdust is in strong demand at James Y Burns, with a friendly rivalry between father and son over the packaging operation.
Bulk orders are made through Allan Knox. Alastair prefers the ‘always been’ method of a shovel and elbow grease, while Neil is still trying to convince his old man that baled sawdust is the way forward.
A curtainsider is also in use, mostly in tow with driver Col, as that’s his speciality. A versatile investment, this trailer can be seen hauling fertiliser and seed grain for McCreath Simpson and Prentice (MSP), plus wool bags for the British Wool Board – taking delivery from its Selkirk collection depot down to Bradford for sorting. Potatoes are also among the cargo, travelling from where they are produced in East Lothian, down to processing warehouses in England. Alastair admitted: “Driving down south is a different ball game altogether – the roads are very busy. It’s a lot more enjoyable up this end of the country.”
The nature of the job can be hard on the machines, but keeping the lorries in shape is mechanic Ryan Borthwick from Charlesfield, who carries out the regular servicing and general maintenance, having worked with the firm for a number of years.
As a whole, the haulage industry has come on in leaps and bounds since the beginnings of James Y Burns. Conclusively, Alastair and Neil commented: “Our workload has expanded greatly over the years as we have built relationships with many customers between Aberdeenshire and Yorkshire.
“However, with the cost of the lorries, upkeep, and labour, this means we need to keep a constant supply of work to allow us to keep expanding.
“Overall, we are happy to be in the position we are in just now and value our customers greatly as they continue to look after us over the years.”
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