Livestock handling apparatus and method

Apparatus for gathering and loading poultry into a module made up of a plurality of side-by-side stacks or columns of cages each with an openable front flap, the apparatus comprising:

• a loading unit having a loading conveyor, a plurality of side-by-side batching receptacles, which are fed by the loading conveyor and which correspond in number to the number of stacks or columns of cages in the module, each batching receptacle receiving a batch of poultry corresponding to the capacity of any one single cage, and each batching receptacle having an input to receive the poultry and an output to discharge the poultry, the batching receptacle being operable to move the poultry from the input to the output where the batch of poultry is delivered to a cage with an open flap, operation of the loading unit being synchronized so that the loading conveyor is movable horizontally to load the batching receptacles in turn, the batching receptacles loading the cages at successive levels of the module in turn, such that the capacity of the loading units to batch the poultry matches the delivery rate of poultry by the loading conveyor;
• and a separate catching vehicle capable of moving independently of the loading unit to catch live poultry and bring accumulated poultry to a receiving location of the loading unit where the poultry are conveyed to the loading conveyor.