WITH more than half a century of history and a strong customer base behind it, O’Sullivan’s Livestock Transport has become a prominent player in Australia’s livestock transport sector and one of the nation’s largest carriers of both sheep and cattle.

Like many companies involved in livestock transport, O’Sullivan’s Livestock Transport started out as a one-man, one-truck operation.

Gavin O’Sullivan established O’Sullivan’s Livestock Transport at the family farm near Elmore in Victoria in 1969 with the purchase of an International prime mover and a 34-foot, two-deck trailer.

A year later his brother Peter got his license and joined the business, which was finding plenty of work carting sheep and cattle into the local Bendigo market and the Newmarket Saleyard at Flemington in Melbourne.

As rail-based transport declined through the 1970s and 1980s O’Sullivans kept pace with the growing demand for road transport, purchasing more trucks and stock crates, and servicing the expanding feedlot and abattoir sector.

In addition to organic growth, the business has also expanded over the years through acquiring several smaller livestock transporting companies along the way.

Today the family-owned company operates one of the largest dedicated livestock carrying fleets in Australia with 55 prime movers and 80 trailers.

A second generation is also today involved in the business including Gavin’s son Sam and Peter’s sons Scott and Paul.

O’Sullivan’s Livestock Transport’s has specialised in transporting stock for abattoirs but also covers all aspects of livestock transport including farm, saleyard and feedlot work.

It has gradually upgraded its trailer fleet to running more B-D-double and road train combinations as its footprint has also expanded, now largely spanning from Dubbo in northern NSW to South Australia, with work in Western Australia as demand dictates.

“We do a lot of feedlot, saleyard and farm work – it’s a good mix of everything,” Sam O’Sullivan told Beef Central.

A fierce advocate for rural trucking

Gavin O’Sullivan hasn’t just helped to build a successful transport business,he’s also been a fierce advocate for rural trucking.

A founding member and inaugural president of the Livestock Transport Association of Victoria, he’s also served on advisory bodies for the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) and Australian Trucking Association.

Kevin Fechner (Left) and Scott McDonald (Right) congratulate Gavin O’Sullivan (Centre) on receiving an honorary Life Membership of ALRTA in 2022.

His strong support for rural trucking was acknowledged in August 2022 when as he was presented with an honorary life membership of the ALRTA at that year’s National Rural Carriers Convention in Bendigo.

Recently at the 2025 National Rural Carriers Convention in Canberra, which celebrated 40 years of the ALRTA, Gavin joined other industry luminaries Ross Fraser, Gordon Martin, Peter Berwick, Joe Sepos and Robert Gunning on stage to reflect on 40 years of ALRTA advocacy.

Speaking to Beef Central following the event, Gavin said the state and national advocacy bodies had been extremely important for the industry.

“They helped us achieve recognition with Governments on volumetric loading, crate heights and other things that we fought our way through,” Gavin said.

“The other good thing about the association is we made lifelong friends across Australia from every State.

“It was great to all meet up again (in Canberra recently) and have a couple of days together.”

He also colourfully recalled the straight-forward way in which the LRTAV was initially formed.

In 1985 livestock transporters from across Australia had met in Sydney to form the then national body the Australian Livestock Trucking Association (ALTA), with Bruce McIver from Qld elected president and Jack Mitchell from WA vice-president.

“They met in Sydney in 1985, but no one from Victoria went, and Victoria was the only state not recognised,” Gavin recalled.

“So the next year Bruce McIver ran a one-day conference at Albury and about 13 of us went.

“He was pretty forthright. We said we would let him know what we were going to do in a month or so. He said, ‘no you won’t, go outside and elect a committee now and come back into the room’.

“So I got elected President in the foyer, and that was it, we built it (the LRTAV) up from there.”

Asked how the type of livestock carrying work O’Sullivan’s Livestock Transport handles has changed over the years, Gavin said the expansion of the feedlot sector had been the most significant.

But 56 years later, some things never change. When Beef Central rang Gavin at 7am earlier this week, he was just about to jump in the ute – heading off to a sheep sale.

O’Sullivans Livestock Transport

Midland Highway
Elmore Vic 3558

P 03 5432 6036
F 03 5432 6478

Sam O’Sullivan 0407 338 006

Email: loading@ostelmore.com.au