美国国家公共电台 NPR How Draft Horses Are Helping Upgrade Cell Towers In Wisconsin

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Companies that provide cell phone service race one another to offer the most reliable signals in order to retain customers. Sometimes to do that, they turn to a surprising option to get the job done.

(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE NEIGHING)

INSKEEP: And it's a draft horse in Wisconsin, a horse that is helping 1 a cell phone provider with a big service upgrade. Ann-Elise Henzl of member station WUWM reports.

ANN-ELISE HENZL, BYLINE 2: U.S. Cellular 3 is updating equipment on about 200 cell towers here in Wisconsin, some of which are served by primitive 4 access roads. That poses a challenge for CH Coakley, the logistics company coordinating 5 the upgrades. Jason Agathen has been delivering thousands of pounds of electronics gear sometimes to tricky 6 locations.

JASON AGATHEN: We actually used a ATV this year for a site that I was on, and it blew the tranny out of it - on one of the hills because we had - the snow was so deep up north.

HENZL: So the company hired Jason Julian who farms in Medford, Wisc. A couple of times a week, Julian load's two to three draft horses into a trailer and drives his pick-up truck to remote cell phone towers. This morning, he's approaching one in the middle of a farmer's field.

JASON JULIAN: Look at the end of the field. Do you see the water shining in the dead furrows 7 in the end of the field? that tells you how muddy everything is. There's just water sitting.

HENZL: Julian stops on the shoulder of a highway where he leads two Belgian Brabant horses from the trailer. Their names are Hannah and Billings, and they're huge animals with a stocky build, although not quite as large as Clydesdales. Julian's wife Katrina pulls off in her pick-up that's hauling a wooden wagon 8 with a flat bottom and low sides. The two attach the horses to each other as Julian prepares them to get to work.

JULIAN: I'm getting ready to hook them to the wagon and be ready for the truck to arrive, so when the truck arrives, we have a minimal 9 amount of downtime to deliver the freight.

HENZL: Soon after, the delivery truck pulls up. Julian hops 10 in the wagon instructing his horse's to back up to the truck. They're accustomed to listening because Julian uses them on his organic dairy farm and in the logging business.

JULIAN: Whoa, gee 11, gee, gee, gee...

HENZL: The workers transfer their cargo 12 to Julian's wagon. It's a half dozen boxes each holding an eight-foot antenna 13. The team then heads to the base of the cell tower. It's not far, but out of reach for the big delivery truck. That would get stuck on this dirt access road.

JULIAN: This is a cake walk for them. They're used to being in the woods with me in thigh-deep snow and mud and have a 1,500-pound log hooked behind them, so this is like a - pretty easy stuff for them.

HENZL: Julians says each load for the cell tower upgrades is usually about 2,000 pounds, heavier than a log, yet not a challenge because most of the sites are on relatively 14 flat terrain 15. Yet, one recent delivery was tougher than the others. It was in a hilly area called West Salem where it took about an hour and a half to make the steep climb to the tower.

JULIAN: And it had constant switchbacks, super steep, just unbelievable terrain. And we made it, and we had to use a piece of firewood actually to block the tires about every 40 or 50 yards towards the top, we'd block the tires and give the horses a breather.

HENZL: Delivery Driver Jason Agathen says he gets a kick out of the fact that horses have proven essential to this project.

AGATHEN: I'm from the city, so I don't get to see a lot of horses to begin with, and seeing what he can do with them - it's amazing to begin with, the control he has. And they've been using horses since the beginning of time, so from way back then to now, it's pretty neat.

HENZL: The company says it won't hesitate to use horses again the next time modern vehicles fail to get the job done. For NPR News, I'm Ann-Elise Henzl in northern Wisconsin.

(SOUNDBITE OF LED ZEPPLIN'S "BLACK MOUNTAIN SIDE")