Howard County Crane Prep: Poultry, Timber and Farm Work

Inside a poultry complex

A local report on a Rotary talk by Tyson's Nashville human resources director described a complex that opened in March 1971 and processes close to a million birds a week, with an annual payroll above $45 million. Numbers like that mean constant maintenance: feed mill legs and bins, hatchery equipment, refrigeration and roof-mounted units, and truck shop hoists. Much of it is handled by service truck cranes and boom trucks run by maintenance contractors.

We don't speak for Tyson or any employer, but crews doing this work benefit from credentials like service truck crane certification and solid rigging knowledge.

Grower farms and the woods

Each grower farm needs poultry houses, feed bins and equipment set by someone, and steel or truss erection on those farms is usually a boom truck job. North toward Dierks, timber harvesting and lumber work keep loader and knuckleboom operators busy. Those operators already know stability and capacity; an articulating crane certification lets them take that skill onto construction sites.

Mineral Springs and Tollette sit in flatter farm ground to the south, where hay barns, shop buildings and grain equipment go up on clay soils that soften after spring rains. Setting outriggers on pads and checking the ground before a pick are habits worth having before you sit for any exam.

A conduit plant in the old Husqvarna building

Husqvarna closed its Nashville facilities in July 2023, leaving a large plant empty on the Highway 27 Bypass. In July 2025 CANTEX, a Fort Worth maker of electrical conduit, fittings and boxes, announced it would invest about $120 million to convert the roughly 351,000-square-foot building into its first Arkansas manufacturing site, with 110 jobs and a target of starting operations in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company said it would hire maintenance staff along with production and logistics workers.

Turning an existing plant into a new operation means extrusion lines, conveyors and rooftop equipment set by crane, followed by years of maintenance picks. North of town, Weyerhaeuser's lumber mill in Dierks remains one of the company's Arkansas manufacturing sites, and sawmills depend on cranes and loaders for saw lines, kilns and log handling. Between the poultry complex, the conduit plant and the mill, Howard County has more industrial lifting than its size suggests.

Before you schedule an exam

• Arkansas doesn't license crane operators. The federal rule, 29 CFR 1926.1427, calls for accredited certification plus an employer evaluation.
• Written tests can be taken online with a remote proctor or at a test center; practical tests happen hands-on at an approved site.
• Texarkana is a bit over an hour away, and Little Rock about two and a half hours, for planning practical exam travel.
• Our requirements guide explains the federal rules in plain terms.