Good luck! My dad did it for years, I've got family who own the trailers and won't pull them because there is no money in it. Everyone who does it claims they're making money but for some reason they don't do it very long. I know a guy who lives and breathes hauling livestock (for the life of me I don't know why) but even he quit because of long hours and zero pay.
Cattle Hauling
Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by camaro68, Apr 16, 2012.
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Seems like it would be hard to get a backload.
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Hauling livestock is a young mans game, and a lot of hours are spent driving. You don't get a lot of sleep.
Rumor is the market dropped in this nitch in 08. And rates fell drastically. I haven't looked, but seems there's a lot of cattle pots just sitting.camaro68, bgreyhart and DThompsonNGI Thank this. -
I work for a guy part time that hauls hogs. Has 5 trailers. Sometimes all 5 are out. Sometimes only 2 or three are busy. Sometimes none are moving but not often. Rates are decent. I think if you only wanna run one truck you need to have a lot of contacts to keep that truck rolling
camaro68 Thanks this. -
There are a lot of guys, in my area atleast who take owner/ops on. I pull for a guy whos relatively local to me. Anyhow, i love it..$3.85-$3.90 going out, and about $3.25 coming back with railers it seems is the norm rigjt now. You can/do sleep when under a load. USDA has a rule, no more than 20 hours on the trailer without food and water. A 3 hour catnap if time allows is alright, some loads have to be off at such and such time..others need to be there as soon as you can get there, there are some that are "its an 11 hour drive, be there in 11 and a half, no ifs and or buts. There are many times when you dont know what youre doing til you get a call to roll. Usually plays out something like this. You have been up since 7am doing stuff around the house, you get a call at 4pm telling you that you need to be at the sale barn which is 150 miles away by 7 to check in...get there, check in, sales almost over..by 9 its over, gotta work tge cows, sort, etc. 15 trucks ahead of you have to load...now its your turn, load the wagon, start your 600 mile ride...kick them off at destination, boss man calls saying to head another 2 hours east to load when that sale is out...get to the sale and hang out for a coupke hours...dont nap very good because you keep checking your spot in line. Now that youve got about 3 hours of interrupted sleep you load for your 700 mile journey to the kill house, and these have a kill appointment you have to make. Once you get kicked off there THEN you get some quality sleep in their parking lot til the next load is called in. Like i said, i love it, you can make money, having a guy who can keep you loaded is the key. Keeping all your paperwork straight for the dot man, and not hauling ###. Keep the left door shut and roll, theres no need to do 90 everywhwre you go like a lot of guys do. Ive ran in several packs with guys i loaded with, all going to the same place, and we maybe did 5 over the speed limit. Guess thats the difference in a professional though.
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camaro68 Thanks this.
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Having experience around livestock is essential for starters '
camaro68 Thanks this.
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