Muck Boots 'n' Slickers - Life of a Livestock Hauler

It depends alot on what's been in my wagon.. if I've been hauling fats or cows that have been on grass I will be washing out every load or 2 ... it depends with Calves how they been feed or where I load them on a avg with them once or twice a week most of time.. I haul alot of kill cows so most of the time its once a week ..We don't have the Bio Security issues that you hog haulers have to deal with so that helps.. We can still use rattle paddels & hot shots and not worry about getting in trouble for giving alittle love tape to em too ...atleast not yet anyhow

 

Kill cow plant let's u use a hotshot? That is a switch
... But about washing out, I use about the same program. Usually try to get 3 loads of yearlings (off farm usually) to a wash but sometimes like he said, what kind of a feed program they are on can make a big difference. More often than not, if you load in the evening at a sale barn they have already been hauled once since breakfast and just penned-hopefully with water- before you load them. I have never rode in the trailer to monitor this ,but according to a couple of different university studies they do the biggest part of that deal in the first 50mi or so of trip. Don't haul killers anymore and seldom fats but at certain times of the year we haul a bunch of little tikes, like 140hd per load and I like to start those with a clean trailer.

 

I washout every chance I get just to help with weight if nothing else. That 2k can be the difference in me being able to cross Nebraska City or going around. Which isn’t bad but cuts into my sleep lol.

Some of the dairy stuff I do requires a clean trailer and shavings. If I’m hauling 4 to 5 weights I really like a clean trailer. As mentioned grass cattle will blow one up in the first 10 miles. Ideally if my new trailer is past the ribs in the floor I’m hunting a wash out......however due to time constraints I sometimes have to pass one by

 

@w9l.. I should of been more explanatory... Sparky has to stay in the box at the kill plants.. but paddles and love tapes still ok .. which is twice what they let them hog haulers have
@ woreout .. how often do you get up around Nebraska City ?

 

Pretty regular in spurts lol. This is one them spurts

 

Go

Gotcha.. I was asking cause I' think I've crossed paths with ya once in a while over in that area.. Home base for me is about 100 miles straight east of there.. I go to Gibbon & Grand Island quiet often

 

Sigh of relief. I dont wanna have to do it more'n once a week.

 

Okay, I'll be the stupid one in the bunch.... where in the hell do you folks get those washed out? I'm assuming you don't pull into the Blue Beacon with a thousand pounds of crap (literally) in your trailer and say hose it out boys?

 

I have a list of places that wash out livestock trailers they are set up with bigger hoses and such or theres wash out stations that you pay and wash out your own trailer too I'am lucky cause there's a place 8 miles from home that wash's out cow & hog wagons for about 100.00 or 125 depending on how $^#! It is but they aren't gonna wash out a wagon that is unreasonably deep with $#^! .. so then you scoop it out yourself then go wash out and its not much fun ..I've done my share of it

 

Great thread.

I spent some summers and other school holidays working on a ranch, but the closest I have ever come to hauling cattle was hitting a stockyard escapee on the highway one night while hauling big-inch pipe. I did haul fuel years ago for a farm cooperative up here and will echo the experiences with most* country folk.


Anytime I see a bullrack coming at me on a two-lane I roll up my windows. You only have to forget once...


*I also had a truck leased on with a farm family-run outfit... some of the most crooked people ever. Real religious too About 90/10 good to bad in my experience.