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

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Cattleman84, Jun 14, 2021.

  1. Isafarmboy

    Isafarmboy Road Train Member

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    20190914_083051.jpg
    Ol Friday's drip drying after a sweaty smelly afternoon.
     
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  3. TJB15

    TJB15 Light Load Member

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    My grandfather hauled livestock for years the proceeds of which were used to buy farmland that my family still farms to this day. I remember him saying you know what I like about growing corn? It grows at night while I'm sleeping. I pull flat mostly never done the livestock but certainly have a great deal of respect for those that do.
     
  4. REO6205

    REO6205 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    The two best groups of people I've ever worked for were fuel customers and livestock people. They know how to treat drivers.
     
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  5. bobbyhill

    bobbyhill Light Load Member

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    I did/do. I had a decision to make Oct 2 of 2016....I made it. I can live with it but my lil red truck didn’t survive the ride. Myself and my Doc walked out without a scratch so she did her job. I thought about fixing it but by the time I got back together very little of it would be from my truck, it was time I guess. So I put it in the back of the shop where I gotta look it every time I’m home. I came up with this ol 91 after that. I have my uncles red 86 ext hood too, I run it some out y’all a way to keep it limbered up. I just can’t drive it everyday.[/QUOTE]
    10’fo glad to hear y’all got out safe I hate that I asked about it now
     
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  6. w9l

    w9l Medium Load Member

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    I started out when I was 19 or 20. We ran IH 4070b's. A 79 and an 80. They both had Ntc Cummins in them. Turned up to the point you drove by the needle on the pyrometer. The 80 was the nicer of the two. But it just had a 9 direct so about 78 was all it had but was fairly steady. The 79 was originally a 290 kitted up to a 400. I don't know what rears it had but it was on tall 22.5 rubber and had Alcoa's up front and Dayton spiders on back. I will say this, it would absolutely fly even by today's standards. Had a turned around 10spd in it and you didn't throw it up against the dash til you were running 75.... We pulled 45 and 46.5 ft Barrett slat side trailers. Buyers back then thought nothing of loading 50,000lbs on you and even 55+. At those numbers there was for squeezing out of every slat. You had to check them pretty often because if one got down you better get it back up quick or it wouldn't make the trip. Did that for about 3 yrs. Went back to college. Pre vet. Met wife she graduated,I didn't. Decided I would be over 30 after vet school. Bought me a 93 W9L and went to work. First tankers, the vans, then got my authority and went reefer. Then by my early 40's I was back under a bullrack. That was 10yrs ago. Cattle or the occasional load of hay is all I haul. And all I am gonna haul. It is not the best money, but not bad if you don't mind working at it. Just gets in your blood and the trucking part is just a part of it. It is sale barns and buyers and farms and ranches way back in the hills. It is feedlots and backgrounders. Most are good people too. Like alot of jobs in life, if you do a good job and are dependable sometimes it gets you taken advantage of... by that, I mean when a shipper gets something complicated and challenging like multi picks and drops or a load of stale calves that have already stood around too long before you load and time is critical. Oh well, don't guess I would do anything else. Sorry for the novel.
     
  7. Hazmat Cat

    Hazmat Cat Medium Load Member

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    I haul turkeys. Gobble gobble.
     
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  8. Long FLD

    Long FLD Road Train Member

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    I don’t really have any good stories. I was raised around cattle so I’ve always had respect for them, I never got ran over or anything because I never put myself in that position. Sometimes it may have taken me longer to load but when you have wound up livestock it doesn’t make them easier to handle when you get them even more wound up.

    I started out for a guy back home in South Dakota. I got my CDL when I turned 18 but had already need driving for him for 2 years on his harvest crew. That turned into doing some local loads into the sale barns and that turned into sneaking down to NE and KS when I’d load out of the sale barns.

    I got hooked up with a guy out of MT when I turned 21. I thought I was gonna be the baddest cow hauled around and I didn’t need any sleep. That attitude ended just before my 22nd birthday when I woke up in the ditch by Ranchester WY and laid over a load of calves.

    Being young and no longer insurance by Great West I ended up taking a job at Pepsi and later worked 8 years as company driver pulling flatbed for another guy.

    I bought my own truck at the end of 2011 and got back under a cow trailer. I was running CA back to the Midwest and FL back to the Midwest only this time I was a little more wise and cautious. I very rarely ever ran a load straight through anymore. I would always try and get a 2-3 hour nap somewhere along the way. When I got tired when I was empty I’d stop and go to bed. I felt I didn’t have anything to prove to anyone and I did my own thing. I didn’t have to be the first one to unload.

    I did that up until the end of 2016 and I was pretty burnt out from running the miles all the time. I sold my truck and went back to my company job and then tried working in Hawaii for a few months. January of 2019 I got back into the game with my own truck and haven’t hooked back onto a cattle trailer. I learned there’s other things to haul that pay just as well and you get to stop and sleep.
     
  9. Last Call

    Last Call Road Train Member

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    Story is the same for me as a couple others on here...started back in 1980 sneaking around the midwest when I was 18 hauling out of barns and off the farms I guess some like to call that outlaw trucking but it was just a way of life.. Yeah I've laid a couple trailer loads over but not because of being tired & falling asleep.. been a few times I could of thou.... I got tee boned by a car load of drunk teenagers on US 30 in In. And got hit head on by a drunk College Professor in OKC on I 40
    I just haul out of barns pretty much now to all my loads go to the JBS plants
    I get under a hopper bottom every now & then for a day or 2 just of a change of pace...
    I would rather stay in my shop and rebuild trucks then sit in the seat now but.. it is what it is and I still like cow hauling and it pays the bills
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 5, 2021
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  10. wore out

    wore out Numbered Classic

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    CHASIN THE DEVIL'S HERD
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    Something about a #### cow bus has always called my name. Them old 45 ft slat sides with a suicide nose we had when I was a kid sure looked right behind a 359. We had a couple old center door Americans too, one old Hobbs punch side that may not have been aluminum, it was painted red....I don’t really remember it much. My first load solo was outta the Conway Arkansas sale barn for a guy named Major Lewis......took my Uncles truck and trailer.

    The best advice I ever got was calling the house to brag I guess to tell my Pops I had a back haul that dropped a 100 mile from home but the rate was just over half what we were getting. Running under his numbers I had to pass it by him anyway.
    “Back haul??! What in the hell you talking about boy? Back haul my ### you tell him you live at 359 Peterbilt Avenue, we don’t need to come to the house.”

    All in all I have had a good run with it. I still enjoy it mostly. I have took a few breaks here and there due to burn out, lost my DL a time or 2, and just life. I always had a truck on the road with my name on it though. I will be 50 in a couple weeks, still running a 30 year old Pete. A few things I’ve learned over the years......
    No horned cattle on the top

    The only way to move cattle quickly is slow

    There’s always another load....you can’t pull them all

    A little nap in the early hours of the morning never hurt nobody.


    It takes more than a flashy ride to make a hand
     
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  11. CorsairFanboy

    CorsairFanboy Medium Load Member

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    I have the biggest respect and admiration for those guys. I wish I could ride along or even drive one of those sweet sweet trucks at 80+ haha. I know that is the cool part of the job. Just know that you bring a smile to my face and bright up my boring night (pun intended) when I see all those lights closing in on me haha.

    Love when I see 3-5 rigs rolling together.
     
  12. Coffey

    Coffey Heavy Load Member

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    I got a question about hauling cattle how often do you all wash your trailer out? I know with pig hauling i gotta wash out daily if not Multiple times a day

    Edit
    Is it just up to the place your loading?
    Do you try and get wash out after ever couple of loads or do you try to get by as long as you can without washing out
     
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