one I am interested in - Honey Locust farms

Maybe they don't haul cheap freight.... so they can afford to pay their drivers well & have nice trucks

 

They had a billboard up over the winter looking for drivers.

 

Worked for Frock Brothers out of New Oxford for awhile and Honey Locust seemed to be at a few places I was at.The drivers I talked to were happy.

 

Good luck from my experience in livestock you'll be paid percentage of gross typical starting wage is about 20% I've seen as low as 18 and been offered up to 24. Keep in mind the 24% was to help a friend out when he needed time off. You'll run hard there isn't any of this stop at the truck stop for an 3 hours hanging out in the driver lounge b.s. that rig is moving while the stock is on.

Why people seem to think we run more than 1 log is more than I can figure out to this day. 3 logs is a chicken hauler thing we loose leaf and its nothing to rip 3 or 4 pages out. You'll overnight your bills and receipts often or learn to keep them in an envelope in a hidden place in the truck in case you're stopped.

You'll learn every inspection station and perment scale in the country real quick you'll run heavy a lot of the time and you'll be expected to load and unload your trailer and know how to do it. How many head in each compartment weather to gate them or not etc. Money is good IDC what people say. I left wendsday morning got back Sunday afternoon. Hauled 3 loads a 290 mile load a 944 mile load and an 877 mile load total gross was almost 8000 on 3000 total miles before getting hammered with swine flu. I'm an O/O pull somebody's trailer after his percentage and fuel I'll still have #### near a $4000 check for my work done. Keep in mind we don't do it for the money though.

If you're trying to get into stock because of money, or because its cool or you've got a point to prove stop and keep rolling freight you won't last. You've got a lot more to worry about pulling stock as opposed to freight. You're responsible for EVERYTHING that walks onto your trailer as soon as it steps on your trailer and until it comes off. Remember that. And there's another set of laws you'll have to study up on for the USDA.

I don't know ANYTHING about hauling swine up in PA and because they want a TQA cert you'll be hauling hogs. I know Oscar hauled hogs there for a while might holler at him and ask him about them I won't touch a load of hogs they're cheap, frustrating as hell, and they require a lot more patience and babysitting than cattle do especially in the heat. Ask old wore out about what he seen one day on a load of hogs in hot weather and what he heard when the guy turned the misters on them.

You'll learn how to drive all over again. No hard braking, no sudden moves, and you'll learn to use the whole road in some curves. All week when I was loaded never put more than 15lbs back to the brakes it takes a long time to stop a truck when your braking that lightly but you don't want a trailer full of hamburger either. You'll learn to have a light foot on that throttle as well it ain't just braking its accelerating too. Yea we fly down the highway and the interstate but it may take a mile or 2 to get up to speed from a dead stop its all about being smooth and fluent.

It'll make you old real quick too and unless you're #### sick you're going to be running. Only reason I'm not on the road is because I'm laying in a hospital bed buyers and the guys you work for usually don't give a crap that your sick tired or aching they want their livestock there and they wanted it there yesterday as soon as it hits the truck. Example I left big springs TX at 11:15 am Saturday morning I was in Salina KS by 9:45 Saturday night and we stopped in Snyder TX for 45 minutes. Before that I loaded in good land KS, at 10 mountain time I was in Denver Texas at 3 am central time and I had45 minute spent putting my clutch linkage back ttogether in fort worth. From a break down lost the clutch coming through fort worth and there was #### sure no place to unload so you'd better be mechanically inclined to be able to fix a truck when something breaks to at LEAST LIMP the darn thing to a sale barn, ranch, or a set of rest pens so you can get the truck fixed.

Its a life that'll make you #### old and its not if you get hurt but when and how bad. That's something to remember I ran down to Dever with a lady who had only been out here 6 weeks hauling livestock I don't give her much more time doing it just by the way she talked. She didnt know how to load her trailer, didn't know how to unload her trailer, and the night before she got put OOS for being over on hours. Not good not good at all, I had to tell her how to unload had to show her what to do and had to help her get her cattle out of the nose. She never counted a single head off either if there would've been a shortage it would've got biller to her company because I knew my count. And she didn't really take much to listening to advise. That's one thing anytime you can talk to somebody with more experience especially in cow hauling you do it beats the hell out of learning the hard way.

I can tell you more if you'd like to know but I don't get on here much anymore. Keep the tires hot and the smoke rolling over the cab well catch ya later. And remember load it like a box car drive it like a stock car.

 

That was an interesting read 379exhd. I'm not a trucker, but I enjoy learning about it. How long can the cattle be in the trailer at a time?
Hope you get feeling better from that swine flu.

 

USDA law says 28 hours from the time they walk on till the time they have to be off the truck for food water and rest. Most of the hauls we have are anywhere from 300-900 miles but I do know a lot of guys that will load out of Montana and head clear over to PA or OH even up into NY.

On a 900 mile haul they're typically on the trailer for 14-20 hours and that time is spent driving. What most people don't realize is livestock drivers usually don't sleep when they're under a load. Believe it or not the animals will kill each other in that trailer if its stopped for too much time. When I lost my clutch linkage in DFW I stopped at 10 started rolling at 1045 at night. In those 45 minutes the 3 cattle I had loaded in the nose had all played down (not a big deal because they were all laying down) but it was a little unusual from experience usually a 900 will stand the entire trip now 400-700lb cattle lay down because they're not used to being on a trailer and standing that long you end up babysitting them a little more when that happens because they get stepped on by the other cattle which leads to death or them being crippled on the receiving end. And at the current prices you don't want to be paying for cattle. Guy I pull for now has insurance to cover the cost of anything that goes down or is refused on my trailer costs me .15/head that walks on but it beats the hell out of buying an $1800 slab of worthless meat and then paying somebody $11-60 to drag it off my trailer.

One thing most people DONT realize is although we are a DOT magnet, DOT CANNOT do much when we are loaded unless they have a ranch or something near by so we can unload our trucks. In the green book they give us (that I don't have in my truck because it was misplaced) there is a regulation regarding livestock transport that says they must provide a place for us to unload. The scales up in rock port MO got hammered for that a couple years back. They shut down a driver when he was loaded withing 30 minutes PETA and the Missouri cattlemans association was out there educating the rock port DOT cops. They ended up letting the truck go after that and they don't mess with guys that are loaded much anymore from what I understand.

However that being said....DOT CAN AND WILL detain us for any amount of time to do an inspection when loaded this H1N1 is a blessing and a curse right now I've been quarentined basically till at least Thursday for "observation" but with as hot as its going to be up here I really can't afford to be sitting at a scale waiting on a 2 hour level 1 inspection. Usually in the summer I prefer to haul at night it doesn't work that way most of the time but the heat takes a huge toll on the animals cattle or hogs. Sitting for 2 hours in 100 degree weather is more than enough to kill them.

The best analogy I have is take 10 people and put them in an elevator with no A/C and turn the temp up to 100 in the elevator that'd be what its like in the trailer when its stopped and when its hot the animals get restless and start fighting which isn't a good combination. There's more dangers running at night but its all about the animals safety. I by all means am NO PETA activist I don't believe animals have rights like humans do, however I DO BELIEVE that we as humans and as a livestock hauler have RESPONSIBILITIES for care when they're on the trailer.

Honestly this 28 hour rule that the USDA has was originated back when trains were hauling livestock and was then applied to truck transport as well. I grew up around cattle here in Nebraska where I live, so it gives a little bit of an edge when it comes to hauling them. Forgot to mention although now that I think about it knowing cattle and behavior is a big thing as well.

Anything with a snotty nose and droopy ears stays or gets loaded on the tail last on first off. Typically that'll have pneumonia which makes them weak and likely to lay down and get trampled. If it HAS to be loaded the ear tag goes on the bill and the boss is notified immediately when I leave this covers me and him and insurance is out of the equation because there is at that point no claim if its lost. Don't see that as much with ranch cattle as you do sale barn cattle however when we went to devers the other driver did have 2 in the belly that were coughing. Speaking of downers anything that stumbles or falls going up the chute does not get loaded. I will back everything off even unload a center to get that animal off my truck these are also known as "downers" and shouldn't be loaded.

There's similarities between hauling freight and hauling cattle not many but a few I enjoy what I do for sure I have no complaints what so ever and also don't mind doing this day in and day out. Thank you for the wishes I'll kick this crap and get back on the road hopefully sooner than later. Good luck if you decide to come on over to trucking and start driving someday I don't like where the industry has headed over the past few years but it happens I guess. Well holler at y'all later

Keep the greasy side down y'all