a little bit about bullhaulin'
 

This thread probably won't develop into much, but I'm bored and thought I'd share my cattle hauling experiences with everyone.

For anyone who doesn't know, cattle haulers are called bullhaulers. It doesn't matter if your hauling cows, calves, fat cattle, bulls, ect. - we're bullhaulers. A cattle trailer is called a cattle pot or, simply, a bullrack. Hog and sheep trailers are a little different, but usually they are just bullracks with hog and sheep decks. If you want to holler at a bullhauler on the radio just say cow truck, bullrack or bullhauler.

I parked my truck and I've been driving someone else's truck hauling cattle since last year. It's not usually the wisest idea to let a truck sit, but I didn't have much experience hauling livestock and I wanted to learn on someone else's dime. Having someone else pay for my mistakes is always nicer than me having to pay for my mistakes. So, I'll get the experience that I need and make the contacts that I need to make, then try running as an independent bullhauler myself.

I won't get too specific about my hauls because we're always little bit illegal, but I'll give the basics. I do mostly fat-cattle hauling. I haul some feeder calves now and again (a lot in the fall and winter), but we're shipping out right now and not bringing anything in. My fat-cattle run is a five-hundred mile drive from the feedlot to the packing plant. It takes roughly nine hours as we go through too many stoplights on our route. The cattle do fine to stand for that long. I gross about one-hundred thousand pounds with a full load and a half tank of fuel. I have seven axles so I can axle out legally; I'm over on my gross, though, for a couple states. I deliver the cattle, then drive back empty to get the next load. Most of the guys that I run with drive down, deliver, turn around and drive back all in one shot. I can't do that. Obviously, those guys pretty much throw HOS out the window. I stay compliant as I park the truck after I deliver and drive back the next day; I'm one of the few, though. We ship every other day with one day off.

The truck is a '09 Pete 386 with a pusher axle. The bullrack is a '05 Wilson 53' tri-axle with the rear axle being a lift axle. Truck has a 550hp Cummins (1850 ft/lb torque) with 18 speed. Rears are 3.55. MPG is horrible. We run fast where we can, but the stoplights keep us from making good time. I'm always last as I tend to drive the speed limit for most of the way, but if I'm in an area where I can drop the hammer and smoke the wheels for enough miles to make it worth it, then I'll do it. Bullracks are more stable than a lot of people think. Cattle lean into turns just like we do, but braking and turning or swerving can catch them off guard.

Some bullhaulers seem to be cut from a different mold, but in the end we're all truckers just the same. Every industry has its good points and bad points and bullhauling is no different. We have egghead dispatchers, problems with trucks, and issues with DOT just like everyone else. That's all I can think of for now; I'd better get some sleep since I load in the morning! Questions and comments welcome!

Do you use feed lots where you haul? You might want to address loading and unloading cattle.

What kinda of revenue can the truck make for all miles driven?

I was wondering about trailer washouts for bull haulers. How much are they and where do you get them done?

Well, being the driver, I'm not sure what the carrier's costs vs. revenue is. I also haven't asked around lately about rates, but I think they're in the $3.00/mi. range up to a certain weight (48 or 50K lbs.), and then over that weight the rate starts going up. I've heard that kind of rate setting is called "by the ton/mile". I load 62,500 lbs. but the cattle I've been hauling have been owned by the carrier, so it's not the best example anyways. Bullhauling has a lot of empty miles, but the rates allow a guy to still make some money. This should be obvious as a lot of cow trucks are nice Petes!

As far as washouts go, I do them back at the feedlot that I load out of, though this is not typical. Usually, a bullhauler has to find a washout, which can be found at livestocknetwork.com or just by asking around, and pay for it. I think the charges are in the range of $25-40.

Damn, the guy doing the washout is getting ripped off.

The driver does the washing. So basically, I pay someone $30 so that I can washout my own trailer. But they have to deal with what comes out of it!

GMAN said something about loading/unloading. Obviously, the issue of a cattle prod/hotshot comes up when we talk about loading and unloading cattle. Everybody knows that we use them. Unfortunately, some guys use them way too much. They usually aren't necessary if the facilities are built in a way that allows for easy loading and if the loaders are cattle-wise. However, it seems as if there is always a few animals that do not want to cooperate, so we have to be more persuasive with them. During unloading, it's very rare to have to assist an animal out of the trailer with a hotshot since they are often very willing to get out of the trailer.

If anyone is wondering about weight distribution, the trailer is divided into several compartments. The nose of my trailer is 11' long x 102" wide. It can be double decked with a removable deck. The removable deck allows me to put it in when hauling calves up to about 800lbs, then I take it out to haul fat cattle and cows as they tend to be taller and need a little more head room. I keep my weight under 10,000lbs in the nose as it's directly over my drives. The middle section of the trailer is 27' long and double decked with a gate directly in the middle of each level so that each level can be divided into two compartments, if needed. The tail is 14'6" long and double decked with a fold-up deck. The upper deck has less headroom than the lower deck and is called a doghouse or jail. This upper area is for calves only. I load up to 10,000lbs in the tail as it's directly over the trailer axles. So, my loading formula is this:

Step 1) 10,000lbs/average weight of the animals = # of animals that go into the tail
Step 2) Step 1 minus one animal = # of animals that go into the nose
Step 3) Split whatever is left between the top and bottom middle sections with the odd animal going into the bottom

In step one, I round down to a whole number. If the math gives me 8.4 animals, then eight go in the tail and seven go in the nose. Remember, with three axles I can put 43,500 on them. So, I'll put up to 10,000lbs directly over my axles, but with a live load, the cattle in the middle can move towards one end or the other affecting my axle weights. It can be a problem if they have too much room to move around, so I like to pack 'em tight in the middle and leave my nose/tail light if I need to. That's also why there are gates in the middle sections; you can gate them as they're loaded to keep them from moving end to end like a big amoeba.

How much do you make being a driver??? If you dont want to give your OWN numbers then how much does the avg. driver make. You guys get paid by the mile or %. Or flat rate??

Thanks
Mackman

Just like most of the other company drivers on the road, I get paid by the mile. I get 35 cents/mile, and we ship three loads a week equaling about 1000 miles round trip per load. So, that's $1050/week. Housing and health insurance are provided, also. I don't know if this is the average pay for a company-driver bullhauler. Most of the other trucks that I run with are O/O with their own authority pulling someone else's trailer. I think they get around 90% of the gross for the load. Don't take my word on that, though. They are dispatched by the guy that owns the trailers.