Moving cattle and livestock was around before truck drivers. Back in the 1800s cattle drives were a major economic activity in the American west. “Cattle were moved from Texas to rail yards in Kansas”, for movements to Chicago stockyards and all points east. The average cattle drive included 3000 head and 10 cowboys, with three horses each. While the cattle could be moved 25 miles a day, they would lose weight and be harder to sell. Cowboys worked in shifts 24 hours a day herding them during the day, and watching for thieves at night or stampede’s. “The cowboys were young men between the ages of 16 to 22 and the cook was older well respected”, because after all he had the food and medical supplies. He would work in all types of weather from extreme heat to the bitter cold. There salary was about $40.00 a month after the cattle were sold. In 1790 young Davy Crockett drove ”a large stock of cattle” 400 miles from Tennessee to Virginia. Pigs were also driven from the east to the Midwest to farms.
“End of the open range and the cattle drives”!
Barbed wire fences ended the cattle drive in the 1880s. In Texas and the surrounding area increased population forced ranchers to fence in their cattle. “In the north overgrazing ruined the cattle industry”, with nothing to graze on during the harsh winters of 1886-1887. When hundreds of thousands of cattle starved to death. In the 1890s the railroads expanded and meat packing plants moved closer to major ranching areas. that’s was the end of cattle drives, some smaller drives continued until the 1940 but now it’s all but gone
“Modern day steel cowboys”!
“Steel cowboys, bull haulers, Bullrack, Bullwagons, what ever you call them, they are the modern day cowboys.” It takes a special skill to drive a cattle truck, not just any truck driver can do it! Cattle haulers must load and unload the cattle. Clean the trailers out after a trip, the trailers can have an extra 3000 pounds of manure in the trailer, that can put you overweight. Then drive with care due to the high center of gravity hauling live animals (similar to driving a tanker) . You don’t want to take off too fast or stop too fast you can injure the cattle, also slow down on curves or you can roll over. “My friend Tony in the Midwest is a bull hauler and has lots of stories”, like getting an angry cow in the chute or getting stuck in the trailer with an angry bull! ”It’s” a time sensitive truck driving job you have to get there before the cattle dies! The most difficult is loading heifers and young bulls there not used to being moved around a lot. You will have to learn how to load the trailer so as not to be overweight and get a ticket. Some of the livestock you will haul is sheep, cows, pigs, steers and horses. So learning how to load them right is a crucial step to the job. In the winter you will drive a lot its better to move cattle in the winter ”it’s” cooler. “So too much cattle and not enough trucks equals big money to be made”, 4000 or more miles a week during the winter. You can run as many miles as you want hauling cattle. So if you learn to haul cattle, and drive smart you can earn $60,000 or more a year as a cattle truck driver, owner operator’s more. GONZOTRUCKER
“The bet was if the jets won i whould have to put his twitter adress on gonzotrucker.com!” If the cowboys win he has to tweet www.gonzotrucker.com all week. Well guess what gonzotrucker lost so here is his twitter adress. so go there and tell him his jets suck lol. @jethroinwi
“Gonzotrucker runs a relay route in Arizona.” I show up pre trip and fuel my truck then drive 3 hours to my relay point. At the relay drop yard i switch truck’s and trailer’s with Larry. Larry comes from California every night, a three hour drive with a burrito under his hood to cook for his lunch. ”He takes a frozen burrito and wraps it in tin foil”, and places it under the hood. His three hours drive cooks the burrito so when he arrives he has his lunch. Well last night he forgot to take the burrito out because he was late. The truck he first got into was out of fuel and he had to return to the yard loosing 45 minutes. Making me 45 minutes late in the process. So i was one hour down the road on my return trip when i get a call. ”It’s” Larry hey man can you remove the burrito for me. So shit i pulled over and removed it and i just put it in the truck with me. Now the infamous burrito is traveling down the road with me in the cab. So two hours later im 15 minutes from my drop yard when i get hungry, so why not i decide to eat the burrito. That’s when the crash happened. Another big truck was passing me with a four wheeler right on his ass. “The big truck was 7 feet past me when the four wheeler cut back in front of me”, almost hitting me by 3 inches! I dropped the burrito on the dirty floor and the four wheeler started to go into the other trucks lane. Pushing him almost into the medium and the hitting his running boards. Ahhh shit im already one hour late now this. So we all pulled over i was smart, and pulled in front of them first so i could go when we’re done with police. By this time i had forgotten the burrito and ran back to see if everyone was ok. thats when the four wheeler decided to take off almost running down the gonzotrucker. Me and the other trucker just stared at each other and watched the car almost hit other vehicles. Well he was drunk and the state police got him for “hit and run”, and i went home after being delayed 1 hour more at the schene. That my friends was my Friday night at work. I am thinking of suing the driver for my burrito what do you think? Do i have a case?.
< “Yesterday I met a new truck driver in the industry”, Frank from Iowa. He was just 6 months out of trucking school, and told me he loves the job but is just not earning enough money! So he was rethinking a career in trucking when i said wait a minute lets see what you’re doing wrong? So we went to the liars bench outside of the Petro truck stop in Eloy Arizona to discuss what he is doing wrong. First he told me he was tired of eating at truck stops every night that’s his first mistake! Eating at the truck stop cost’s a lot and is not healthy, $10 dollars or more per meal and makes your body fatigue.
So I told him he needs to start eating healthy and cheap. Go to wal- mart and get some healthy foods invest in a microwave on the truck. He is spending $200 a week eating at the truck stops when he can live $80 a week from wal- mart. Then the health factor if you’re not eating healthy you can’t drive as many miles because you will get fatigue faster. Then I asked frank how was his relationship with his dispatcher? Frank told me bluntly he is a dickhead well that’s not a good attitude. Make your dispatcher your friend do a lot of small runs on time, and safely without complaint then ask for a long load. “Have a can do attitude with your dispatcher”, and he will recognize you as one of his better drivers, and start to treat you with the same respect you show him. “Also I told frank to check in with his dispatcher every day”, let him know your name and that you care about the quality of the job you do for him every day.
Me and frank talked for a couple of hours and after we talked he walked away with the information needed to start earning more money as a rookie driver and to have longevity in the trucking industry. There are many other little things you can do to earn more money as a rookie truck driver or a seasoned veteran of trucking. “It’s” not very hard to earn a good living in trucking if you have the right attitude”, and the correct information to start out with. So the morale of this story is work hard and think smart and you will earn a lot of money being a truck driver. Gonzotrucker
September 12, 2011
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Posted by GONZOTRUCKER
Categories: Types of Trucking Jobs
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Tags: 18 wheelers, cattle truck driver, cdl training, flatbeds, how to be a truck driver, how to drive a truck, how to make money as an owner operator, local tuck driver, tanker truck, the trucking life, truck driver salary, truck drivers, truck driving, truck driving jobs, trucking, trucks
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