Are you proactive?

[gizmom]

I don't know if I am posting this in the right place, but I tend to go to breeds board more than others so figured I would post here. Many of you have become aware of the issue we are facing regarding the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) law that went into place this year. Currently livestock haulers are exempt from using this device until March 18th but this initial waiver is just not enough time for us to prepare as an industry. I understand why this bill was passed and don't disagree that regulating the number of hours a truck and driver can be on the road sounds like a good idea. But the majority of those trucks and drivers are not hauling live animals. This new law will impede our ability to transport cattle. As a result the cattle industry is a causality in that as the law reads now our cattle haulers will have to pull over for a 10- hour rest period once the hours of service limit is reached. This is not only an economical disaster for the cow- calf sector but an absolute cattle and well being issue. So what can we do? Contact your local cattlemen's Association have the association send letters to your Secretary of Agriculture, Governor, congressman, senator and the President. I hope you folks are pro-active this law as it stands will harm our industry.

Gizmom

 

[slick4591]

Don't know anything about it really, but would two drivers help get around it?

 

[gizmom]

Sure at a cost and if you could find the second driver. Whole lot of cows going to be waiting on a ride the industry already has issues finding drivers with livestock knowledge.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Sure at a cost and if you could find the second driver. Whole lot of cows going to be waiting on a ride the industry already has issues finding drivers with livestock knowledge.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but between truckers TXing and falling asleep something had to be done. I can never remember seeing so many trucks drifting, swerving and crashing.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Sure at a cost and if you could find the second driver. Whole lot of cows going to be waiting on a ride the industry already has issues finding drivers with livestock knowledge.

might make a big difference in those weaned on the trailer..leaving the stockyard headed to the feedlots..lota time for the bugs to get a toe hold...

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Sure at a cost and if you could find the second driver. Whole lot of cows going to be waiting on a ride the industry already has issues finding drivers with livestock knowledge.

I know you travel a pretty good distance to sales..what is the most time you spend on the road?

 

[wbvs58]

Does this apply to you people who tow trailers with your 1 ton trucks? I have a 5 ton Isuzu that I occaisionally do a long trip to Victoria and where I don't have any problem with rest periods especially when Pam comes with me it is a real pain in the ar$e to have to fill out the paper log book and the RTA are very tough on it being done exactly right with heavy fines. I will often forget to record breaks that I have plus the odometer on the truck no longer works which they haven't picked up on yet.

Ken

 

[uplandnut]

I'm not sure what the answer will be but the trucking industry has known this was coming down for the last 2 years. In 2015 it was passed that by December 18th of 2017 all commercial trucks were required to have one. Even the pickup you pull your own livestock trailer with is suppose to have an eld if you are registered to haul 10k pounds, if it is a income for you, if it is a hobby you are exempt. I'm sure they're are loads that go that far but I am curious how many loads actually go the distance of 10 hours one way? I can be from west central Wi to Louisville Ky in 10 hours, sticking to the speed limit pretty closely.

 

[M-5]

If you stay within 100 air miles your exempt. I have a couple of friends that haul livestock routinely from South fla . It's a 8 hr run from here to Okeechobee. Once loaded he makes runs to OK stockyards and to TX . It is basically causing higher freight charges to make up for down time. A prime example of gov. Regulating people out of business.

 

[gizmom]

Upland

I don't know what the answer is but I do believe livestock has to be considered differently than common freight. The state of Florida ships a lot of calves if your shipping from central Florida your looking at 6 to 8 hours to get out of the state. The fastest route from Miami to where we live in Pensacola is over 9 hours. I know when we hauled cattle to the Junior angus national shows we would leave late afternoon and drive all night in order to keep the cattle cool. We were hauling dead broke cattle and they got to where they didn't want to get back on the trailer. I can't begin to imagine Unloading a pot load of green calves for down time. It sounds like a great idea in theory, but not so much if your the one trying to get them back on the truck.

Alabama I listened to a speaker yesterday talk about what the cost of having to pull one calf out of the feedlot for treatment cost the producer. Can you imagine how much more it will cost when cattle are unloaded into pens in route due to these new regulations. It is just adding one more unnecessary exposure to calves that are already stressed. It has been proven that shipping is already a huge stress on them but loading and unloading is just adding more.


Gizmom

 

[Nesikep]

I think WHEN it comes into effect in Canada (I know it will), it'll have a far worse effect.. Our distances are just so much longer.. From my stockyards to where most of the calves go (Alberta) you're pushing it to do it in 10 hours with mountain passes, etc

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Its a stupid law for any freight. The down time is way to long. Any one that has tried to sleep 8 hours in a sleeper of a truck knows that don't work. Hell I don't sleep 8 hours straight in my own bed. If your time out 30 minutes before you reach you destination and have to lay over 14 hours. Then drive 30 minutes, wait hours sometimes to unload doesn't make any sense.

 

[uplandnut]

I am not disagreeing that livestock should or shouldn't be considered differently for freight laws, and red bull breeder I agree that it is a stupid law and the down time is way to long. What I am surprised at is that the industry (trucking) knew it was coming for the last 2 years and only after it has come into effect has it created a stir amongst the people affected by it. I'm sure some of that is due to the lack of information the federal government was releasing but I heard many drivers saying they'll just see what happens when it goes into effect. We all know how screwed up our political offices work, and I guarantee you the insurance companies pushing for this weren't sitting around saying I'll see how it works in the end they were in the political offices getting there voices heard. Which is where all the cattle associations should have been getting there .02 in as well. As the old saying goes "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" . No matter which side of politics you fall on you have to put a "bug" in there ear if you want change.
Gizmom your heading was " are you proactive" and, respectively, the answer to that for the whole industry is obviously no. When the trucking industry knew it was coming and decided to "see what happens" as a lot of the truckers I know did they immediately fell into the "reactive" category.
What I find the most frustrating is that there has been no communication from the enforcement bodies to inform the public about how the rules really apply to the different categories they affect. There is so much grey area in the language of the ruling that every dot inspector will have a different opinion about who needs it and when it applies. I encourage all of you to stop at a highway patrol office and question how it applies to you in your exact case so you are informed. I urged the cattlemans club I belong to in WI to set up a dot officer to come speak at our yearly meeting to clarify what affects us and what doesn't but the club didn't agree so instead everyone is getting there information off the world wide web trying to decifer it for themselves.
Sorry for the rant.

 

[snoopdog]

A lot of responsibility to be shared on this one. The HOS regulations are meant to make the roads safer , but one size does not fit all segments of the trucking industry and that is what the regulators don't get . The 14 hr rule actually does the opposite, encouraging drivers to drive while fatigued . With that said , drivers have been abused for years by the same industry , hence the shortage of experienced responsible drivers. Without the flexibility of being able to stop the 14 hr clock, I don't see any other options other than a team operation or scheduling pickups and drops within the 11hr window . Everyone knew this was coming .

 

[elkwc]

One issue I see is it seems many who will enforce it has a different idea of the law and how to enforce it. I know of friends who have talked too or listened too 3-4 different enforcement sources and they have all been told different stories. I have done a lot of reading. I know of a few who have already received warning tickets. I've been told that if we go over 120 miles to pick up say one bull we will at least need a log book. Others are telling me and others that isn't so. What I want to see is everybody on the same page so you will know what you have to do. It seems those in different states have different views also. And I travel to 4 different states on a regular basis. But all within a 100 miles of home. I hope some common sense enters in and the needed exceptions are made. One warning ticket I know of is a weekend roper and was just over the mileage limit. It isn't uncommon in this rural area to travel 150 miles to a rodeo or to buy a cow or bull.

 

[Nesikep]

Here's a link to a youtube long time trucker, not this vid but in another one i think he goes to great lengths about why we are ending up with ELD's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9SgB-v7avo

 

[Coosh71]

I'm in the same boat as elk here. We have several buyers for our fall calves each year. One is south of Amarillo,TX (130 miles) and one 45 miles East of Woodward, OK (120 miles). We have been hauling these calves ourselves typically for a fee in our 32 and 24' trailers. And the sale barn we use from time to time is 75 miles one way. I have a DOT Officer that lives close I'm going to ask him if the new law is going to affect us like I'm hearing here.

 

[snoopdog]

Sure at a cost and if you could find the second driver. Whole lot of cows going to be waiting on a ride the industry already has issues finding drivers with livestock knowledge.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but between truckers TXing and falling asleep something had to be done. I can never remember seeing so many trucks drifting, swerving and crashing.

Grit, are you aware that a driver of a cmv can be fined up to 2800$ for texting while driving and the company 10k? Personally I think it should be that way for EVERYONE .

 

[elkwc]

Here's a link to a youtube long time trucker, not this vid but in another one i think he goes to great lengths about why we are ending up with ELD's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9SgB-v7avo

I listened to this video. So basically instead of addressing the problem he mentions they have applied it too many who weren't abusing it. That is always what happens when the gov't gets involved. I will admit there is problems with many long haul drivers including livestock haulers. Anyone who has unloaded cattle from these long haul truckers have seen it. I have seen them so high they were bouncing around. The one I will never forget was I was helping with wheat pasture cattle for a small feedlot. Sometimes if I was around the lot I would unload a truck that came in. A trucker came in and backed up to the chute and I went to unload him. He had drove straight through from Alabama. After he had backed up he opened the door and tried to walk out of the cab. He splattered on the asphalt. He got up and I could tell he was hurt. I helped him in the cab and I unloaded him. He took off. When whatever he was on wore off I'm sure he realized how bad he was hurt. I've seen this many times. So I agree that something needed to be done but from what I'm hearing they have over reached quite a bit.