cattle hauling

[dwilliams]

We haul our own calves and cows. We also get asked to custom haul. We can haul about 16 (500lb.calves) or 9 cows. We have been charging $2.25/loaded mile. Is this reasonable?

[cowman]

Yea, you're right in the ballpark. My local trucker charges $100/load for about 30 calves for 25 miles. Works out pretty close.

[gopher]

I just had my cattle hauled last week using a commercial trucker . He charged $75.00 per load and had 30 head of 600 lb calves on each load. He had to travel approx. 25 miles one way and this is in the Lethbridge area.

[pandiana]

I was wondering if you have factored in insurance? We had a situation here where a fellow was making a few extra dollars hauling cattle for neighbors. He was reported by commercial truckers for not having a license. When he inquired about license he found insurance cost made it impossible to continue on this casual basis.

[dwilliams]

We checked in with our local insurance agent and they said it was o.k. to haul for other people as long as your truck registration is registered with the proper GVW (gross vehicle weight) - this means you have to be registered for the weight of your truck, trailer and load. We asked if we had to have commercial plates and they said no, it would be o.k. with our F plate. I don't know, maybe we should get some second opinions

[jmillang]

Having farm plates does not make it legal to become a commercial trucker. There is still a debate as to what operation the truck is used for. For a producer to do it once in a while I think you would be fine, but turn it into a part time job or full time use, you cold have some trouble. Also using farm fuel for a commerical trucking business also puts you on the wrong side of the law as well.

The casual load would be fine, but trying to generate any amount of income would require more investigation.

[Muttley]

I am from Sk. and have been told here that we can not haul someone elses cattle if we are charging for the service. We can however haul for someone else if we are not receiving financial compensation, we also can haul if the cattle are in our care such as custom feeding or leasing.
I myself feel it is not worth the risk if I get caught. I have been stopped by the R.C.M.P. twice in the last year to check manifests and to inspect my outfit, both times it was in a city.
There is also custom truckers that will report you and you can hardly blame them as this is their living. They pay the proper insurance and should be going by the rules, so should we.