Not all milk trucks are considered farm trucks. Tractors pulling tankers are not but straight jobs like mine are. I am hauling a farm product TJ, It Is an agricultural job. What you pay In license tabs a year and Heavy Highway Tax?
I'm ready for a glass of Milk! Thanks for sharing... After changing out my bearings on my small trailer recently (only 1500lb payload)...makes me wonder how HEAVY DUTY your wheel bearings/axles must be to haul 50,000 lbs? What kind of air pressue in those rear tires?
Truck with O plate (51000) is around $700/yr. Tailer @ 51000 is $550 yr (I think). Heavy use tax goes off miles and varies so much. Oversize permit is around $250. Not starting anything Steve. I just never quite figured out why some are and some arnt. Grain truck taking corn off field to the dryer is different than a hopper bottom taking it to Tuffy's. An end dump hauling gravel on the potato farm is different than mine hauling at Wensman seed. I just really never figured out why one truck that isnt owned by a farm is and another isnt. No biggie.
My wife is actually taking her preschool class to a dairy farm on Thursday and I was telling her all about your posts and she is going to use some of it to help the kids try to understand everything that goes on at the farm.
That's great Dave!! Too bad more schools don't do this type of stuff. When I went to college In 1993 my roommates at the apartment I lived at asked me what my parents did for a living. I told them my dad Is a milk man and delivers milk from the dairy farms to a plant. They then asked what you mean, Isn't milk made from powder? I couldn't believe It. They then asked If chocolate milk came from brown cows? I damn near lost It with these Idiots the 1st day of meeting them. Yes, they were 100% city boys. The school systems these days are way out of touch with the farming community. That's a big problem If you ask me!!
Steve you didnt spell out to me the difference between lLTL (location to location) what is the difference between here and there and what its put in? 6 axles is 6 axles weather it has a 5th wheel pin between them or not. My point is some ride under these farm plates if/ and when it benifits them. There is a guy that has a shop next to ours. He live in town but hauls hay under the name of XXXX farms, cracks me up. 2 year anual inspection (kind of a oxymoron huh). Base plates at half the money. Driver needs no special license(this one really blows me away). And can run 20% over poster restictions! Why? Cause they have green plates and not blue ones! Yes I am a bit bitter I got a ticket yesterday, a milk hauler in front of me and a school bus behind. I had 6 axles with a empty dump truck, and a back hoe on the trailer. Green plate , bleu plate, tax exempt plate. Who you suppose they tagged. 57,280lbs on 6 axles. I was on a 5 ton/axle road. I was over by 1750 lbs on one axle, but way under gross! This milk hauler was full! 4000 gal tank (whats that Weigh Steve?), and a school bus. 2 axles with 70 kids the truck alone weighs 10000! When I pointed all this out to the state bull his respose was "bubba you have blue plates, you can afford it." BTW do you get away with farm rate fuel also? An honest question.
Try hauling milk during road restrictions. I guarantee you milk trucks get nailed more then anyone which Is 100% bull****!!! Were hauling a food product In a time frame that has to be delivered 7 days a week no matter what. Were picking up milk In severe weather, snowstorms, you name It. When does a milk hauler get a frickin brake? Never does he, never!! Milk trucks should be 100% exempt to 80,000 GVW. 95% of my farmers live on 5 ton roads. Try my job once this time of year, Its a *****!!! The state and county boys love this time of year. They make a killing on milk trucks cause they know 99% of them are running around Illegal as hell and there Isn't a thing the milk hauler can do about It. Whenever I get pulled over the boys just smile. What's that tell you? You want to see someone get excited over this ****? Watch me!! This will be coming to an end shortly and rightfully so. New laws are coming. The new upcoming license plates will all look the same. To begin with I had T plates I believe they were called, now I have farm plates. My truck has gotten pulled over more with the farm plates on then with the T plates on. Answer that one? To me It don't matter. They'll pull anyone over and most of the time the milk hauler Is the one that gets It. Just this week 7 over weight tickets were given out to milk haulers who haul milk to the plant I do. That number will keep growing. Low blow there TJ, low blow. You damn well know the answer to that question!
I do understand your frustration TJ, I really do. Anyone that drives a heavy truck In Mn has to deal with this ****. It Is what It Is. I agree with the school bus thing, they are by far the most overweight truck out there and rightfully so they are exempt as a few other things should be.
