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Ranchers.net

I spent most of the day at the Cattlemen’s association board meeting today. One of the speakers was an Alabama State trooper talking about this requirement for truck trailer combinations with GVW more that 10,000 pounds. From what I understand there is more to this than meets the eye. He said, to start his talk, that all we needed to do was apply for a number and post it on our truck and it would not cost us one dime. However, after a heated question and answer session there is more to it that that.
Let me list out what I understand will be required in this following example.

Lets take a pickup truck like a GMC 1500 with a GVW of 6200 pounds pulling a small two axial trailer rated at 3500 pounds per axial or a trailer with 7000-pound GVW. That is a total GVW of 13,200 pounds and over the 10,000 cut off. This could be a 16 foot cattle trailer or a 16 utility trailer, which we see every day.
From what I understood, the operator would need the following.

1) Us DOT number displayed on the side of the truck so that it can be read from 50 feet. Along with a Farm name also displayed.
2) A medical card just like the one required for a CDL.
3) A safety inspection for both the truck and trailer.

I think this will knock a lot of small Alabama farmers out of the business just for the trouble of havling off a few cows or calves. It is a federal law so we will need help on the national level to raise the GVW requerment.
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