Three Alabama Trucking Firms Deliver Aid to Texas Farmers
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With the lives of thousands of animals at stake, three Alabama trucking companies — in the wake of deadly wildfires that decimated 1 million acres of grazing area — responded to a call from agriculture commissioners in that state and Texas to deliver loads of hay to ranchers whose livestock were facing starvation.
Wildfires that hit the Texas Panhandle in February claimed the lives of three residents, including 40-year-old volunteer Fire Chief Zeb Smith, who died in the line of duty. The fires also destroyed 138 homes and businesses and killed 15,000 head of cattle.
For ranchers, the tally for those lost cattle was $27 million, along with $26 million worth of damage to grazing areas that could no longer be used to feed the surviving livestock. The lives of those cattle, and some horses, rested in the ability to get hay to the affected area.
Responding to a call from Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, Alabama Trucking Association CEO Mark Colson reached out to his members seeking help to deliver massive loads of local hay donated by the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association to Texas cattle farmers.
Pate
RELATED: Texas Truckers Bring Tires, Livestock Feed in Wildfire Aid
“Our team reached out to our members for help, and within hours, representatives from several Alabama companies, including DMT Trucking, PS Logistics and Boyd Bros. Transportation, stepped up to assist. In no time, they turned what seemed impossible into a reality,” Colson recalled. “In my time working in this industry, I have learned truckers have huge hearts. I always like to say that through crisis or Christmas, truckers always deliver for America. They certainly did in this case, and these trucking companies, along with Commissioner Pate and the Alabama Cattlemen, are the true heroes of this story for their quick action and service.”
Colson
For their efforts in responding to the needs of farmers and livestock across the affected area, Transport Topics is proud to honor these three carriers with its Trucking’s Frontline Heroes award.
Over the course of several weeks, the three Alabama trucking companies coordinated and transported 27 shipments of hay — totaling hundreds of round bales — directly to the Texas Panhandle. Per the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries, it was enough to feed about 5,400 head of cattle.
“I grew up on a farm, and my dad was a cattle farmer and peanut farmer. Because I grew up this way, I have a deep understanding and empathy for our farmers and farming community and how critical this is to the lifeblood of our country,” said Chris Cooper, CEO of Boyd Cos., parent company of Boyd Bros. Transportation Inc. Boyd Bros. is a flatbed truckload carrier that operates across the eastern two-thirds of the nation. It mainly transports steel products and building materials.
“Truckers and farmers are the backbone of this country,” Cooper said. “I was happy to volunteer our resources to help those in need. This made 100% sense to me.”
“Several of our team either grew up on farms or are part-time farmers themselves, so they felt an immediate calling to jump in and help,” said Harold Smith, group president of DMT Trucking, SEL Transportation and Shelton Trucking. “Some of our drivers and contractors, along with several of our office staff, have family members who own farms. We view farmers as a huge part of the backbone of our country.”
Truckers and farmers are the backbone of this country. I was happy to volunteer our resources to help those in need. This made 100% sense to me.
Chris Cooper, CEO of Boyd Cos.
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He added, “Even though we were assisting another state, it felt like a problem that was very close to home.” DMT operates 375 tractors and 500 open-deck 53-foot trailers across the lower 48 states. It employs 370 drivers.
Scott Smith, co-founder and CEO of P&S Transportation, a PS Logistics subsidiary, and Harold Smith’s cousin, said PS was geographically positioned to help.
Scott Smith
“PS Logistics has several terminals in Texas, and one of those locations was close to the impacted wildfire area in Texas,” he noted. “We are always willing to lend a hand for those in need. We have a bond with the farmers and ranchers in these small communities.”
Founded with 20 trucks in 2004 by Scott Smith and Robbie Pike, PS now has over 4,900 trucks in its fleet. PS Logistics, DMT Trucking and P&S Transportation are sister companies. PS Logistics ranks No. 28 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America.
Harold Smith
Harold Smith noted the operation had unique challenges, including getting the hay to some small, rural farms across Alabama and Texas. “This was far different from the massive steel and building material locations we are used to loading,” he said. “It required considerable communication from our office staff, the driver, the Alabama committee for agriculture’s team, the shipping farmer and the receiving farmer. It all went smoothly, but it required more coordination than most flatbed orders.”
That included coordinating with two state agriculture departments, staging trucks to retrieve the hay and determining transport regulations to the disaster area. There also was a learning curve for dealing with the bales, Cooper noted, as a single hay bale measures 5 feet wide and 4 feet tall.
“The size of the hay bales and weight of the loads were our biggest challenges,” he said. “Trying to understand how many bales we could haul and the appropriate way to secure the loads were some of the early challenges. After a few loads were done, we streamlined the process.”
Despite the challenges, Cooper says the Alabama trucking community rallied around the effort. “The level of dedication, empathy and willingness to help from our trucking community was overwhelming,” he said. “This warmed my heart and renewed my faith in humanity — for people to help those who are truly struggling,” he said. “To me, doing the right thing for the right reason is a way of life, and a code we all should live by. But how it has been received has been uplifting.”
A truck hauls hay. Alabama truckers carried hundreds of bales of hay to affected areas of Texas. (Alabama Trucking Association)
He encouraged the rest of the industry to similarly respond when calls for help arise during crises.
“It’s always worth helping others in need for a worthy cause,” Cooper said. “Sometimes, in the world that we live in, the right thing is hard to delineate. But I would challenge every trucker out there to really do a deep soul search. If they think it’s the right thing to do or if it’s helping someone in need, then it certainly has value,” he said. “I hope and pray that everyone knows that trucking and farming are the backbone of this country. Trucking makes this country and moves this country forward.”
“The truckloads of hay from Alabama were indicative of how so many answered the call for help,” said Texas Farm Bureau communications director Gary Joiner, who helped coordinate the effort. “Donations at the supply points were critical in the days and weeks following the fire as survival transitioned into recovery. The generosity of Alabama truckers was greatly appreciated.”
“Truckers keep America moving to supply our needs, but the timeliness of delivery doesn’t usually mean life and death,” Harold Smith noted. “In this instance, it was truly a life-and-death situation for the cattle in Texas.”
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