NCHA News

Comments Needed - ELD Mandate

The Transportation (Hours of Service) temporary exemption submitted by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the American Farm Bureau Federation  (AFBF), and the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for livestock haulers to achieve additional drive time upon the completion of certain training/documentary requirements has been posted for public comment until March 8, 2019.

The following information on issuing your comments for this issue has been collected and provided to the NCHA thanks to the Colorado Cattlemen's Association. 

Directions on How To Comment

• Go here: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FMCSA-2018-0334-0002
• Click “Comment Now!” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen in a blue box
• Type comments into the field. Comments are limited to 5,000 characters. If you anticipate  needing more room, write your comments in a Word document, save it to your computer, and then attach it to the comment using the “Choose files” box.
• The category you should select from the drop-down category section is “public comments.”
• Click continue in the blue box in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in a blue arrow.
• Check the “I read and understand the statement above” box
• Click “submit comment”

What You Might Want To Include in Your Comments

The best comments are those that are professional, concise, and personal to the submitter. Begin by identifying yourself and your role in the livestock industry and how live animal transportation impacts you and your business. Then, clearly explain your support of the request for more drive time.

Some Key Points to Include

• How far livestock must travel from the ranch to the market and from the market to their next destination in your part of the country. Although many of those trips can be completed in the 11 hours allotted under current law, there are several trips that cannot be made in 11 hours
• Although more drive time would be appreciated, the 4 extra hours asked for in the petition is very helpful to lots of markets, producers, and truckers
• As the petition states, by completing extra training and conducting trip planning activities, livestock haulers can drive this extra time in a safe way
• This request is focused on providing flexibility to a small, well-defined, specific group of livestock haulers, not a broad cross-section of the entire trucking industry
• Livestock haulers have a great track record of safety, which is supported by data cited in the petition
• Livestock haulers are unique to the commercial motor vehicle industry – they haul live animals

Give any examples of increased economic hardship your business will face if this flexibility is not granted.

Click HERE For More Information Regarding the ELD Mandate

Our friends at Protect the Harvest have gathered information to help answer questions and better explain what is involved with the new ELD Mandate. Click the link above to see how this mandate will affect members of the Cutting industry.