COVID-19 response: Hauling larger loads in farm country

Business

Temporary overweight permits allow up to 100,000 pounds of freight in Missouri.

Mindy Ward, Editor, Missouri Ruralist

March 30, 2020

1 Min Read

WEIGHED DOWN: Livestock haulers are one group that now can transport a larger load to feedyards or packers. A new measure in Missouri also allows for feed truck drivers and seed salesman to carry up to 100,000 pounds. Oliver Strewe/Getty Images

Hauling larger loads is now possible across Missouri’s highways. Missouri Department of Agriculture Director Chris Chinn heard from people in the food supply chain working to deliver products — whether feed, fuel or livestock — to ag businesses or family farms during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Our farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses are eager to get grocery store shelves restocked, and they were worried about getting those products to their destinations in a timely manner,” she says. So, her department worked with the Missouri Department of Transportation to allow for a free, temporary overweight permit that allows haulers to transport up to 100,000 pounds on any Missouri highway during the coronavirus response.

However, haulers need to meet the following criteria:

A copy of the special permit and a bill of lading must be in the possession of the operator of the overweight vehicle during its operation.
The load must carry supplies or equipment in the direct effort to prevent, contain, mitigate and treat the effects of COVID-19. This includes shipments of livestock, poultry, feed and fuels. Any fuels being transported can be hauled at 100,000 pounds or up to the manufacturer’s specifications of the tank type being operated, whichever results in the lower weight.
Carriers may haul up to 100,000 pounds gross weight on semitrailer configurations with five or more axles. The axles must meet the minimum distance requirement stated in the special permit. Carriers using trucks or semitrailers with fewer axles can haul up to an additional 10% heavier than licensed weight.

Violation of any of the conditions of the special permit will void the permit and subject the owner and operator to penalty.

This permit is effective until April 30. For more information, visit modot.org/mcs.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture contributed to this article.

About the Author(s)

Mindy Ward

Editor, Missouri Ruralist

Mindy resides on a small farm just outside of Holstein, Mo, about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis.

After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism, she worked briefly at a public relations firm in Kansas City. Her husband’s career led the couple north to Minnesota.

There, she reported on large-scale production of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and dairy, as well as, biofuels for The Land. After 10 years, the couple returned to Missouri and she began covering agriculture in the Show-Me State.

“In all my 15 years of writing about agriculture, I have found some of the most progressive thinkers are farmers,” she says. “They are constantly searching for ways to do more with less, improve their land and leave their legacy to the next generation.”

Mindy and her husband, Stacy, together with their daughters, Elisa and Cassidy, operate Showtime Farms in southern Warren County. The family spends a great deal of time caring for and showing Dorset, Oxford and crossbred sheep.

See more from Mindy Ward

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