Livestock farmers, as well as those who provide transportation services to producers, have expressed concerns about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration?s (FMCSA) ?hours of service? rule. Under this rule, operators of commercial vehicles are limited to 11 hours of driving time and 14 hours of total time on duty, accounting for fuel stops, loading and unloading trucks, etc. When the limit is reached, drivers are required to pull over and take a 10-hour break. These requirements are not practical for the transportation of livestock, particularly over long distances.
In 2015, the Obama administration introduced a change to the hours of service rule, further rendering it impractical for producers and haulers of livestock. The rule mandated that commercial vehicle operators log driving time with automated electronic monitoring devices instead of manual record keeping. These devices, which require software subscriptions and are expensive to purchase and install, are not optimized for the particular requirements of livestock transportation.
The U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development recently released its appropriations bill, which included language directing the FMCSA to delay implementation and enforcement of the electronic device mandate for livestock haulers for a year. The bill must pass both houses of Congress and be signed by the president before it becomes law. The FMCSA also released a new and favorable interpretation of an agriculture exemption intended to address shortcomings of the hours of service rule. Based on this interpretation, commercial truck operators hauling livestock within a 150 air-mile radius of the source of an agricultural commodity (i.e. the location at which pigs are loaded on a truck) is fully exempt from the hours of service rule and any distance logging requirements.
