Cow Haulers.com

What would we do without Sitemeter? I noticed this in my referrals a moment ago, and just for fun I checked the actual Google search. It was to my dismay that a search for cattle haulers did not lead to one of my best friend's site: Cattletrucks.com, home of Hilker Trucking.

I dunno what the searcher's intent was - whoever it was at least enjoyed looking at the pictures. But, if they were looking for someone to haul cattle, well, Google let them down with that search string. I've been in the Kalona, IA area several times, and while I'm sure there are plenty of cattle haulers in Iowa, most livestock haulers I've seen are set up for hogs. Piggie trailers have shorter decks, so hauling cattle on them isn't such a great idea.

So, consider this post as a route marker for future Google searches. If you want cattle hauled, call Steve, Judy or Brant at 620-855-2378 or go to the site: www.cattletrucks.com. The cattle biz is nothing but traditional and conservative - newcomers aren't trusted. It might be part "old boy network," but it's also based on trust, handshakes and a lot of unwritten contracts. Newbies by definition haven't built up the currency of honesty. So, rest assured, Hilker Trucking has been hauling cattle for at least three decades, and have a hard fought reputation for on time pickups and delivery, plus professional handling of livestock. Also, if they can't haul it, they probably know someone who can. There are advantages to being a member of the "old boy network." One tends to find out who the "fly by nighters" are, and who has earned trust.

So, yeah, looking back on what I just wrote, this sounds like an ad. Maybe it is - I'm not much into the idea of selling ad space on this ol' dump, I don't have a "tip jar," and I don't run marathon "blegs." This thing is provided free of charge, and I contribute for my own entertainment and enjoyment, so unless my writing suddenly starts paying bills (hah!) or they start charging to use Blogger, this joint will remain ad free.

But, I'll do a favor for a friend. One of the more popular pages that keeps on appearing in the referral logs of this blog is the post Blower Motor Chevrolet Silverado. It was about the travails of finding information online about servicing the same, and the lack of any information that could be found online (for free) about it. So, I wrote and tagged it hoping it would help someone in the future, and it has - it's collected a few thank you comments and it's usually in the top five results in a Google search on the subject.

So, I hope I can do the same for people searching for someone to haul cattle.