The Three “T”s – Trucks, Trailers, and Tractors

Secretly and not so secretly most of us have wished that we could own the biggest or fanciest of these! The reality being, of course, that most of us couldn’t afford to buy them. Lucky for the planet!! The fact is, unless you happen to be a professional horse person, that a lot of this, supersized, and souped-up equipment, especially tractors and trailers, is frequently underutilized. Trucks, mainly pickups, do get used more often which is not necessarily a good thing considering their gas mileage ratings. So what to do?

We’ll start with trailers, the argument for owning a trailer is that you need to haul horses to the show or to the vet or to a trail ride. Here are some things to consider:

1. How often do I actually fill the trailer that I own with my own animals?
2. How often do I use it at all?
3. How often do I actually sleep and eat in those living quarters vs just using them to change clothes or take a break?

If you answered those questions truthfully then that trailer is probably just sitting there not doing anything most of the time or is half empty when it is actually hauling.

Before everyone starts saying but, but, but… let’s find some workable and sustainable, as well as, potential money saving options. Usually, we know in advance when we are going to be needing a trailer. We need to haul one or more horses to a show, a clinic, a vet appointment, etc. One suggestion is that several of you pool together to buy a trailer that will fit your needs. If you can team up with people who live in the same area, or board at the same stable and who go to the same shows, events, that you do, then your horses can all travel in one trailer with only one vehicle to put gas in instead of 2 or 3. There are a lot of economic advantages to this since you might be able to afford that trailer of your dreams if you only have to pay for a third or fourth of it! Yes, I know that there can be legal and other problems with this such as – who gets to use the trailer if everybody wants to go a different direction one weekend, what if there is a wreck, etc? So, no matter how good of friends you all are, you absolutely need to have an attorney draw up an agreement. Make sure that it covers everything from insurance, payments, where it is parked, how it is shared, whose truck pulls it, etc. Sounds a little complicated but workable and think of all the things you can do with the money you are saving!

If you already own a big trailer, you might consider doing something like selling timeshares in it. This would work if the various parties had events happening at different times such as breed shows. The trailer could be reserved in advance for the show dates. Again this should have paperwork drawn up by an attorney. The advantage to you, the trailer owner, is that it is producing income instead of just sitting there. I am sure that there are many of you who already have shared rides to friends and neighbors and you deserve a big thank you for doing that. Just be sure that everyone signs a release form in case of an accident. I don’t want your good deed to get punished!

Another way to avoid the cost of owning a big rig would be to simply hire a professional hauler, well in advance, to take your horses to the show or event and bring them back again.

Remember these?

Okay, I know that there are times when you may need to have your own trailer such as, an emergency trip to the vet or that once in a lifetime trail ride that just happens to be the same weekend as the biggest horse show! My suggestion would be that you keep an older 2 horse or a stock trailer on hand for those occasions when you don’t need or can’t use the big trailer. They are much cheaper to own and you don’t need an 8 cylinder truck to pull them! They are also great for teaching young horses to load and re-training reluctant loaders. I have always felt that all horses should go willingly into a 2 horse in case there was an emergency, think fire or flood, and that happened to be the only thing available!

That brings me to the problem that we all have which is our love affair with our pickups. The pickup has in many places taken the place of the family car. It goes to the grocery store, picks the kids up at school and frequently is driven to work where it is parked all day. There are, of course, lots of cheaper alternatives for you to drive but they won’t haul hay, feed, and horse trailers. Sometimes we have so much money invested in the truck that we can’t afford the 2nd vehicle! Since we can’t imagine life without our pickups, we are going to have to figure out ways to make them more earth-friendly, by keeping them parked more and offsetting their carbon footprints. The good news is that since pickups are the most popular and best selling vehicle, electric pickups are no longer a thing of the future! As of this writing, Ford, Tesla, and Rivian all have models for sale and General Motors is not far behind. GM tried marketing a hybrid pickup a few years ago, but only sold 30,000 of them so quit making them. I believe that electric vehicles are more mainstream now and the demand for them is increasing. Pickups are the Big 3’s best profit makers! If you can afford one now then please buy one. The more demand the faster the price will go down so that the rest of us can start saving the earth one one electric pickup at a time! In the meantime try to keep the truck you own now home on the farm as much as possible. Drive a more environmentally sustainable vehicle whenever you can. If you have to take the truck for some reason, then try to do all of your errands on the same trip. Find ways to carpool for yourself and the kids and remember to ask yourself each time before driving it “Do I really need to take the truck?”.

Three-quarter view of TE 4×2 Electric Gator Utility Vehicle

The final “T” on our hit list is, of course, tractors but I am also including all those mechanical helpers that we have or wish that we had. I am not denying the need for them. Owning horses involves a lot of hard and sometimes literally backbreaking (if you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis!) work. Dependable barn help is hard to find and out of reach financially for most of us. Fortunately, several manufacturers have stepped up to the plate on this and are offering all-electric alternatives to gas and diesel-powered utility vehicles and even an electric wheelbarrow. However, here in the USA, electric tractors of a size that most horse farms would need, are still unavailable!! Evidently, farmers in Europe and India along with those in other countries are more concerned about the environment than their American counterparts. Even John Deere introduced their first electric tractor in Europe!!!! I think there is a video on Utube converting a diesel Kubota into an electric powered one if you feel up to trying that while we are waiting for electrics on this side of the big pond.

Of course, all this electrical equipment comes with batteries that will need to be recharged either by plugging into the grid or, in best case scenario, using alternative energy. If you are still using regular electricity from your local power company then, unless they are sourcing their power from alternative options such as wind or solar, you are only partially reducing your equipment’s CO2 footprint. The part that would be coming out of its tailpipe! I know that not all of us can go right out and buy a complete solar system to run our home and barn, but the great thing is that you can start with one or two solar panels and then add on as you have the funds. The demand for panels has been increasing and, with California mandating that all new residential construction has solar installed, I am hoping that prices will continue to go down in spite of tariffs! If you are handy, you might be able to rig up a system that can keep your batteries charged for your electric fleet yourself! Lots of “how-to” online or at your local library. I admit that I am absolutely not a solar or electric expert so am not going to try to provide any detailed information here. If you are not knowledgeable either, then get some professionals to install it! Switching as much as possible from fossil fuels to alternative energy is crucial to reducing CO2 levels to a point where life on earth, as we know it, can continue. The more things in our barn, garage, and home that can be run by using power from the sun and/or wind the more sustainable our future will be for us, our children, and our equine friends.

Links: The first 5 links are related to electric utility vehicles. These are just some of the ones available to give you an idea of prices and capabilities. There are a lot of them out there! The Solar Tribune is a site that provides info on solar and alternative energy. They have links by state showing the various solar companies; what they charge, ratings, etc. Also info on adding solar to your home.

https://www.deere.com/en/gator-utility-vehicles/traditional-gators/te-4×2-electric-utility-vehicle/

https://xgev.com/electric-vehicles-usher-in-the-future-of-agriculture/#comment-935

https://xgev.com/auto-body/utv/

https://www.clubcar.com/us/en/home.html

https://www.alke.com/agriculture-vehicles

https://solartribune.com/about-us/

https://workhorse.com/pickup