He criss-crosses North America in 10 to 12-hour shifts, keeping a watchful eye on his precious cargo via a webcam monitor on his laptop.

He carries the hopes and dreams of bucking bull breeders both large and small, ferrying them from sellers to buyers, from pasture to vets, and from bull pens to collection sites.

This is no semi-truck driving man — Troy Grimes is a full-time hauler of rodeo bred livestock. On a recent West Coast trip, Grimes revealed that he had gotten in the trucking business over 20 years ago with his dad, Peewee Grimes, hauling logs out of the woods to lumber and paper mills. “The timber business in East Texas started declining,” Grimes recalled, “and that’s when I got involved in the rodeo business. Fifteen years ago I was hauling rodeo bulls to open rodeos on our big truck. After purchasing a 1-ton and 20-foot gooseneck trailer to haul cattle locally, and seeing the rodeo industry change, we saw a need for nationwide delivery and upgraded to a 2005 28-foot Elite trailer.

“I haven’t had any problems with this trailer in all that time,” he marveled. “Tommy Ferrel and Elite trailers have done an amazing job building it.”

With special sliding compartments to separate his loads, the trailer has a webcam rear-mounted so he can keep an eye out for trouble at all times. The trailer was put into service in November of 2005, and has over 500,000 miles on it today. In his custom trailer, “You have enough room for hauling feed, so we’re able to park while traveling and the animals can eat as well. You have feed buckets, feed, hay, and water hoses. If you stack it in there right and make it tight, you will get enough feed in for the whole trip.”