Bull haulers are not allowed to speed. No federal regulation, state statute, or livestock-specific exemption permits a driver hauling cattle or other live animals to exceed a posted speed limit, regardless of how time-sensitive the load is. The rules that ease pressure on livestock transporters all deal with hours of service, not miles per hour.
The Federal Rules That Settle It
Two sections of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations close the door on any speeding argument. 49 CFR 392.6 forbids motor carriers from scheduling a run, or allowing operation of a commercial vehicle, in a way that would require the driver to exceed the speed limit.1eCFR. 49 CFR 392.6 – Schedules to Conform With Speed Limits The rule reaches the dispatcher and the carrier, not only the person behind the wheel. A schedule that only works if the driver speeds is itself a federal violation.
49 CFR 392.2 then requires every commercial motor vehicle to be driven in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction it is passing through, with the federal rule controlling only where it sets a higher safety standard.2eCFR. 49 CFR Part 392 – Driving of Commercial Motor Vehicles Nothing in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations carves out livestock, perishable produce, or any other time-sensitive freight. FMCSA’s agriculture pages describe hours-of-service flexibility, ELD relief, and rest-break accommodations for livestock haulers, and none of them mention speed.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. ELD Hours of Service (HOS) and Agriculture Exemptions
Why the Question Even Comes Up
The pressure is real, which is why the question exists. Under the Twenty-Eight Hour Law, codified at 49 U.S.C. ยง 80502, animals cannot be confined in a vehicle for more than 28 consecutive hours without being unloaded for feed, water, and at least five hours of rest. A shipper can request a written extension to 36 hours, sheep get an extra eight hours if the window closes at night, and loading and unloading time doesn’t count. Even so, a driver moving cattle from Montana to Texas is working against a hard legal deadline that sits on top of everything else.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 US Code 80502 – Transportation of Animals
The economics push in the same direction. Cattle lose roughly 5.5 percent of body weight after eight hours of transport and nearly 9 percent after a full day, mostly from dehydration and gut-fill loss. On a load of feeder cattle worth several hundred dollars per head, that shrink translates into thousands of dollars. Longer transit also produces more bruising, which downgrades carcass quality at slaughter. Those pressures explain the temptation. They do not change the law.
What a Speeding Ticket Costs a CDL Holder
Speeding hits harder for a commercial driver than for a passenger-car driver, and the penalties stack.
CDL Disqualification
Federal rules classify speeding 15 mph or more over the posted limit as excessive speeding, which counts as a serious traffic violation. A second serious traffic conviction within three years triggers a 60-day CDL disqualification. A third within the same window brings 120 days.5eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers For an owner-operator, two months off the road is devastating and four months can mean losing the truck.
The disqualification rules also reach into personal driving. A speeding conviction in a personal vehicle counts against a CDL holder’s record if the conviction results in a license suspension.5eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers
CSA Scores and Insurance
FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System records roadside inspection violations, and speeding feeds into the Unsafe Driving category of a carrier’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability score. Low-level speeding of 1 to 5 mph over the limit has been removed from the scoring system, but higher-speed violations still carry meaningful weight. A poor CSA score invites FMCSA intervention, raises the odds of an audit, and makes it harder to win contracts with shippers who check safety ratings.
Underwriters treat speeding convictions as a signal of elevated crash risk, and a single ticket can push commercial auto premiums up sharply. On thin margins, the premium increase alone can wipe out whatever time savings the speeding was supposed to buy.
The Time Exemptions Livestock Haulers Actually Have
Regulators have acknowledged the unique demands of live cargo. Every accommodation they have granted deals with time, not speed.
The 150 Air-Mile Radius
Under 49 CFR 395.1(k), livestock haulers are exempt from hours-of-service rules within 150 air-miles of the source. Livestock haulers also get a matching 150 air-mile exemption at the destination end, and that end-of-trip exemption has been available year-round since November 2021.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. ELD Hours of Service (HOS) and Agriculture Exemptions Drivers operating inside the exempt radius are also not required to use an electronic logging device.6eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part A hauler moving cattle from a Nebraska sale barn to a Kansas feedlot is exempt from HOS tracking for the first 150 air-miles after loading and the last 150 air-miles before delivery. Whatever falls between those bookends is governed by standard HOS rules.
Rest Breaks and Driving Hours
Livestock haulers are exempt from the standard 30-minute rest break that other commercial drivers must take after eight consecutive hours of driving. The exemption recognizes that parking a loaded livestock trailer, especially in hot weather, creates animal welfare problems.
What livestock haulers do not get is more driving time. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Livestock Marketing Association petitioned for an exemption that would have allowed 15 hours of driving inside a 16-hour on-duty window. FMCSA denied the request, finding that the applicants had not demonstrated an equivalent level of safety.7Federal Register. Hours of Service of Drivers – National Cattlemens Beef Association, Livestock Marketing Association Application for Exemption Outside the 150 air-mile exempt zones, the ordinary 11-hour driving cap and 14-hour on-duty window apply.
The HAULS Act
The Haulers of Agriculture and Livestock Safety (HAULS) Act was reintroduced in the Senate in December 2025. The bill would strip out the requirement that agricultural HOS exemptions apply only during state-designated planting and harvesting seasons, and it would extend the destination-side 150 air-mile exemption to agricultural commodity haulers generally, a benefit livestock haulers already receive.8United States Senator Deb Fischer for Nebraska. Fischer Reintroduces Bill to Support Ag Haulers As of early 2026, the bill is still pending.9Congress.gov. S.3552 – HAULS Act of 2025 Even if it passes, it addresses hours of service. It contains no speed provisions.
State CMV Speed Limits
Many states set lower speed limits for commercial vehicles than for passenger cars, particularly on interstates and rural two-lanes. A highway posted at 75 mph for cars may be 65 mph for trucks. A hauler crossing three or four states on one run may need to adjust repeatedly, and missing a state-specific CMV limit is not a defense. The CDL consequences already described apply no matter which state writes the ticket. Under 49 CFR 392.2, the rule is simple in principle: follow whatever limit is posted.2eCFR. 49 CFR Part 392 – Driving of Commercial Motor Vehicles
Speeding Works Against the Cargo Anyway
Even setting aside the tickets, speeding with a loaded livestock trailer works against the load. Higher speeds amplify trailer vibration and sway, which increases stress and physical contact between animals. Longer, rougher transit produces more bruising, and bruising cuts carcass value at slaughter. A driver who speeds to reduce shrink can cause enough bruising damage to offset the weight he was trying to preserve.
Heat compounds it. Cattle begin to feel mild heat stress when the temperature-humidity index passes 72, and readings above 89 are considered severe. Highway airflow helps cool the trailer, but a traffic stop erases that advantage. Twenty minutes on the shoulder during a heat advisory can do more harm to the animals than staying at the limit for the entire trip.
The pressures on bull haulers are genuine and the regulatory system has answered them with real hours-of-service tools. Speed is not one of those tools, and no part of the law treats it as one.