{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"BLP 363: The $500K Lesson: Inside Blackwell Trucking's Pivot to Hopper Freight","description":"Watch it on YouTube: https:\/\/youtu.be\/xnLyii6krVg   What does it take to run a four-generation family business through cotton, cattle, pipeline restoration, AND a 7-truck hopper fleet \u2014 all at the same time? This week we sat down with Bob Blackwell and his son-in-law Jared Reaves at Blackwell Trucking in Wayne, Oklahoma. Three generations of Blackwells have worked this land. Bob started chasing pipeline restoration jobs 25 years ago when one came across his field \u2014 and built Blackwell Trucking on the side just to keep his own equipment moving. Then the last four years took a swing at them. Pipeline work went quiet. Solar customers walked off with over half a million dollars of unpaid work. Flatbed rates collapsed. And the family that had survived everything from boll weevils to a 1970s farm bankruptcy was looking for a way forward. Then Jared heard a podcast in his pig barn that changed everything. In this conversation we get into the full picture: how pipeline restoration actually works, why Bob won't buy stockers, the brutal economics of cattle and cotton, why he calls solar "a shell game," the wreck-truck rebuild, the engine that came apart in the shop, the role of faith in their business, and the very human moments behind the family's "GIG, GAP" philosophy \u2014 God Is Good, God Always Provides. If you're a carrier wondering whether there's a more consistent path than flatbed, a shipper looking for hard-working family operators, or a farm-and-ranch family trying to figure out the next chapter \u2014 this episode is for you. \u25b6 Find consistent hopper and bulk freight: https:\/\/bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Blackwell+Podcast \u25b6 Are you a shipper looking for family carriers like the Blackwells? https:\/\/bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Blackwell+Podcast \u25b6 Subscribe wherever you listen: Apple, Spotify, YouTube CHAPTERS 00:00 \u2014 Meet the Blackwells: 3 Generations on the Same Land 00:55 \u2014 How a Pipeline Across Bob's Field Started Everything 02:30 \u2014 Why They Started Blackwell Trucking 03:00 \u2014 Today: 7 Trucks, Goal of 10 04:34 \u2014 The Podcast in the Pig Barn That Changed Everything 05:30 \u2014 Why Hoppers Are More Consistent Than Flatbed 06:00 \u2014 Working with Chris & Michael at RFG 06:50 \u2014 The End Game: Cutting Out the Middleman 07:30 \u2014 "It's a Turtle Race" 08:00 \u2014 Cattle, Wildfires, and What Bad Land Management Looks Like 09:30 \u2014 The Engine That Came Apart in the Shop 10:00 \u2014 What Pipeline Restoration Actually Is 12:53 \u2014 Inside a 100-Mile Pipeline Project 13:30 \u2014 The $500,000 Solar Disaster 14:30 \u2014 "Solar is a Shell Game" 17:30 \u2014 Three Generations of Blackwells 18:00 \u2014 Why Bob Won't Buy Stockers 20:40 \u2014 The 8-Cent Brangus Lesson That Changed His Cattle Operation 22:00 \u2014 When Bob Got Into Rodeo Stock 23:30 \u2014 Where He Markets His Cattle Today 25:40 \u2014 Cattle Prices: Then vs. Now 28:20 \u2014 Cotton Country: How an Entire Region Dried Up 29:30 \u2014 Milo, Sorghum, and Fallow-Ground Decisions 31:42 \u2014 "The Only Difference Between Farming and Vegas..." 32:30 \u2014 Why Weather Is 95% of the Business 33:30 \u2014 What They Do for Fun: Lake Murray 34:30 \u2014 How Jared Got Here: Saint Louis \u2192 Mizzou \u2192 Bartlett \u2192 Springfield 37:00 \u2014 Why Joplin Stockyards Surpassed Oklahoma City 38:30 \u2014 "The Wealthiest Companies Got Wealthy off the Backs of Farmers" 39:50 \u2014 Why Cotton Doesn't Pencil Anymore 41:00 \u2014 The Peanut Program and Government Subsidies 43:00 \u2014 The Soybean Crop That Paid for His Son's Birth 45:30 \u2014 Why Equipment Payments Don't Work Anymore 46:30 \u2014 Converting Cropland to Bermuda Grass 47:04 \u2014 How Faith Holds the Whole Operation Together 48:30 \u2014 "GIG. GAP. God Is Good. God Always Provides." 48:50 \u2014 The Check-in-the-Mail Moments CONNECT WITH BLACKWELL TRUCKING Wayne, Oklahoma CONNECT WITH BULKLOADS Website: https:\/\/bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Blackwell+Podcast #BulkLoads #FamilyTrucking #HopperFreight #AgTrucking #PipelineRestoration #CattleBusiness #SmallBusinessAmerica #TruckingPodcast ","author_name":"Bulkloads Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/bulkloads.libsyn.com\/website","html":"