About $816 a month
Commercial auto
Insureon median for all trucking businesses, not livestock-specific, updated June 2025
Trucking and transportation
Livestock hauling insurance
For cattle, hog and sheep haulers running pot trailers and stock trailers: what coverage costs, which federal rules apply and what to have ready for a quote.
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What similar businesses pay
- Commercial auto
- About $816 a month
- For-hire truck auto
- $734–$926 a month
- Motor truck cargo
- About $129 a month
Published benchmarks, not quotes. Your price depends on underwriting.
Cost
What livestock hauling insurance costs
$734–$926 a month
For-hire truck auto
Progressive Commercial 2025 averages for for-hire specialty and transport trucks
About $129 a month
Motor truck cargo
Insureon median for all trucking businesses, updated June 2025
About $650 a month
Workers’ comp
Insureon median for all trucking businesses, updated June 2025
Neither Insureon nor Progressive publishes a figure just for livestock haulers, so these benchmarks cover trucking as a whole. Insureon’s medians for its trucking customers are about $816 a month for commercial auto, $650 for workers’ comp, $129 for motor truck cargo and $51 for general liability. Progressive’s 2025 averages for new for-hire truck policies run from $734 a month for specialty trucks to $926 for transport trucks, per power unit, for liability and physical damage with no driver violations; its medians are lower, at $635 and $821. Expect commercial auto to be the largest bill. Your own price depends on the animals you haul, the value of a full load, your radius and each driver’s record.
What moves your price
- What you haul: cattle, hogs, sheep or horses, and the value per head
- Trailer type: a multi-deck pot trailer or a gooseneck stock trailer
- How far you run from the source and whether loads cross state lines
- The cargo limit needed to cover a full load at current market prices
- Each driver’s record and years hauling live animals
- Where the truck is garaged and the limits sale barns, feedlots and packers ask for
- Whether the truck or trailer is financed, since lenders typically require physical damage
Risks
The risks insurers price for
Rollover with a live, shifting load
Animals lean and shift on curves and ramps in a way a fixed load does not, which adds to rollover risk on a tall pot trailer. One rollover can bring an auto liability claim, a total loss on the tractor and trailer and a death loss on the whole load.
Loose cattle on the highway
After a crash or a gate that fails, animals that get onto the road can cause more collisions and a long roundup. Injuries and vehicle damage to other drivers are claimed against your commercial auto liability.
Death loss without a crash
Heat, cold, crowding or a breakdown on a long or delayed haul can kill animals with no accident at all. Whether your cargo coverage pays depends on the causes of loss the livestock form lists, so read that section before you buy.
Kicked or crushed at the chute
Drivers sort, load and unload animals at farms, sale barns and packing plants, working in alleys, on ramps and inside the trailer. A kick, a crush against a gate or a fall from a ramp is a workers’ comp claim.
Running past the 150 air-mile exemption
FMCSA guidance says hours-of-service rules do not apply within 150 air-miles of the source, but once a driver crosses that point the rules apply for the rest of the trip and hours must be recorded. Violations found at inspection end up on the safety record underwriters review.
Coverage
Coverage to consider
Commercial auto liability
Pays for injuries and property damage your truck causes to others, including crashes caused by animals that escape the trailer. Federal minimum limits apply to this coverage.
How commercial auto works →Physical damage
Collision and comprehensive for the tractor and the livestock trailer. Insure the trailer at a realistic replacement value, and expect a lender to require this coverage on a financed unit.
How commercial auto works →Livestock cargo
A cargo form written for live animals pays for death or injury to the load from the causes it lists, such as collision or overturn. Check whether it covers death from heat, suffocation or trampling, and whether the limit is per head or per load.
General liability
Covers injuries and damage that are not driving accidents, such as a visitor hurt at your yard or truck wash.
How general liability works →Workers’ compensation
Covers drivers and helpers hurt loading, sorting or cleaning out trailers. Rules on who must carry it vary by state.
How workers’ compensation works →Non-trucking liability
Needed if you are leased onto a carrier that covers you only while you are under its dispatch.
Umbrella or excess
Adds limits above your auto and general liability when a packer or feedlot asks for more than your primary limit.
How umbrella / excess works →Rules
Requirements and filings
Livestock haulers get relief from some federal hours-of-service rules but not from insurance minimums. FMCSA treats livestock as an agricultural commodity, and the exemptions depend on distance from the source and whether you haul for hire or for your own farm.
| Requirement | Applies to | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Federal minimum liability | For-hire interstate property carriers with trucks of 10,001 lb or more | $750,000 under 49 CFR 387.9, which applies to for-hire carriers hauling property in interstate commerce under 49 CFR 387.3. |
| Livestock as an agricultural commodity | All drivers hauling livestock | 49 CFR 395.2 lists livestock in the definition of agricultural commodity, which is what makes the hours-of-service exception available. |
| 150 air-mile hours-of-service exception | Drivers hauling agricultural commodities, including livestock | Under 49 CFR 395.1(k)(1), driving and on-duty time within 150 air-miles of the source are not limited. FMCSA ties the exception to planting and harvesting periods set by each state. |
| Trips beyond 150 air-miles | Drivers whose destination is farther than 150 air-miles from the source | Per FMCSA guidance, hours-of-service rules apply from the 150 air-mile point for the rest of the trip. Hours inside the radius do not count. |
| Measuring the radius | Loads picked up at more than one stop | FMCSA measures the 150 air-miles from the first place the animals were loaded onto an empty truck, which can be an intermediate handling location. |
| Covered farm vehicles | Farmers hauling their own livestock in covered farm vehicles | Exempt from hours-of-service rules under 49 CFR 395.1(s) and not required to have an ELD, per FMCSA. |
| Customer certificates | Hauling for sale barns, feedlots, packers and order buyers | Customers may set their own liability and cargo limits and ask for a certificate of insurance before you load. Check the terms before you book. |
Compare livestock hauling insurance options.
One application, quotes from several insurers, reviewed by a licensed agent. Start with your email and finish later if you need to.
Pay less
How to lower the cost
- Set the cargo limit to a realistic full load at current prices and choose a deductible you could absorb on a single dead animal.
- Hire drivers with clean records and experience handling animals, and recheck motor vehicle records every year.
- Record hours properly on trips beyond 150 air-miles, since FMCSA says the rules apply from that point and clean inspections help at renewal.
- Keep coverage continuous and pay in full if you can: Progressive lists prior insurance and paid-in-full savings, plus its Smart Haul telematics program, among its commercial auto discounts.
- Inspect trailer gates, latches and floors before each load to cut escape and injury claims.
- Compare quotes at renewal; Florin is an independent broker that compares options from several insurers.
Before you start
What underwriters ask for
- USDOT number and any state carrier number
- Driver list with license numbers, CDL class, dates of birth and years hauling livestock
- Tractor and trailer schedule with VINs, values, trailer type and any lienholder
- Species you haul, typical head count and value per load
- Operating radius and how many trips go beyond 150 air-miles or cross state lines
- Loss runs from your current and prior insurers
- Payroll for drivers and yard help
- The limits your customers require on certificates
Common questions
Livestock hauling insurance: questions
Are livestock haulers exempt from hours-of-service rules?
Partly. FMCSA says the rules do not apply to hauling agricultural commodities, including livestock, within 150 air-miles of the source. Beyond that point the rules apply for the rest of the trip.
Does the exemption cover the empty trip to pick up cattle?
Yes, within the 150 air-mile radius, according to FMCSA guidance, as long as the trip carries no non-agricultural cargo and its only purpose is an agricultural pickup or delivery.
Where is the 150 air-mile radius measured from?
From the source, which FMCSA defines as the point where the animals are loaded onto an empty truck. With several pickups, it is measured from the first one.
Does commercial auto insurance cover the animals I haul?
No. Auto liability pays for harm you cause to others, and physical damage covers your truck and trailer. You need cargo coverage written for live animals to cover death or injury to the load.
How much does livestock hauling insurance cost?
No major marketplace publishes a livestock-only figure. Insureon’s June 2025 median for trucking businesses is about $816 a month for commercial auto, and Progressive’s 2025 averages for for-hire trucks run $734 to $926 a month.
Do farmers hauling their own cattle need an ELD?
Not if the truck qualifies as a covered farm vehicle under 49 CFR 390.5. FMCSA says those vehicles are exempt from hours-of-service rules under 49 CFR 395.1(s) and do not need an ELD.
How far can a farm-plated truck haul livestock?
It depends on the state. Progressive notes farm use vehicles are generally expected to stay within 150 miles of the farm, and Virginia limits unregistered farm use vehicles to 75 miles.
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Sources (9)
- Insureon: commercial truck insurance costs (updated June 2025)
- Progressive Commercial: how much is commercial auto insurance (2025)
- Progressive Commercial: farm truck insurance
- Progressive Commercial: trucks we insure
- FMCSA: agricultural commodity exception in 49 CFR 395.1(k)(1) (2018)
- FMCSA: ELDs, hours of service and agricultural exemptions
- Cornell LII: 49 CFR 395.2, definition of agricultural commodity
- eCFR: 49 CFR 387.3, applicability
- eCFR: 49 CFR 387.9, minimum levels
Figures are published third-party estimates, not quotes. Coverage depends on policy terms and underwriting, and rules vary by state. Updated October 2026.