Clayton Christenberry runs both a farm and a trucking company. The farm has always been in the family and hasn’t seen many changes over the years. On the other hand, the trucking company, initially started just to service the grain and livestock-hauling needs of the farm, never seems to stop changing.
     Today, the company has branched into hauling various forms of dry frieght, as evidenced by its fleet of nearly 400 trailers and 100 power units, most of which are Peterbilt Model 379s. The switch from a three-truck farm-service fleet to a big-time commodities hauler was sparked in 1978 when an acquaintance asked Christenberry if his trucks had anything to do in the farming off-season. Soon he was hauling seatbelts, and then various other automotive supplies, which makeup the majority of his haul today.
    But despite the changes, the fundamentals of farming can still be valuable when applied to trucking, according to Christenberry.
     “Here’s the way I look at it,” says the 62-yearold Christenberry. “Used equipment is the same as cattle. If you’ve got good cattle, you can sell them. If you’ve got sorry cattle, you can’t.
     “Used equipment has been down, but the resale value of our Peterbilts has always been very good.”
     So Christenberry likes to keep good cattle, both on the farm and to drive his trucking company, figuratively speaking. His Model 379s feature “if not all the bells and whistles, most of the bells and whistles,” including Unibilt® High-Roof sleepers. The idea is to appeal to drivers, both the ones currently working for him as well as prospects.
     “We want to bring in good drivers and we want them to stay here,” says Christenberry. “In fact, we want them to retire here, and we have three of them who have been here since I started hauling. So we pay our drivers’ health insurance, offer extra pay for seniority and for different routes and we give them a fine truck to drive. That seems to work for us.”
    While that may seem like a sound approach to trucking success, it’s logic that Christenberry says he developed on the farm.