How did Boyd & Sons get started?

Steve Boyd: “My parents farmed a bit, back in the 1940s, and when Dad was injured in 1970, my brother Tommy and I were just out of high school, so we took over the farm.”

What kinds of things do you raise?

“We settled on corn and soybeans – and sometimes some wheat. We now run separate farms. Tommy’s is just up the road, although we pitch in and help each other out from time to time.

“We plant about 6,500 acres these days, but we’ve done twice that. About half is corn and the other half soybeans.”

How did you get started in trucking?

“We had to haul our grain down south, and in those days, we were using what they called ‘hopper flats.’ Those trailers had hopper bottoms, but you could fold the sides down to make the trailer into a flatbed.

“We’d deliver the grain, then convert the trailer into a flatbed and bring back lumber and building materials. That way, we made money both directions.

“We don’t need hopper flats anymore because our corn goes to an alcohol plant and a turkey feed plant that are only about five miles from here. We’re carrying our soybeans to Evansville, which is only about fifty miles away. So we stopped using hopper flats about ten years ago.

“But, we still run flatbeds, except now, it’s a separate business.”

How did that come about?

“We always liked the idea of having something else for our trucks to do besides hauling crops. We still need to haul our corn and soybeans at harvest time, but it’s nice to keep our trucks running all year.

“Building materials, especially Sheetrock, lumber, steel and steel coils are now the main loads we haul.”

Greg Boyd

How many trucks do you run?

“We have about a hundred and broker more using owner-operators as we need them. They travel all over the country, from coast to coast. My son Greg handles that part of the business.”

Mike Boyd

You also have an excavating and construction business.

“My other son, Mike, runs that. On the farm, we needed equipment to handle ditching and drainage work, and once again, we hated to see that equipment sitting around when we weren’t using it.

“Our specialties include Heavy Mass Excavation, Utilities, Boring, Cement Stabilization, and Gas & Oil Construction, and we even built and operate a state-of-the-art Natural Gas Processing Plant.”

Is that year-round work?

“If the ground freezes too hard, sometimes we have to stop, but Mike’s got work pretty much all the time. So that’s another way we keep busy.”

Between the farm, the truck company and the excavating operation, you must use a lot of tires.

“We do. On the farm equipment, those are Firestones. I spec everything with them, and they are definitely superior.

“On our trucks, we use Bridgestone. I’ve tried all kinds, but in my opinion, nobody can beat Bridgestone.”

Greg, Karen, Steve & Mike Boyd

Which Bridgestone tires are you using?

“On the steer axles, we run the R280. We get great service from them. We keep really good records, and we expect at least 160,000 miles from an R280.

“On the drives, we use the M726 EL, and we estimate about 300,000 miles for those.

“Trailer tires have been difficult. Spread axles on flatbeds are really hard on tires. We looked around and tried all kinds of things until the R196 came along. That’s all we use now, and in spite of the way spread axles scoot around corners, we still get about 200,000 miles from the R196.”

What about your construction vehicles?

“Mike is using the Bridgestone M844F on the steer axles of his tri-axle dumps. That’s a big, wide tire. And he’s running a lot of Bandag BDM retreads on the drives. We’re doing really well with those in spite of the conditions on those excavating sites.”

Don Anderson

Is there a secret to keeping all these different divisions working successfully?

“It’s having good people. We have about 200 employees, and they are the best people I could ever ask for. My boys, Greg and Mike, don’t need me to run their operations for them, and I know I can count on everyone who works here to do their very best.

“We look for the best in suppliers too. I can’t say enough good about our Bridgestone representative, Don Anderson. You’d just never find a better man to work with.

“And we’ve had the same tire dealer for a long time too. I’ve known Paul Weaver at BestOne for over forty years, and we’ve been working with his man, Keith Schaefer, for almost that long.

“Loyalty is important. When we find someone we can work with, we stick with them. Everybody will tell you we drive a hard bargain. We always try to buy right, but a one-way street doesn’t work. We’ve both got to win, because if that doesn’t happen, nobody will want to deal with us.”

We see you’re also into tractor pull competition.

“In a pretty big way. We’ve won just about everything there is to win, and we have a great time. We do all our own work on the tractors and even have our own dyno to set them up.

“A while back, I gave our sponsor, Forrest Lucas, owner of Lucas Oil, one of our tractors, which they put on display in the Lucas Oil stadium in Indianapolis.”

Sounds like you really enjoy those tractor pulls.

“We do, but the fact is, we enjoy everything we do. We work hard and work a lot of hours, but it’s tough getting me to take a vacation, because I enjoy what I do – and the people I do it with – so much.”