Jared Flinn [00:00:18]:
You're listening to the bulk load podcast, your number one resource for everything bold freight trucking.
Jared Flinn [00:00:28]:
Hey, guys. Jared Flynn with the Bulk Loads podcast. Got Tyler with me?
Tyler Allison [00:00:32]:
What's going on? This is
Jared Flinn [00:00:33]:
the show we've been waiting for.
Tyler Allison [00:00:35]:
Yes. I've been, I've been waiting for this one, and it's a good episode for sure.
Jared Flinn [00:00:39]:
Yeah. So, before we get into that, we always want to highlight A, truck, and this week's truck feature is Walter McLaren with RentLaw Transportation. He has been a member on Bulk Load since 2019, And he's up out of Glen, Merney, Maryland. So thank you, Glen, for sending this. Actually, I think he's got 2 trucks. He's got the white one and a black one.
Tyler Allison [00:01:02]:
Yeah. Yeah. He's got a slick rig, and he was pulling the end dump there in that picture. But, yeah, it was all nice and shiny and and clean.
Jared Flinn [00:01:10]:
If you have a rig that, you, have that you would like us to, present on our show, please send them to us. Send them
Tyler Allison [00:01:17]:
to Yep. Podcast@bulkloads. Dotcom, and we'll also, consider them for our calendar for 2025. Yeah.
Jared Flinn [00:01:23]:
Who was somebody who just sent us some pictures for the calendar?
Tyler Allison [00:01:25]:
Yeah. I forget. I don't I don't know it off top of my head, but, yeah, they were clean photos. Yeah. Definitely.
Jared Flinn [00:01:30]:
Yeah. Seriously, send them. I mean, regardless, I I I really do enjoy seeing the pictures, and I'm sure everybody else does too. But, maybe one day, we'll put more than 1. I mean, We'll never get through them all. So, but, yeah, definitely send us, photos to podcast at bulkloads.com Yep. As well. We were on a trip this past week.
Jared Flinn [00:01:49]:
Yep. We actually were in the great state of Tennessee and visited a couple different clients out there, But, was, gracious to meet, Scott Hickman.
Tyler Allison [00:01:59]:
Yep. CNC specialized.
Jared Flinn [00:02:00]:
Yeah. He's been on our pod or excuse me. Podcast. He's been on bulk loads, I think off and on, but, like, since 2016 and, runs a fleet. What was he up to?
Tyler Allison [00:02:10]:
I think 8 or 9 trucks there. Yeah. Yeah. He does some some flatbed step deck. But, man, he is something you'll see in the pictures. He's got some, brand new Mac trailers that are slick that he Kinda has his own custom graphics on the side.
Jared Flinn [00:02:22]:
Yeah. He, it was a great visit with him. I mean, just talking about the industry, but, big race car fan. Yep. His son races crate cars. Is that what
Tyler Allison [00:02:31]:
it Yeah. I think the crate motor dirt series or something like that. But Yeah.
Jared Flinn [00:02:35]:
So and, we actually, I think, are gonna sponsor that. I wanna make a mention of that. I think some people see it on the form. But, man, if if you are into racing and have race cars, we we can't hit everybody. But, man, we would like the opportunity to look to see if we could sponsor. We love sponsoring, especially kids Yeah. And support their, family and the community. So, Yeah.
Jared Flinn [00:02:54]:
If you if you're in a race and have a race car, we would love to look at, potentially sponsoring with you.
Tyler Allison [00:03:00]:
Yeah. I will say this too. You know, we don't really do it for the For the publicity or anything like that, it's just more about, supporting your guys' hobbies and what you do. We we wanna be involved outside of your trucking life. So that being said, if you have, little league teams or anything like that, definitely let us know, and we can see if we can make something happen there. Whether it's providing, you know, T shirts for the team Or whatever that may be, you can, send it to
[email protected] or directly to me at
[email protected].
Jared Flinn [00:03:27]:
Racing is just, it's right around the corner. Season. Yep. Oh, very cool. Well, today, we're gonna bring on Bulk Loads member, Rob Grover. He's been on the board, I know, for at least 7 or 8 years. Yep. And, I've got to know him.
Jared Flinn [00:03:43]:
And, man, this podcast Went extremely well. Rob has grown the company. I'm not gonna get into the weeds of it. I'm gonna let Rob tell the story. But, man, It's just awesome seeing companies, especially maybe 2nd generation coming in and then really
Tyler Allison [00:04:01]:
Taking it to the next level.
Jared Flinn [00:04:02]:
Taking it to the next and finding that need. So this was just really cool.
Tyler Allison [00:04:08]:
Yep. Yeah. And, you know, Rob's not messing around, Man, you send me he sends out a monthly newsletter to a bunch of guys, with Grover Farm Trucking, and, you know, we get that now. But, yeah, just the way the guy operates, You know, across the board, he does a really great job, and then his community involvement, which he'll get into that, you'll be able to see. But, yeah, Just really good dude overall, and he's running a a phenomenal company.
Jared Flinn [00:04:32]:
We'll talk about this after the show, but I think it goes to show, like, man, being a business owner, It's more than just looking at the profits. I mean, that's the reward you get later, but, he's hitting every aspect. I think, you know, he's He's getting involved in the community. He's sending newsletters out there. But just really I mean, he's going to the next level, and I think that's Just something that I hopefully, you take away from this podcast is just, like, you know, how he's rounding himself in all aspects to really offer a great service, but have A long lasting company. Better than his clients. I agree. So awesome.
Jared Flinn [00:05:04]:
Well, with that said, here is my conversation with Rob Grover of Grover Farms Trucking. Hey, Rob. Thanks for coming on.
Rob Grover [00:05:13]:
No problem. Good to be here.
Jared Flinn [00:05:14]:
Yeah. Well, I say this to to all members, but 1st off, thank you for your membership with. You all have been with us, I think, going almost 5 years. So, man, I just wanna say thank you for for being with us And, supporting, our community.
Rob Grover [00:05:31]:
No. It's, it it was a good thing. When we when we joined, we needed it. Our our main van contract kinda dried up. We pivoted the bulk, and we were able to make communication and the connections we need through bulk loads, and Been good since then.
Jared Flinn [00:05:48]:
Yeah. Well, I'm excited to get into this because you share a lot of the same passions I have, especially on the future of agriculture, but, agriculture and teaching our youth about that. So that's I'm setting the stage. That's what we're gonna talk about today. But For our audience and even myself, just so we know a little bit more about you. Actually, I'm looking at this, and, you have, Some some medals there to the left, like, for your service. Thank you for that, by the way. But can you talk a little bit about that?
Rob Grover [00:06:19]:
Well, you know, we're, I'm the 2nd generation of Grover Farm Trucking. I took it over from my father about 4 years ago, settled him out. My wife works with me full time, so we're a family business. Before that, I was in the National Guard. I did 1 year overseas. And then on, you know, I went to college for geology, which does me a whole lot of good now that we run trucks. But and we are, you know, we're running about 40 40 rigs right now. Hoppers, belts, Kosher food grade tankers, liquid fertilizer tankers, dry vans.
Rob Grover [00:06:58]:
So we're We've diversified into a lot of different segments, but the cool thing is a lot of our segments are all with the same core company. So we're pulling multiple types of freight for the same overall company and working with the same point of contacts, which is nice. It streamlines a lot of things.
Jared Flinn [00:07:20]:
Yeah. That's awesome. And you're so you're 2nd generation. Your your dad Actually started the trucking business. Can can you talk a little bit about that?
Rob Grover [00:07:27]:
Yeah. He started it in 1982, he thinks. Yeah. He started with sweet corn trucks, dump trucks.
Jared Flinn [00:07:38]:
Yep.
Rob Grover [00:07:38]:
And then he slowly developed it into, doing semis, got our inner state authority in 96, I believe, and continued through it, Up to when I decided to come back and help on the farm and then also in the trucking company. And at the end there, the main account we had, like I mentioned, was a dry van account and that plant just shut down. So all does not work. We're sitting there with, at that point, 14 trucks. What do we do? Well, we still had some hoppers from the farm. So I decided let's let's go dabble in the hopper industry. So we kind of pivoted there and I took over more of the sales and dispatch role at that point and found bulk loads, got connected there, And then got connected with a lot of good shippers and producers, and that that's the main thing, You know, it's not to harp on the bulk loads, but to give you guys a shout out. On the bulk freight, you can interface and connect with your actual customer On the on the load board, you've got your ADMs, your CHS's, your, you know, Anderson Trading companies.
Rob Grover [00:08:54]:
You have all the Actual people on there that you can interact with. So you're not there are some brokers, but a lot of times you can get direct with the company A whole lot easier than in some other forms of freight, like van or reefer or any of those types. So and that was really cool that we were able to do that. And Then through those connections with hoppers, started developing the food grade tanks and the liquid fertilizer, and now the belt have all kind of Stems from that main transition into the hoppers. So it was, just kind of a gateway into all these other modes of freight.
Jared Flinn [00:09:33]:
Yeah. That's that's awesome. I wanna talk specifically well, first, I wanna say thanks for the plug on bulk loads, and, You know, some of the ventures we hear sometimes is about, there's all brokers on there, and I always tell guys, like, no. There's not. There's actually I mean, We we support all facets, brokers, shippers, carriers, but, like, if you wanna work with direct shippers, there are direct shippers on there. If you wanna work with brokers, there's brokers on there. So, man, I'm glad you brought that up. I did not pay Rob to say that, by the way, but, but I appreciate that.
Jared Flinn [00:10:01]:
Talk about, you know, the 2nd generation, obviously, You saw something maybe that you're bothered didn't, the transition, or you were just at the right time, but but speak how you saw the opportunities to grow into those other segments. I mean, that just didn't happen naturally, and I think some people I guess, I wanna frame this in a way some people get stuck at, like, I'm only doing this freight, and if it dries up, I'm, you know, I'm going out of business. But, man, you saw that, hey. The drive in wasn't there, but, hey, there's there's an opportunity here to keep Keep the business going.
Rob Grover [00:10:33]:
Well and I don't remember who who quoted it, but their quote was, you know, the greatest, What was it? The the greatest hindrance to your future success is your past success.
Jared Flinn [00:10:49]:
Yeah.
Rob Grover [00:10:50]:
So, we were in a hard spot. We we had no choice. We had equipment. We had to pivot. We had to find something. And I just I decided I wanted to do hoppers and it worked out. But, every time we've kind of Gone a new customer or pivoted to a new type of freight. It's usually been, you know, I had a oh, shoot moment, You know, and I I needed to go find something.
Rob Grover [00:11:20]:
So every once in a while, it's good to, as much stress as it is, have that moment where you're like, Oh, crap. I don't have enough work next week. Who can I call? And then you start going out and finding those new contracts. Eventually, you just build up that That, you know, your contact is on your phone and you get who you need to talk to, but it's stressful at the time. But every time that's happened, You know, we've we've just focused. You know, my my father was a big big advocate of no one cares if you're crying on the side of the road. Do something about it. So
Jared Flinn [00:11:58]:
and
Rob Grover [00:11:59]:
that spend that mentality, you know. If if if this dries up or if this isn't paying good enough, pivot and go somewhere else. Yeah. There's there's opportunities out there. Takes a lot of phone calls, cold calling, emails, connections to get on, but they're They're there if you work at it.
Jared Flinn [00:12:19]:
Rob, I recently had Dan Redding with Redding Trucking and Transportation on our show, and, Encourage you to watch that. It it aired a little bit before this one will air. But, after the podcast, he He asked me a question that I didn't ask him. He's like, you should ask me about the growth of the operation. So I'm gonna actually frame this to you because I think it's super valuable. But, you know, Truckers out there or owner operators, maybe they're running 3 to 4, 5 trucks. And if they have the goals to get to a Plus 20 or 40 plus like you're at. I mean, that's a whole different mindset, and it takes a whole different skill.
Jared Flinn [00:12:57]:
Can you give us just maybe some highlights or a little bit of insights? What does it take, really, when you're, you know, from a 5 to 10 truck operator, 40 plus? Because that's a that's a big jump.
Rob Grover [00:13:10]:
Well, the the key is you you gotta have people. You know, when I first started, I Did my pig chores in the morning. I got up at 3:30 in the morning. I went out to my hog site. I did pig chores and I drove truck. I did sales and dispatch From the driver's seat, and about 3 years ago, I had the realization, can't do that anymore. I I can't drive truck. I need to be in the office.
Rob Grover [00:13:37]:
I was losing out on opportunities because I wasn't here. I was too busy driving or dealing with all these other things. So then I moved into the office, figured I could hire somebody out to to drive that truck. Well, then we continued to grow And it came to a point where, you know, I'm spending a lot of time talking with truck drivers, getting ETAs. I'm not able to call, Work on sales, work on the next level. So I hired a dispatcher. I moved on up to that. My wife came on full time because I was doing a lot of the billing and payroll at home on the weekends at my kitchen table.
Rob Grover [00:14:13]:
So she came on full time, she took over that. And each That has allowed me to focus more on growth and the business, rather than the everyday details. Which are very important, but if you can get a good team around you that can take care of those details, that allows you to look at the big picture and move forward.
Jared Flinn [00:14:35]:
Yeah. Yeah. And and simply put, you you got out of being in the business and working on the business, and that's something I need myself over the past
Rob Grover [00:14:42]:
when I say that.
Jared Flinn [00:14:45]:
Well and it is. It's a mindset, and some people think that, that that some some people think it's easier. Maybe you're kinda giving up and you're not in it, but, like, you actually to get to that next level, you have to take those steps to to say, hey. If if I'm gonna, you know, Serve our clients or if I'm gonna go out and grow this business, I can't be behind the driver's seat. It's just it's simple math.
Rob Grover [00:15:07]:
Yep. We've got some great operators in our area running, you know, 6 to 10 trucks and they still drive every day. They've got dedicated accounts. They do an excellent job. Yep. That's where they want to be. That's where they want to stay. They love driving.
Rob Grover [00:15:22]:
They don't wanna be at this level, which is fine. Everybody has their goal. But for the guys that wanna go up, you need to ensure you have the right team around you.
Jared Flinn [00:15:32]:
Yeah. That's awesome. I wanna move and and talk a little bit about your family. And, and and if you recall, I, I mailed you a book.
Rob Grover [00:15:41]:
That's
Jared Flinn [00:15:42]:
my same book, and I yeah. Absolutely. My pleasure. And I think that's what really kinda sparked our our our connection or in you emailing back and Talking about your kids and and then going on to talk about some of the things or steps you're taking to, educate kids on trucking and agriculture. But talk a little bit about your family and your kids.
Rob Grover [00:16:05]:
So my my mother was a teacher. My sister's a teacher. I actually most of my education was to be a teacher. Initially, that's where I thought I was going. My wife, she's actually got her doctorate in school psychology. Oh, wow. She worked in school systems. My mother in law's in school system.
Rob Grover [00:16:25]:
So we've been a family of educators and then, believe we're 6th generation farmers as well. So we got the agriculture side, we got the educator side, And now we're bringing in the trucking side. So you put it all together and, you know, I got 2 sons. They're they're 5 and 8. And conveniently for me, they think everything I do is pretty cool most of the time. That's a Yeah. We deal with big trucks. The fire department would do fire
Jared Flinn [00:16:53]:
Tractors. Okay.
Rob Grover [00:16:54]:
Fire trucks, tractors. I do all the cool kid thing, which I'm just a grown kid myself. Ask my wife. She'll tell you. But Kelly and gal laugh. You go for a day. Yeah. But, so, you know, Harnessing all that together, it's become important for my wife and I To kinda do outreach, education, you know, inform people.
Rob Grover [00:17:23]:
Because farmers make up, I believe the statistic is less than 1% of the population now.
Jared Flinn [00:17:29]:
Yeah. So
Rob Grover [00:17:31]:
and Agriculture has good advocacy groups to the people they want to talk to. Your pork producers, your corn growers are great at what they do, but I think sometimes The the random people that live 10 miles away aren't getting the benefit of that. You know, these these advocacy groups, they're going up to Washington DC. They're knocking it out of the park. They're setting up trade deals. That's fine. I want the person living down the road to understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
Jared Flinn [00:18:10]:
Yeah.
Rob Grover [00:18:10]:
And unfortunately, Ag and transportation, in general, are very underrepresented in Yes. Just your daily lives. People don't understand what we do, why we do it. And if they did, I think they'd understand it a lot more. And Quite honestly, with aid, we get villainized quite a bit for, you know, using synthetic herbicide They or, you know, fertilizer. Why aren't you organic? Well, it doesn't work with my operation. Yep. But, You know, personally, we do variable rates, strip, pill.
Rob Grover [00:18:45]:
We soil sample every year. So we're doing all these steps, to get to the end goal of using less for more, but we need to bridge that gap to the people That are watching us do it. Not so much the people that live 400 miles away. And same thing with transportation. People see trucks All the time. And if they're not in transportation, they don't necessarily know what these people are doing. They they might not understand, you know, We we we can't accelerate that fast. You kinda gotta give us some room.
Rob Grover [00:19:17]:
Or, you know, these these tanks going down the road, they they flash back and forth Or even what's in them. So that's kind of been where my next project, which we'll Segue into eventually is coming from is just bridging that gap with the people in our community, not so much With, government entities like a lot of the larger advocacy groups do.
Jared Flinn [00:19:45]:
Yeah. And I'll kinda mirror I think I had the same vision. You know, the the semi sand book was kind of on my heart, and I saw an opportunity of, like, hey. How do we How can we create education for our youth to really have them understand the importance of, number 1, agriculture, but trucking. I mean, exactly what you said. And, that's kinda where semi Sam kinda brainstorm from that. And, I've said this on the podcast before. You know, when my My boys were little, little, you know, reading them in their bedrooms.
Jared Flinn [00:20:17]:
Like, I kept asking my wife. I go, are there any books you can find in the bookstore on Amazon, you know, on and kids are like and there were, like, big machines and stuff, but there was nothing, like, really telling the story of agriculture and trucking. There was lots of pieces here and there, but I was like, man, why don't we bring that together and create that? So, yeah, for me, it was the passion of, like, hey. How do we, You know, teach our young kids because like you said, a lot of these kids, they love machinery. They love farming. They love agriculture. They love all that. But how do we keep embracing that? Because, like you said, less than 1% are farmers right now.
Jared Flinn [00:20:51]:
A lot of kids aren't growing up in agriculture. You were I was fortunate. I lived on a 240 acre farm. You know, we raised all different livestock and still do today. But many, and even, I would say, even truckers today, even ag truckers, they're not necessarily on the farm like they were back in the day. Hey, guys. I wanna take a quick break from the Rob Grover podcast and read scripture that I heard last Sunday at church. It's Proverbs 11/24 through 25.
Jared Flinn [00:21:22]:
It says, 1 person gives freely yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly and becomes to poverty. A generous person will prosper, and whoever refreshes others Will be refreshed. And this is a new year, 2024. I know a lot of times we're goal setting. We're trying to think how we can grow ourselves And, how we can gain more, but I'd love to have you think a different way today. Think about how you can give to others out there. You know, one thing our church lives by is saying, you know, do for 1 that you can't do for all.
Jared Flinn [00:21:59]:
I know it can be overwhelming to think all the things you can do out there. But today, Start with doing just one thing for somebody else out there, and it can be a simple thing from buying, you know, the coffee to the per for the person behind you, We're helping someone out there on the road. Man, there are so many things and so many little things that we can do to help others in society, so I wanna gift you with that. Also, while I have you here, our 4th edition for Semi Sam is soon to release. It's Semi Sam goes to the truck show, Which we know there's a big truck show coming up soon, but be on the lookout for that. Semi Sam goes to the truck show. We'll soon release it on bulk loads, and it'll be available on Amazon as well. Thank you very much and God bless.
Rob Grover [00:22:42]:
And that's that's you know, everybody's moving further and further away from the farm. You know, rural communities are they're dwindling. You know, on that, that's where agriculture and trucking, especially, really play an important role in these Rural communities, they keep it alive.
Jared Flinn [00:22:59]:
Yeah.
Rob Grover [00:22:59]:
I mean, where I I we brainstormed the opportunity. There was a pizza property for sale a couple years ago in a bigger city that made more sense for our operation To be based out of there, but I didn't wanna leave the small town. Mhmm. I wanted to stay here, keep my roots here, My people here. I've got employees that have started working for me that lived an hour away that have bought houses in town here. You know, they're they're on the fire department. They're They're contributing. They're we're helping to grow rural America through trucking.
Rob Grover [00:23:36]:
That's trucking as a you know, you can move You can move around to where you need to be. Yep. And a lot of the bulk stuff, you know, there are some guys that'll go out for multiple weeks. But a lot of guys, You're out Monday through Friday, come through the yard a couple times. Yep. Home on the weekend. So people are looking for a place to put roots. Well, why don't they put roots in in rural America? It's it's actually pretty nice around here if you really take a minute.
Jared Flinn [00:24:04]:
Yeah. And and just for our subscribers, and I know this, but but you guys are in Minnesota, Amboy. Did I say that right? Minnesota. Where where specifically is that?
Rob Grover [00:24:13]:
South Central Minnesota, we're we're about 40 miles north of the Iowa border. Okay. For as far as our trucking operation is concerned, we're We've got CHS plants, ADM plants, POET plants, Valero. You know, we've got a lot of producers around us. And Yeah. Almost all of our freight on our trucking side focuses on an egg product. Yeah. In some way, shape, or form.
Rob Grover [00:24:42]:
So we're we're well placed for that, but I Can't tell you what this the sign says at the edge of town, but it's not more than 800 people.
Jared Flinn [00:24:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. Super small.
Rob Grover [00:24:54]:
Just small community, you know, 1 1 restaurant and a couple churches and a tire shop.
Jared Flinn [00:25:01]:
Yeah. That's exactly where I grew up. And I wanted to also just you talked about the farming. And you guys still farm today. Is that correct?
Rob Grover [00:25:10]:
Correct. Yep. We still run a farm as well as raise raise pigs. You know, back when back when my father was running it, We were a farm with a trucking company, and now we've moved to being a trucking company with a farm. So it's It's a minor difference, but it makes a world of difference in what your priorities are. Okay. And we've become a truck a Trucking company that can stand alone. I mean, none of my employees cross between my 2 my farming and my trucking operation And neither does the equipment.
Rob Grover [00:25:44]:
It's it's all separate entities doing their own thing. But we still do farm, you know, some years better than others. Right. But the 9 I still run the planter myself because I I don't trust anybody else to plant it. I don't do a whole lot with, harvest anymore. I got guys that'll do that For me, but I still plant every acre because if you don't get it planted right, you're not gonna have a crop.
Jared Flinn [00:26:08]:
Yeah. That's awesome. So let's move to kind of this this next step or the passion that you had that you saw the same with myself, but, Helping our youth or or or educating the public more out there. You'd sent me it was actually a PDF, 15 page PDF. I printed it off here. I've looked through it a couple times. But but talk about, you we talked about the why, but talk about, kind of, the next steps that you had kinda getting this, out there for the public.
Rob Grover [00:26:38]:
So the the whole basis of it went back to, in Mankato, You know, about 30 miles away, they had a touch a truck event when my kids were small. Now this touch a truck was for fire trucks, the ambulance, police, You know, law enforcement kind of touched the truck. They thought it was cool.
Jared Flinn [00:26:57]:
Yeah.
Rob Grover [00:26:57]:
Everything was cool. They got to go in. They got to touch stuff. They got, You know, to interact with people, and that was cool. So ever since then, and this was years ago, it's always kinda been in the back of my head. Well, Why don't we do a touch truck with trucks? You know, semi trucks. Help educate people on what what, who, why, Where are we going with it? Well, that's been kicking around in the back of my head for a while. I kinda refined it in the back of my head to also include the egg piece because we hold so many egg products.
Rob Grover [00:27:34]:
Let's go ahead And include agriculture and the trucks in what we're doing. So I was down at the local, in Mankato here, The children's museum doing a fire awareness presentation because I'm on the Lake Crystal Fire Department. And I looked at the name, take the gal standing next to me, and it said, director. And I was like, you're the one I need to talk to. I've got this idea. So I kinda picture an idea of doing a Tusser Truck, getting Ag involved. She said, well, that's cool. Can you draw me up something? Can you send me What you wanna do.
Rob Grover [00:28:15]:
So I sat down. I thought about it more. And then I developed that, PowerPoint that I sent to you. And Now we're gonna do, 10 stations. Each station has a backdrop, will have a semi. And then in front of that station, we'll have an aid group, or aid advocacy group depending on the station to explain what's going on. So And we're taking station 1 will be, a dry van, and that'll be just pallets of seed. Yep.
Rob Grover [00:28:47]:
Your your corn, beans, whatever.
Jared Flinn [00:28:49]:
Your inputs.
Rob Grover [00:28:51]:
And, you know, we got Corteva Asia Science because we we work with the Corteva plants. They will be sending up, Agronomists and salespeople stand out front. The local Case IH dealer has a planter trailer where it got roll units that plant in the Sam, I'm sure their role unit will work better than the John Deere one. But, you know, they're gonna bring that down so kids can see how a seed will plant and then they can dig it up. And in the background of all this is a truck. In this case, our truck because that's what we do. But then we move on to the next station. The next station will be a manure tank.
Rob Grover [00:29:28]:
I don't personally own manure tanks. The guy down the road does. He's a young guy. He has a wife. I think they got 3 or 4 kids. But I approached him. I was like, hey, do you wanna do this? Hell, yeah. I wanna do this.
Rob Grover [00:29:43]:
So we brought another company into the mix. So AIG Enterprises will be there with their manure tank. And then the next station will be, dry fertilizer. So I reached out to local co ops. I deal with them there for the variable rate mapping and all that stuff. I was like, hey, would you be interested? Oh, absolutely. So they're gonna send down a dry fertilizer tender with a Floater truck. They're gonna have their agronomist out front with drones and TVs showing variable rate and explaining Why we put fertilizer where we do? And they'll have samples on hand in sealed jars, so, you know, not hazardous to kids.
Rob Grover [00:30:22]:
But you'll your math, your dApp, your urea, everything we haul in bulk, you know, and what a lot of people are posting on bulk load We'll be there, so kids will be able to see
Jared Flinn [00:30:32]:
and be
Rob Grover [00:30:32]:
like, oh, you know, and we'll tie that into this is the same stuff that your parents are putting on Your lawn outside, it's just on a larger scale. And then after that, we'll go to, just a regular grain trailer. Just your standard run the mill hopper bottom. And in that case, once again, I have hoppers, obviously. I got a bunch of them. But let's go ahead and get other companies involved. So I reached out to, Schwartz Green just down the road. Yep.
Rob Grover [00:31:02]:
Like, hey, do you wanna provide a truck? And each truck needs to have a couple people out front, you know, just to explain how they work, what they do. So every company is donating both the Truck, the trailer, as well as a couple employees or themselves to interface with the public. So in front of that, We don't have a station sponsor for that one yet, but we're looking for a here's a stream which plugs people on bulk loads. We need a trading company. Yeah. To have. We're gonna have pools out front with the different types of greens. We'll have sunflowers.
Rob Grover [00:31:34]:
We'll have corn. We'll have soybeans. We'll have lentil. I don't even know what a lentil looks like. I farm in Southern Minnesota. I don't farm lentils. Now we're gonna have all these little Plastic tools with these items in that kids can interact with, they can touch, they can feel, they can see, oh, this is the kind of stuff that's grown. It's not just corn and soybeans.
Rob Grover [00:31:55]:
Mhmm. And then after that one, I don't have my PDF pulled up, but We'll have, liquid finished products. So we'll have one of my tankers there, because we got a lot of crushed plants in Mankato. So CHS will be there. They'll be explaining, well, that big plant that you see the big plume of steam coming from, This is what we're doing there. We're making soy oil, we're making soy flour, we're making soybean meal, soy hull. And then we're gonna incorporate their tank wash, because they have a tank wash in town, where they wash out not only semi trailers, but also rail trailers. So the tank wash will be on hand.
Rob Grover [00:32:39]:
They'll explain how they get inside, how they sanitize them, how they Bring them up to temperature to kill bacteria and hold them there. That's part of the Kosher process. So they're gonna sit out there, and they're gonna Explained to all these kids all these different things of why we are doing this. And our target age is between 49, so like the truck wash, the tank wash. I believe we're gonna have empty bottles and scrub brushes, and the kids will have to scrub out the bottles just like you would scrub out the inside of a tanker trailer. So every station all the way through will have the truck in the back and advocacy group. And most of them will have an activity that interfaces with The kid. So, we'll just finish going through them all quick.
Rob Grover [00:33:24]:
And then there's, feed ingredient Trailer, that'll be one of ours, but the tall side will have soybean meal, DDGs, wheat meds, All the other things out front that we use to make a feed ration. Then the next one will be a belt trailer and the dairy association will be there. We're trying to get the Dairy Princesses involved To, explain how ground mix feed works, how we dump into feed bunkers with a belt and it's put into a grinder, ground up and then fed to cattle. Now in our area of the world, there's not that many cattle farms left, especially not dairies.
Jared Flinn [00:34:02]:
Right.
Rob Grover [00:34:03]:
But in Minnesota, there is. Wisconsin, we deliver to a lot of dairies. So it'll be good for people to get that perspective when they don't normally see it. And then after that, we'll have a feed trailer, like an auger trailer. And Once again, trying to get these other companies involved, I I I don't have an auto trailer. I don't know who does. I see the name on the door. I call them up.
Rob Grover [00:34:29]:
I'm like, hey, I got this idea. Turns out, husband and wife's team running that company too. They got kids. They think it's awesome. So, yeah. They'll provide, double b transportation out of Blue Earth. They're gonna provide a auger trailer. And I was like, okay.
Rob Grover [00:34:44]:
Well, it'd be nice to have different samples of the different rations. And she's immediately like, well, Hubbard's our number one customer. They're gonna do it whether they like it or not. So Hubbard will be there on hand to show us The different feed rations and explain to kids, who don't necessarily see it, that, you know, pigs are fed up to 12 different rations through their life They come in that barn with different levels of minerals and fats and starches. So It'll be a way to show them what's going on and then there will be a livestock wrap. And once again, I don't have livestock wrap. I've got a hog barn and Rose and Tango Trucking pulled out of there. So I called up Jeff.
Rob Grover [00:35:29]:
I was like, hey, Jeff, I need a truck. And Yep. Absolutely. We'll provide a truck. So and then the last 1, will be a reefer For the last step into the grocery store. Yeah. We're gonna try to get a Grover Association out front of that one. And then that one will be T and K Trucking out of Butterfield.
Rob Grover [00:35:48]:
I don't know much about them. Once again, just cold call them. Husband and wife team running that too. They go to truck shows, they got a lot of really cool rigs. They're all about it. They're gonna show up. And, you know, and then we're gonna have just, just the display of all the final products That are on the grocery store, that were produced through that whole station. So we'll have your your baby flower, your bottles of soya oil and all this stuff just to tie it all in.
Rob Grover [00:36:20]:
But the main thing is that the advocacy in front, we're gonna use the trucks to draw them in. If kids see trucks there, like, that's cool.
Jared Flinn [00:36:28]:
Mhmm.
Rob Grover [00:36:29]:
And then we're gonna use the ads that can see groups in front of teach them something. And hopefully, we're not only gonna impart on the kids the knowledge, but also their parents. The people that might not know much about agriculture, about the trucking industry. They're gonna leave there being able to point at a truck and be like, I know what that hauls, that could be hauling soybean oil or, You know, that's probably hauling porn. They're gonna be able to have that connection in their head just from being there. And it's been incredibly cool the amount of people that I bring this idea up to and they're like, absolutely. I mean, even Even my banker, who, you know, he probably just wants to come see all the cool stuff he owns and lets me rent. But, he's like, absolutely.
Rob Grover [00:37:18]:
We'll sponsor the whole thing, you know. And we gotta make sure we have enough money to make this free for everybody. Yeah. You know, and the the gals working down at the Children's Museum, they're going through. They took my idea with all these stations And all these people involved, well, they're developing individual curriculum for each station. So they're going through and working with the advocacy Advocacy groups to figure out a way to make it so it really connects with kids. So that's like the the water bottle washing it out Idea came from. You know, the seed, we might just have soybean, you know, untreated, Safe for kids.
Rob Grover [00:38:00]:
But they can just plant it in a little little cup and take it home with them. So it's cool that Everybody involved brings their own skill set and their own thing that they're interested in and the only thing they know. And we're putting it all together into an event that's gonna be free for everybody, and everybody's just donating their time, and everybody is awesome about it. Everybody's just excited, and that's cool.
Jared Flinn [00:38:28]:
Just for clarification, so this like, is this gonna be a onetime event, and then after that, there'll be images At the museum of these stations, is that kind of the goal? Or so I'm trying to make this not just a onetime event, but something that lasts forever that people can view. I thought of, like, you know, you're gonna have all those trucks there, but can you, man, could you almost get banners of those trucks afterwards with those same stations?
Rob Grover [00:38:50]:
Well, and that's the the children's museum already has an egg on the move exhibit inside. Where they have trucks and what they haul. Okay. So we're basically taking a exhibit that they already have, and we're blowing it up. Oh, maybe, like,
Jared Flinn [00:39:06]:
a live event.
Rob Grover [00:39:09]:
And, you know, it just it seemed like the right Venue to go through and just the the Rolodex they have there of contact. I mean, I we've got, in our area, it's called Green Team. It's, organization that Connects agriculture with industry. Started by a young farmer, 20 miles from the north, just wanting to connect people. Grown into a larger organization, so they're involved. So they're able to interface with, like, egg in the classroom and make a crisp, you know, for classroom students on what goes with that. You know, things that I never even thought about when I just had this idea. That's cool.
Rob Grover [00:39:56]:
Let's get some trucks out there. So it it's it's exploded into more than I initially thought, which is awesome, And reaching more people than I thought it would. So, you know, we're we'll have There's gonna be a lot of people involved. There's gonna be a lot of knowledge to be spread. For this 1st year, we're just doing it on a one day Trial. And then we're gonna try to continue to do it every year. And in the future, ideally, we're gonna do it, while school is still in session and try to do a Friday where we can actually bring field trips in for it. And then, you know, continue on into the Saturday for the general public.
Rob Grover [00:40:40]:
We're gonna try it first to make sure it, you know, Well as well, and it's well received.
Jared Flinn [00:40:45]:
Do you already have a day marked for next year?
Rob Grover [00:40:48]:
It'll be June 1st.
Jared Flinn [00:40:50]:
June 1st. Okay.
Rob Grover [00:40:52]:
So it'll be Yeah.
Jared Flinn [00:40:52]:
I'm excited about this, and I think I I guess just I I love brainstorming. Like, this could be more like, if you set this curriculum and the process, I mean, you could replicate this anywhere in the country. Like, we could have this down here in in Southwest Missouri. You can have this over in Illinois. I mean And I think, man, if you get the group of of farmers and truckers and and agribusinesses involved, I I can't see why somebody would ever say no to that. I mean, It's it's a gift.
Rob Grover [00:41:22]:
And then it would be awesome to see let's go to let's go to hypothetical Jared land here, you know. Yeah. We're doing these in different areas of the country. How does it change? What are their things that they think are most important in that area? Yeah. Because 8 isn't the same nationwide.
Jared Flinn [00:41:41]:
Yeah. We're in we're in yeah. We're in cattle country down here. We're in turkey and egg or turkey, egg production, And, so, yeah, it's just all it's a different yeah. We're heavy ag, but it's a whole different style of ag. So, yeah, you can almost but I think what's cool about it is you can still use a lot of the same Trucks, but it's
Rob Grover [00:41:59]:
Oh, yeah.
Jared Flinn [00:41:59]:
Different commodities and different products. So, hopefully and I think you guys probably already thought about this as having that having that event recorded. I mean, that's where I think To to capture that, but also to use that for marketing for future, but even replicating in other other places.
Rob Grover [00:42:18]:
Well, maybe we'll, we'll get a video camera down there and walk through each station. And I didn't think about that. You're on to something. That's why you get Yeah.
Jared Flinn [00:42:28]:
Well, I can I can we can help with that too? We've we've learned a lot just from the podcast and a lot of the videos, that we do. Rob, I'm gonna kinda just kinda tailwind this down here. I I just wanna hear from your heart what really because this takes a lot of work. And there's a lot of people out there that were involved in agriculture, were involved in trucking, but, man, like, Nobody wants to listen to me, or nobody nobody's gonna find value in this. You kinda broke through those barriers. Why? Why did you do that?
Rob Grover [00:43:02]:
Because I wanted to. It it was important to me. At the end of the day, if no one shows up, I'm still gonna sit there and look at it and think it was awesome. And and that's that's, you know, it it's important. It's intrinsic to me that people know what we do Because it annoys me every time I see news stories jumping to conclusions or, you know, villainizing truckers or The farm community. And this is just one way to bridge that gap. It's something I can do to try to correct it.
Jared Flinn [00:43:37]:
Yeah. And the last thing I was gonna ask just because, again, this is something you're out there for the public, but a lot of it stems from your family being a 2nd generational, trucking company farmer. What what are your dreams for the next generation of Grover? Like, The boys coming in, what what do you hope and pray for them to do?
Rob Grover [00:43:59]:
Whatever the hell they want. If they choose to follow me on my footpath, that's awesome. If they don't, I'll support them in whatever they do. You know, the farm the farm will still be here. The trucking company is an ebb and flow. It's a growing it's a growing company. Who knows where it's gonna go? If you would have asked me 10 years ago, was I gonna own a trucking company? Absolutely not. I was gonna be a teacher.
Rob Grover [00:44:24]:
And then I, you know, I went overseas, got some perspective, Doesn't decide to come back and take it on. So I I really don't know what the future holds, you know, transportation as a whole. There's gonna be challenges. I mean, you you've got autonomous trucks coming. You've got electric trucks coming. And you can't put your head in the sand. You gotta look at them. You gotta figure out Plan on how they work for you or how you're gonna work against them.
Rob Grover [00:44:51]:
You know, it's stuff. And then on farming, I mean, the the number of farmers goes down as a percentage every year, consolidation. It is, Now there's that saying, it's it's easier to rent a field a county away than it is the one across the road because the, you know, That the family histories run deep in rural America. So Yeah. I If my kids wanna do it, then that's that's up to them. But whatever they wanna do is what they do.
Jared Flinn [00:45:24]:
Yeah. I think that's awesome. I, I can kinda relate in the fact that, you know, growing up on the farm and in agriculture, like, I actually was running away A lot of part of my life, like, not wanting to do that. And, actually, you mentioned firefighting. I actually that was a career that I was actually wanting to pursue. And, man, I found I kinda came full circle, and I found the love for trucking. Drove a truck for a while, but then found The grain industry and put it all together, and lo and behold, this this is where I ended up. But, I think it's, It's awesome what god's done, but as how he's orchestrated this in my life, but he has in your life as well, to Kind of move on to the next generation, but to inform our public of the the passion and excitement that we have for Agriculture and trucking.
Jared Flinn [00:46:15]:
So, man, I think, like I said, it just beautifully aligns with with what my goals and, and dreams and hopes have been, to do kind of where I see myself in this phase of my life. So, man, thank you for doing this. This is a lot of work, and, I know from from experience trying to get it out there, a lot of frustrations trying to figure out how to make sure and put it out there. But I'll end with saying this, and this is just to encourage you, And you already know this, but, like, if there's ever negative negativity of people not wanting to listen, There's probably a lot more on the other side that wanna listen. They wanna hear that voice. And one thing I've always heard resounding on the vocalist podcast, I hear a lot of people say that they wanna learn more about agriculture. A lot of people that listen Podcasts aren't even in agriculture, but they find it so fascinating that they wanna just learn more about it. I think just for the well-being, they know that, Obviously, their family has come from those roots, and they wanna learn more about their food.
Jared Flinn [00:47:06]:
So I think that's awesome. Rob, any last remarks before we jump off?
Rob Grover [00:47:13]:
No. You know, I I like what I do, you know, and we do as much community outreach as possible. It it's just it's just fun. I mean, people that are hesitant to do I mean, maybe not a giant touch a truck event, but even just put a truck in a parade. It's a lot of work. Getting them shined up, organizing stuff, buying candy. But when you're going through that parade and the kids are pumping their arms, You're throwing candy out. It's awesome.
Rob Grover [00:47:43]:
Yeah. People just need to just just do it. Don't don't overthink it. Reach out. You know? Be part of your community.
Jared Flinn [00:47:50]:
Those small steps can make a huge impact, and and we we don't realize that. Rob, thank you so much for coming on. I know some of the guys from my office, they busied earlier this year. And I hope that I get to meet you one day. Maybe I can Convinced you to come down to our conference coming up next year in, next April. If you're not busy, man, we'd love to have you down here and shake hands and meet you. So, Hopefully hopefully, you may be able to make that one, not to put you on the spot.
Rob Grover [00:48:17]:
We'll we'll see. You know? April is kind of planting time, but if it's If it's early April, they'll still be still on the ground. It should be fine. I'll figure it out.
Jared Flinn [00:48:27]:
Rob, thanks again. Appreciate you coming on. Thank you.
Rob Grover [00:48:29]:
Thank you.
Jared Flinn [00:48:31]:
One thing I love that Rob spoke about was just his how he uses bulk loads. Yep. And sometimes we Forget about that. We're talk we're all over, and we're trying to cover everything. And we actually on our trip, we're talking about, hey. Sometimes we need to go back to the bare basics
Rob Grover [00:48:45]:
Mhmm.
Jared Flinn [00:48:45]:
Of bulk loads, but Rob has actually, actually met a lot or had gotten contact with a lot of companies, a lot of direct shippers through bulk Yep. Yeah. We actually were visiting a client this week, and he was talking about, you know, trying to find more direct shippers and less brokers. I mean, and we're all for all of them, so I'm not against brokers or shippers. Right. And depending if you wanna find direct shippers, we have direct shippers on bulk loads.
Tyler Allison [00:49:06]:
Yeah. And I will say, like you said, going back to the basics, we gotta do a better job on our end. Just really, walking through, you know, all the features and the different benefits of the board. One thing I have found out on the client visits whenever we're going See our members is yeah. There's a there's a lot of features that aren't being used on the board. You know, and guys are primarily using just the load board. You know, bulk loads is really a marketplace and just a source to network with other people and other companies. So, like, If you're a carrier and you're not using that shipper's tab or posting your truck or sending mass emails, if you don't know what any of that stuff is, contact us.
Tyler Allison [00:49:41]:
Give us a call. We'll walk you through and show you how to use those.
Jared Flinn [00:49:43]:
Yeah. In simple terms, there's so much more than just searching on the loads. If you're just searching loads, you're only getting just a small snapshot.
Tyler Allison [00:49:51]:
You know, we run into a lot of guys who say, You know, Jared, I've been a member for, you know, 5, 6 years. I've never pulled the load off the load board, but I've gotten disconnection disconnection, You know, who's gotten me a lot of work off off of the spot freight side. So, yeah, there's there's huge advantages to that, and, yeah, I like how Rob kinda covered that. Yeah. So if you
Jared Flinn [00:50:12]:
do have questions, we have pretty much 24 hour support. Yep. You can call anytime. They will walk you through there. Again, We know that this season tech typically gets a little bit slower. So if you slow down, you're not having luck out there finding freight, get ahold of us. I think we can show you a couple other things to get you in contact with Yep. Good good truck or good shipping companies or brokerages.
Jared Flinn [00:50:32]:
Yep. So, anything else about the podcast?
Tyler Allison [00:50:35]:
Yeah. Jared, you, you guys Touched on this, but, you know, Rob is very into the community and, you know, he's got the the whole plan of, you know, teaching kids to further, You know, get into the industry, learn how, you know, food really comes from farm to table, how that whole process works. You also got your books, Semi Sam, I think you're getting ready to release another one.
Jared Flinn [00:50:54]:
Yeah. So Semi Sam Goes TO the Truck Show is coming out soon. I will officially, Probably put it out there, but, it'll be available on Amazon. We'll get some books in here and send you as well. But, yeah, we're excited to get Yeah.
Tyler Allison [00:51:07]:
I'm out there. And I'd Kinda embarrassing, mate. I'm excited to read to read to find out what happens.
Jared Flinn [00:51:13]:
It's a good story line. But, yeah, I will say this back to Rob. Like, I love, again, his community involvement working with the museum up there. We're gonna send him books up there to give out to kids as well. But, yeah, again, just really His heart to help educate, the general public out there. Because, again, we forget a lot of people don't really understand the supply chain, Specifically, the grain supply chain where, you know, how these things get from point a to point b. You know, maybe some people don't even care, but, again, The more you know, the better knowledge where you're gonna be to make better decisions.
Tyler Allison [00:51:45]:
Yeah. Exactly. So if you guys are interested, if you have sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, you know, grandsons. Whatever. Reach out to us to get your hands on a semi sand book. You can go purchase it on Amazon or anything like that. If you can't afford it, Definitely let us know, podcast at bulkloads.com, and we will get you a book sent out.
Jared Flinn [00:52:05]:
Yep. And before we close out of here, The conference The bulk freight conference. Is just around the corner. If you're thinking about it, man, take the next step. Make plans to be here. It is gonna be I mean, we'd had an hour meeting this morning going through this. I mean, this thing is gonna be t x.
Tyler Allison [00:52:23]:
I'm excited.
Jared Flinn [00:52:24]:
You're gonna walk away. I mean, so glad that you came. Yeah.
Tyler Allison [00:52:28]:
Yeah. Exactly. Like you said, we were having a meeting, just how we can, you know, bring the overall Experience. And, really, the goal is to, you know, have you guys, you know, getting so much value from this just to grow your business, and find, you know, other avenues, to diversify your business and take your business to the next level. So I think the unofficial Tagline of the event is definitely just centered around 10 x, you know, how to 10 x your trucking logistics, business directly in Bulk freight. So definitely go to bulk freight conference.com and, get your tickets there.
Jared Flinn [00:53:03]:
You're gonna meet people that maybe you never met before and establish those connections. Maybe you're gonna meet people that you've done business with Yep. For the 1st time, and we're gonna have some really cool goodies. Yep. I mean, really cool goodies that's gonna pay for more than your tickets. I promise You wanna be there? Yeah.
Tyler Allison [00:53:17]:
So it's gonna be a good day.
Jared Flinn [00:53:18]:
Awesome. Last but not least out there, we do have a prayer line, prayer at bulkloads.com. If you have a prayer request, we would love for you to send that prayer to us. It would mean the world to us, for us. We know that Everybody out there Yep. Has something going on in their lives. I have something going on. I've been in deep prayer this week, and, I know That you or your family members or friends or people that you in your community do.
Jared Flinn [00:53:43]:
So, man, send that to prayer at bulkloads.com. One thing I've never done on the show, I wanna just pray before we close out in here
Tyler Allison [00:53:50]:
That's a good idea.
Jared Flinn [00:53:51]:
And, for you out there. And, but, again, if you have prayer requests, we would love for you to send them to us. Sometimes, you know, you you always see you hear somebody, hey. I wanna pray for you, or can I pray for you? And, you know, you never think of it that way. Man, do that. I promise those prayers will not go unheard.
Tyler Allison [00:54:07]:
Yep. Exactly.
Jared Flinn [00:54:08]:
So but I'm gonna close out here, with a with a quick prayer, and, yeah, we'll go from there. Awesome. So Father god, we just love you. Lord, we thank you for this season in our lives. Lord, we know that there is pain and trouble and sin in this world, lord, but, you give us hope. Lord, you give us hope in tomorrow. You give us hope, for the future. Lord, we just pray specifically for our bulk loads community out there.
Jared Flinn [00:54:36]:
We pray for those that are hurting. Lord, we pray that those that have illnesses, lords, look, those that are in financial trouble, lord, that you will help them, lord, that you will bless them. Lord, that we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, can bless them as well. So, Lord, we just lift those up. We lift up our bulk loads community at this time, Lord. We pray over them. We pray for this year, Lord. Lord, we pray for every driver out there, Lord, that you keep them safe.
Jared Flinn [00:55:03]:
We pray pray for their families at home. In Jesus' name, amen.
Tyler Allison [00:55:06]:
Amen. Thank you, Jared. Yep.
Jared Flinn [00:55:08]:
Well, as always, man, thank you for listening to the Bulk Loads podcast. Man, if you don't mind, if you know someone that can benefit from this, Please share this, on social media, through your community. We'd love to get this in the hands of more people that can find value for it. We don't do this, You know, for ourselves, we do this for the community out there, and we wanna help see you grow in your business. So please share this out there to those. Dawson, Thank you as always,
