Most cargo policies do not treat live animals as cargo.

Motor truck cargo

The freight itself while you are hauling it. Separate from the liability on the truck.

Without it — Standard cargo forms commonly exclude death of livestock except from named perils, so the loss you are most likely to have is the one written out.

Commercial auto

Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.

Without it — Primary liability and the filing behind your authority.

Auto physical damage

Damage to your own tractor and trailer. Primary liability pays for what you do to everyone else and nothing for your equipment, so without this a rollover you caused leaves you paying off a truck you can no longer run.

Without it — Livestock trailers are specialized and a rollover is a total loss on both the trailer and the load.

Umbrella & excess liability

Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.

Without it — An overturned livestock load closes a highway and produces claims from well beyond the vehicles involved.

Workers compensation

Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.

Without it — Loading and handling animals is where drivers in this class get hurt.

Truckers general liability

General liability written for a motor carrier: the yard, the dock, loading and customer premises. The auto policy answers for the vehicle; this answers for everything else.

Without it — Yards, docks, loading and customer premises sit outside the auto policy entirely, and brokers ask for general liability by name.

Are my animals covered if they die in transit?

Only if the policy says so, and the default is that they are not. Cargo forms typically restrict livestock coverage to death caused by a named peril — collision, overturn, fire — rather than any cause, which excludes the ones that happen most: heat, suffocation, trampling and stress. Whether your form is written that way, and what perils it names, is the whole coverage question in this class.

Does the number of head matter?

It matters for the limit rather than the rating. A full pot load represents a large value in a single vehicle, and cargo limits written for general freight are frequently well under what a load of cattle is worth. Working the limit back from the actual value of a full load is the useful exercise.

Is humane transport an insurance issue?

It becomes one. Enforcement action or a welfare complaint changes how an underwriter sees the account, and some claims turn on whether handling and rest rules were followed. It is worth documenting your practice for the same reason it is worth documenting reefer temperatures.

What does a livestock hauling insurance application ask for?

The applications for livestock hauling businesses ask about 4 things above all: what commodities do you haul; do you haul full truckloads or less than truckload; are your vehicles equipped with gps, cameras, or other tracking devices; list all losses and accidents from the last three years. Have your vehicle information including year, make, model, and current value for each truck and trailer and three years of loss runs from your current and prior insurance companies ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.