Interview by Naomi Loomis, WSRRA
Association Representative
with Jim Dryer of Big Bend Trailers
“At Big Bend Trailers we have been using gooseneck trailers on our ranches for over 40 years. We operate ranches in about five different counties of West Texas (The Big Bend Area). The country is big, and it takes a lot of acres per cow. Therefore, we pull trailers many miles over a lot of rough roads and it is pretty tough on trailers and equipment. We have spent a good deal of time fixing and repairing trailers over the years and have come up with some ideas to make the trailers more durable. These ideas and years of hands on experience have been incorporated into our Big Bend Trailers. I think you will find our trailer a very tough practical trailer that you can use in the harshest of conditions and it will hold up for you.”
I believe that one of the most important vehicles on your place is a livestock/horse trailer. They must carry our animals to and from our ranch, safely and be well built. I personal prefer a Big Bend Trailer. I sat down with Jim Dyer of Big Bend Trailers and learned a little more about the WSRRA Official Trailer.
Jim is a 4th generation cattle rancher. He tells us a little about his childhood. “My great grandpa was a trail boss on the Chisholm Trail. My parents fell in love with the Big Bend area of Texas while they attended Sul Ross State University in Alpine. They decided to move to this area from Baird, TX when I was 7 years old, so I have been here most of my life. My dad was able to pick up some grass leases in this area and eventually was able to purchase ranches in this area, which I have helped manage ever since I was a kid. My wife Kelie and I have 2 girls who have both moved back to this area. Amber is a physical therapist and Amanda helps me manage Big Bend Trailers.”
One of the things that I appreciate about Big Bend Trailers is the family helping each other out. Jim tells me a little about why he started making trailers. “We ranch in a pretty rugged part of west Texas and I have used several brands of trailers over the years. I saw certain features I liked about different trailers and had a list of things I wished trailer manufacturers would incorporate into their trailers to make life easier and more efficient on the ranch. 16 years ago, I was introduced to a group of Mennonites who had a manufacturing company. I asked them if they could build livestock trailers and they told me they could build anything I wanted if I just sent them a design. I put a design together that incorporated the structural components I had found to be the stoutest as well as features I felt would be useful on the ranch. One thing I noticed about a certain trailer we had on the ranch was that though we welded on every part of that trailer, we never had to weld on the sides, which were constructed out of square tubing. I said to myself that if I ever built a livestock trailer, I would use rectangle tubing; and that is one of the key selling points of our trailers. With rectangle tubing, there are more places to weld & you have four corners to give you strength vs angle iron that just has one corner, so it increases the strength of the trailer. One of the other features Big Bend is most known for is the unlocking mechanism to unhook the trailer from outside the truck bed. I always joke that other manufacturers don’t put them on their trailers because they aren’t the ones having to crawl in the bed of the truck! My goal is to build a trailer that will hold up in rough conditions with features to make ranching easier.”
On behalf of the WSRRA, we are proud to have Big Bend Trailers as our Official Trailer of our association. Jim tells us about how we became a team. “I learned about WSRRA from Dave Murphy and Marc Page. Dave had a couple of our trailers and he and Marc worked to get us involved. We have really enjoyed working with the whole WSRRA team.”
The future of Big Bend Trailers looks bright. I know that I have been seeing a lot more Big Bend Trailers on the road. Jim says, “I’m excited about the future of Big Bend Trailers. It is really neat to see how the company has grown and expanded over the years. We have dealers in 14 different states and hope to be adding more states soon. Because I use Big Bend Trailers on the ranch, I am always looking for ways to improve our design and come up with new ideas. We have a lot of custom options and we try to build exactly what our customers want. It’s a blessing to have my daughter working with me and we are fortunate to get to work in the agriculture industry.”
The WSRRA would like to “Thank” Big Bend Trailers for being our official trailer of the WSRRA. Thank you for making a great trailer for great folks. We will see you down the road.
“Our website is www.bigbendtrailers.com. We are also on Facebook and Instagram. We travel to several shows throughout the year so keep an eye out for us!”
