Kansas is a multi-faceted state, and when you drive through this flyover state, the vast land changes from east to west. This land is built on solid morals, firm handshakes for agreements, and where your word is the written contract. There is green grass, abundant crops, and beautiful landscapes on the east side of Kansas. Amidst that area is Burns, KS, home to Mason Smith (25), his family, a bunch of cattle, crops, and trucking.
Three generations strong, Mason was no stranger to ranch and trucking life. Family-owned JDK Trucking LLC was started by John (Mason’s grandpa), David (Mason’s Dad), and Keith (David’s brother) in 1996. Mason was fortunate to have grown up in the industry among men who not only knew the value of the land, but the hard work that goes into being successful. He loved riding in the truck with his dad whenever he could, but around age seven or eight is when he fell in love with it when he got behind the wheel for the first time. Some might say, everything kind of fell into place as time went on, from there.
His father David was responsible for teaching Mason how to drive, and it wouldn’t be until years later that Mason truly valued everything he was taught. His dad, along with his grandfather John, instilled a hard work ethic into Mason throughout the years. In 2014, David, along with Mason and Mason’s younger brother Austin, started MAD (Mason, Austin, David) Cattle Company. Just after his birthday in June 2017, Mason obtained his CDL, and it just worked out that one of their drivers quit, leaving their gray 1999 Peterbilt 379 open for Mason to hop into. This truck had already solidified a home at JDK Trucking since its purchase in 2003.
Hauling cattle within the state of Kansas, in October 2021, while still driving one of the company trucks, Mason purchased his first truck and put a driver in it. Fast forward a year and he and his wife Esther were married on July 31. Also in 2022, Mason purchased that same gray 1999 Peterbilt 379 from his father. Pretty cool that this 379 is the same age as Mason! The pictured truck looks quite a bit different from the original gray version. This 379 boasts a 1LW Caterpillar 3406E, an 18-speed transmission, 3.36 rears, a 279-inch wheelbase, and you’ll find it hooked to a 2023 Wilson livestock trailer.
There are plenty of custom extras and bits of unique about this truck if you look closely. Mason did the air ride suspension himself. The truck sports a Lincoln Chrome bumper, Built by Bub visor, 7-inch Lincoln Chrome stacks, 12 Ga. Customs mirror brackets, American Eagle step boxes, York fenders, T Kane hub covers, Nu-Gen stainless deck plate box, Nu-Gen and House of Air glass lights, a classy stripe done by Thunder Grafix in Joplin, MO, and a rear “T” bar custom made by one of his buddies. The interior showcases Mason’s personal touch with the painted dash and custom gear shifter, along with a beautiful epoxy cowhide floor installed by our mutual friend Trevin Walck.
The makeover process had actually started in 2019 when Mason installed a low air disc brake cut off and converted the steer axle to disc brakes. Moving to the sleeper fairings, which he pulled off, only made him decide he needed to re-skin the sleeper because of all the rock chips. At that point, he couldn’t just repaint the sleeper because the paint couldn’t be matched, so the whole truck was repainted in a Light Saddle Metallic color. Included with the paint was the installation of 2005 model doors, new style door handles, post mounted mirrors and sandblasting the frame. Through the rebuilding process, Mason wanted to give a shout-out of thanks to Trevor Peachey, Andy Koehn, and his dad for helping with the project, to Trevin Walck for taking care of the floor install, which is comprised of cowhide and epoxy, and to Bryce Peterson of BCP Polishing out of Elk City, KS for his polishing skills.
Considering himself pretty lucky, Mason has been able to work alongside his father and grandpa and was even able to go trucking with his grandpa, once he obtained his CDL. Not only this, but these two men are also the ones that immediately came to mind when I asked Mason who the most influential people in his life were. He has based himself off these men as husbands, businessmen, and their strength of character. They have good Christian morals, are well liked in the community, and they became successful through their hard work.
Today, JDK Trucking and MAD Cattle Company operations are taken care of by the family including their trucking company, red Angus cow/calf herd, starting yard (young stock before they are sent to the feed lots), custom hay farming, row crop farming, and more. As the facets continue to grow, the men each tend to something individually, but at the same time, all work together. Mason focuses on the row crops and custom farming, running three of his own trucks, and does the maintenance on the trucks and farm equipment. Austin focuses on the cattle, helping with the custom hay, and has a side hustle of training ranch horses. David assists and oversees all the operating companies.
Along with this 1999 Peterbilt seen here, Mason has two other trucks, which doesn’t include the first one he purchased. The current three include a driver behind the wheel of one of them and the third truck is just a spare. Back on July 17, Mason and Esther found out that Esther was pregnant with their first child (recently announced it is a boy) and he is due to arrive March 28. When time allows for some fun, it will be spent out on the lake with family and wake surfing, while waterfowl hunting is abundant during the winter months, as well.
JDK has quite a variety of different trailers including seven livestock trailers, a stepdeck, a hopper bottom, a belly dump trailer, and an end dump. With this in mind, the commodity they haul for profit is cattle within the Midwest. The original 40 x 60 shop the company had (where Mason did much of the work on the restoration of his truck) caught on fire in August 2023. Plans were put in motion, and now there is a beautiful, new shop that is near completion that was erected. The new shop is 60 x 125 feet, which includes a 30 x 50 office. It is mainly a shop for all their trucks and farm equipment, as well as the headquarters for all the businesses, too.
For just a little insight into what has to be dealt with living in the area, I asked Mason to tell me about the winter storm that came through just before I interviewed him for this article. Being from Wisconsin, this isn’t something our farmers deal with, and an unknown for people outside the ranching community. They knew the snowstorm was coming, but there is only so much you can do to prepare for something like that. The evening of Thursday, January 2, it started to get cold and foggy, then the freezing rain started, accumulating a half inch of ice on everything. Friday brought 40-50 mph winds, knocking down power lines, dropping the temps down into the teens with zero visibility, and then six inches of snow fell, covering that original ice.
By Saturday, the continued wind caused large snow drifts to form and ended up pushing much of their cattle through the fences. It was a fight to keep the animals fed and keep the waterers clear of ice. The storm finally cleared out on Saturday night, and with the blowing wind, no tracks were seen from the cattle, of which there were about 80 unaccounted for. Sunday was spent doing damage control, which included fixing the downed fencing and making sure the missing cattle were found and brought home safely.
Special thanks from Mason to his dad for the incredible opportunities that he wouldn’t have ever had, for teaching him everything, for being a great father and mentor, for never giving up on him “no matter the heck I put him through,” and for allowing him to spread his wings early on (but still right there when Mason came back). To his wife Esther for all her love and support, for taking care of him, being there for him, and always ready to jump in with both feet with his sometimes crazy ideas. To his grandpa John for teaching him how to be a decent cow hauler, how to deal with customers, how to keep the left door closed (never stop), and how to conduct himself. Last, but not least, to Trevin Walck, for the great friendship and for having a level head to talk to while working through things in life and business.
I would like to thank Trevin Walck (May 2019 feature) for the continued friendship, and without him and his trusted suggestions, I would not have photographed Mason’s truck this past summer. Trevin helped me organize the trip out and schedule the trucks I would be shooting. Thank you to Mason for your time, communication, running the truck around for photos, and for having the truck dialed in when I got there.
I am humbled by the kindness and hospitality that was extended to me during my stay in Burns and the amazing people in Mason’s family. John (Mason’s grandpa) made homemade butter pecan ice cream I will NOT soon forget! I look forward to my next trip to Kansas, visiting with wonderful people, seeing the cattle dot the landscape, crops of plenty, and more views of trucking in this state. As always, to all the drivers out there doing the deal, truck safe.