oxen shelter on sleds?

There are several designs to chose from and your application will differ from others, but I think it would be useful to list the features that I have found to be important in shelter design/construction. This might give you some way to determine what is important for you.

1. Ventilation. I have been much happier with shelters that have big open sides that allow moist foul air out and cool clean air in. I like a whole open side, at least, not just an open door or window.

2. Drainage. Make sure to locate shelter on a piece of ground with good drainage. Wet manure, urine, and trampling will turn a moderately drained area into a swamp.

3. Access to outside. Cattle (or at least my cattle) tend to “veg out” in the winter, concentrating manure, mess, etc. Anything that can be done to “get the boys to play outside” makes your life easier.

4. Reinforcement around “rub points” and in feeding areas. 2×4’s are small sticks to a big ox. Thick wood and bolts are good in these areas, and concrete embedded posts are golden. They are especially strong when pushing to get to food, so think about how you are going to store hay and grain in your system. I made the mistake of storing extra hay next to my feed bunk out of the reach of my oxen (but ALMOST within reach). I am rebuilding the feed area this year.

5. Proximity to feed, hay, water, house. Hauling water gets old and cattle drink a lot. You will not relish a long trips with buckets in winter. Same goes for the hay and feed. Heated water troughs that can be filled periodically with a hose are very very nice. A location next to the house where you can throw on some boots and feed in your PJ’s without getting all “garb’ed up” in the middle of winter is also very nice. This stuff sounds like no big deal in the middle of summer, but in winter these “little” inconveniences really add up.

Overall, I think this portable shelter is a good idea in theory, but am a little concerned about the practicality of it especially in cold climates in winter. Once these skids freeze to the muddy urine soaked ground, i bet it’s going to be a real bear to move the shelter until spring, so I would be very careful about picking a spot with great drainage. On my place, there aren’t really tons of places where I could locate a shelter that have good drainage and are also pretty close to my house, hay shed, etc. If it only one or two places, you are not really getting the true advantage out of the rotation system. If the shelter is fixed, you could make the shelter so much more robust and incorporate many features that would be nice to have (much more robust design, feed storage, electricity, etc). Perhaps it would be a good compromise to keep the shelter fixed and feed in rotated areas, which would distribute the damage. Just throwing out ideas. Again, I think this is an excellent concept in theory, but I am not sure about how practical it is.