DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › Draft Animal Power › Oxen › 8 in hand hitch of…cows!
- This topic has 22 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 11 months ago by
Greenmtnboy.
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- October 1, 2012 at 11:01 pm #44108
Greenmtnboy
ParticipantI’m new to the group…always wanted to train a pair of working steers but have absolutely no use for them as I don’t log, hay, or plow anything. The first 30 seconds of this video gives me inspiration however that I could just train a pair of heifers to drive around for fun…and they would still earn their keep!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeTXMXdWOF0&feature=related
The video goes on to show minis and goats before moving into some serious draft horse combined driving!
October 2, 2012 at 1:41 pm #75226Oxhill
ParticipantYour heifers will train and work just like a pair of steers. I wouldn’t discount them for work if you needed them. Anne Wiltafsky relayed to me about a man in Europe who farms with cows and a bull as a single. He has no need for steers to work his farm. Keep us posted!
October 2, 2012 at 5:48 pm #75238ParticipantThanks Andrew,
Do you know what type of neck collar they were using on the cows in the video? It didn’t look like a horse collar and for sure was not a yoke.
Cheers,
Lucas
October 2, 2012 at 6:28 pm #75223CharlyBonifaz
Memberwhat type of neck collar they were using on the cows in the video?
we call it a full-padded collar; they combined it with Sieltec and leather
Anne Wiltafsky relayed to me about a man in Europe who farms with cows and a bull as a single. He has no need for steers to work his farm.
Mr.Kuhlmann, Saulzern, France; one of his bulls is working logs in Kommern
October 3, 2012 at 12:20 am #75239ParticipantAre they using the collar because the cows are dehorned/polled? Can you use a traditional New England yoke on hornless animals?
October 3, 2012 at 1:04 am #75227ParticipantNine times out of ten a teamster uses what is traditional in his area. You can use a shoulder yoke with a britchen on cattle with no horns. Otherwise they have no way of backing or holding back a load. Here are a few pics of dads old cows.
http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t507/oxhilldevons/Daisy-Maespreader.jpg
http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t507/oxhilldevons/Mae.jpgOctober 3, 2012 at 1:20 am #75228ParticipantMr.Kuhlmann and the forehead yoke we got from Anne has inspired me. If I get my next bull young enough I may break him. Working a single bull in a forehead yoke seems correct and interesting to me.
October 3, 2012 at 5:51 am #75224MemberWorking a single bull in a forehead yoke seems correct and interesting to me.
I’d be extremly cautious and careful on that one; bulls are worked in combination with oxen in yokes: slows down an ill-humoured bull but leaves enough spirit for a real heavy load; and the bulls are worked regularly (not just a weekend case…)
October 3, 2012 at 10:03 am #75240ParticipantHow wonderful…thanks for the photos. I don’t know why it never occurred to me that cows could also be trained to work. It makes perfect sense that a small farm/homestead use a team of cows (or even a single) to do the light jobs as they show up and still be able to have calves out of them. Not to mention not having to feed a team of giant steers all winter!
I suppose one would just plan calving around specific tasks to be sure they are not heavily pregnant when you want to gather sap or rake a hay field. Are there rules of thumb as to how/when to work pregnant cows? Or even lactating cows?
October 3, 2012 at 10:49 am #75229Participant@CharlyBonifaz 36803 wrote:
I’d be extremly cautious and careful on that one
Absolutely! I wouldn’t take it lightly. I would be very cautious and he would never leave the farm. I have a well mannered bull now but he is too big to start. I don’t trust him. Every time I think how well mannered he is I think of a line from The Princes Bride: “Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.” I am not certain I will do it but it does interest me.
October 3, 2012 at 11:01 am #75230Participant@Greenmtnboy 36804 wrote:
I suppose one would just plan calving around specific tasks to be sure they are not heavily pregnant when you want to gather sap or rake a hay field. Are there rules of thumb as to how/when to work pregnant cows? Or even lactating cows?
Yes I would plan around heavy labor if you had any. Also I would be careful to condition them properly so as not to overly strain them when pregnant. I don’t know of any rules of thumb but I would try to be considerate and take it a little easy on them say a month before and after calving. As far as lactating I think you would be best served with a heritage breed that won’t have a huge udder anyway.
From what writing I have found cows where worked out of necessity by poorer farmers. It did affect their milk production but not enough to pay for a pair of steers. I think steers where just more convenient.
October 3, 2012 at 3:40 pm #75225Tim Harrigan
Participant@Oxhill 36805 wrote:
… I have a well mannered bull now but he is too big to start. I don’t trust him. Every time I think how well mannered he is I think of a line from The Princes Bride: “Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
Yes, those are the ones that will have plenty of opportunities. You never give the ornery ones a chance.
November 26, 2012 at 7:48 pm #75234bendube
ParticipantI’d like to say that after 3 times with our milk cow and her 20 month old heifer in the yoke, it seems a heck of a lot easier to train two cows that are already halter-broke than it is to train a team of calves. Now that I say that, it seems like a pretty obvious observation, but it didn’t really occur to me before someone broke my mental block around working cows.
Given that so many homesteaders and smallholders keep a family cow or two, the use of cows for traction seems to be extraordinarily under-rated in the US.
November 27, 2012 at 12:46 am #75231Participant@bendube 37785 wrote:
Given that so many homesteaders and smallholders keep a family cow or two, the use of cows for traction seems to be extraordinarily under-rated in the US.
Yes it is. What breed of cow are you training?
November 27, 2012 at 12:55 am #75235 - AuthorPosts
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