Forecart Question

Thanks Stephen, I use forecarts for several tasks, and will write a response soon, but just wanted to reply now to get this on the board. Seems that many new posts are not as evident until someone replies.

Carl

Hi Stephen, I use five forecarts on my farm. They are all homemade to one extent or another. As a self taught (read not very good) welder I can say making homemade forecarts is fun and productive. I have two plain forecarts (tongue, seat, railing, and hitch) for tedders, rakes, and manure spreaders. Both of these are completely homemade and to some extent have been salvaged and rebuilt from previous carts. One of these has a bench seat which is great for teaching; and the other has a tongue which is easy to move off center which is nice for three abreast.

When making a basic farm forecart use three pieces of 4″ channel facing down to frame your deck. if they are 18″ apart you can easily bolt your tongue in center, left or right. These carts also move hay wagons, poultry houses, weaned lambs, water haulers, and a firewood cart. You can’t have enough of these basic carts.

A good design might also have a basic log arch built into it. This could be achieved with a drop-in piece for your farm tow hitch.

Last year I built a small forecart with a 36″ wheel base and a truck type tow receiver. I have modified a potato plow to fit in this hitch and plan to make other bed marking tools and other things that will fit in this hitch. It would even be handy to have a little cart with the same 36″ wheel base for harvesting or spreading mulch etc.

I use a three wheeled, gas powered PTO cart for baling hay, and hopefully this year to pull a combine. It has worked well for me for several years, but if I were building or buying a new one I would stick with the two wheeled designs as mine is almost impossible to back up once hooked to anything. The 24 hp honda engine is quiet and efficient. I bale about 1,000 bales for every five gallons of gas.

For several years I have wanted a ground driven PTO cart and I have tried to build a couple. My first attempt was built on a #7 mower body and just wasn’t heavy enough to do everything I wanted it to do. It looked good until I challenged it with real farm conditions and then it just wasn’t what I wanted. Those that saw it will be glad to know that it is returning to the world of work this summer as a new one horse mower.

Last summer we held a Farm Hack (thanks, Greenhorns) on our farm and built a ground drive PTO Cart from an old Case tractor we took apart. This cart has been a great success. It pulls a tedder anywhere, anytime with four speeds to chose from. This summer at the Draft Animal Power Field Days we even pulled a baler with three horses. It was a long time coming, but it was fun and satisfying to build it on the farm.

You can find most all of these somewhere on my web album: Donn’s web album.

Often when working in larger fields a cart will not be used in front of the tillage tools as there is a loss of horse power used to pull the cart that can not be used to pull the harrow. In a small market garden application these factors may not have a big impact in what you can get done; but in working with several acres of gardens or grains, the same number of horses can pull a larger harrow or pull the smaller one farther. Without a cart you are left to walk behind the implement (make sure your lines are long enough). In some of the newer versions of these tools the teamster can sit right on them. While the horses work harder, at least the teamsters weight is being applied to the tools making them more effective.

I am not one to suggest there is only one way to do something. There are potential mishaps walking behind a harrow as well. There used to be a harrow cart which provided wheels and a seat, but you sat right behind the harrow. Another nice set up you don’t see as often today. After a mishap towing a disc last year while walking I built a wooden platform that made it so I could stand on it. It was a good four horse disc before and now you might say it is a five horse disc!

Hey Stephen great job.

My perspective on Forecarts has more to do with the implement than with the work of market gardening. I do use my fore cart with my disk, spring-tooth, and drag harrows, more for comfort and safety than for functionality. The tires do tend to compact soil when harrowing, but then again so do the hooves. I do find some functional advantage to hitching into one piece of equipment then merely using draw pins when I need to disconnect, or connect, to a different implement. Also considering the small scale of our gardening operation, it allows me to prepare for other work, like logging, or spreading manure, and diversifying the daily enterprises without complicated hitching exercises.

For me the safety and comfort of using a fore cart plays the biggest role. I also happen to use a cart made by Les Barden of Farmington, NH, which has a “chariot” design, so that stepping on and off is extremely easy and safe. The Barden cart tends to shine for its log hitching design, but there is also a receiver hitch on the back for a draw-bar attachment. I can pull a wide array of implements from that draw-bar.

Being able to step on an off easily, to stand comfortably for balance during motion, and to have tool carrying capacity brings significant advantage to the undertaking. I feel strongly that a comfortable and safe teamster with increased functionality is on the best road toward the high level of leadership required to make draft animal power most effective.

Carl