[citternman]

Ixy – Are those Rough Fell in the picture? I won’t admit to knowing sheep breeds very well, but I seem to remember those markings.

[citternman]

My Mom had a pair of longhorn/ jersey cross steers that did well enough for her. I think she only had them for one 4-H season. They were red/orange lineback with black noses and had some black hair around their face like jerseys. Woe of woes, they had jersey horns. I think the jersey took the fight out of them, because they were not nearly as feisty as either of my brother’s Dexter pairs or the other brother’s Scottish highland pair.

There was a guy who had a long horn off ox that I remember pulling at the Cheshire Fair (New Hampshire). The longhorn had maybe a 5 or 6 foot span, but had the nigh one cut off so it didn’t hit his teammate in the face with it. The other horn was brass capped. He had the red/orange lineback type markings and was really skinny.

That night the was pulling was one of the best I’ve ever seen: I don’t remember how much weigh they got up to, but the stoneboat was stacked six or seven high all the way across, so maybe 10,000 or 12,000 pounds. Three-way race between the longhorn and holstein team, I think two chianina/holstien teams. The longhorn and holstein were outsized by at least a few hundred pounds and a lot of height, against the long legged chianinas.

In the final round, one of the chianina teams pulled first, all the way on the third try. The other only moved it a foot or two.

The longhorn and partner pulled a foot or so in the last round on the first try and got a false start and only moved it a few inches on the second. The longhorn kept shaking his head and giving the driver attitude, making himself pretty popular with the audience. It was so dramatic with his big horns and being the smallest ox left.

The third try they launched and as soon as they were going all the power in the arena went out, there was a general outcry but within ten seconds the power was back on. They looked like they’d made it six feet so people started cheering. The tape came out and it was 5’10”. The crowd moaned again and then started cheering as the chain came off and they circled back around toward the stands.

I caught up to the driver, whom I’d befriended earlier that day (I was 11 or 12 years old and fascinated by his team) and asked about that last pull. He said, “It was dark and they’d gone far enough.”

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