[Claddagh Farms]

Boiled for the 1st time this year, yesterday. A full month earlier than I’ve done in the past. Sugar season in Mid-coast Maine seems to be in full swing. I tapped over a week ago, and that may have been 7 or 8 days late. We got 4 inches of snow the night before last….makes me wish I’d finished the sled for the team that I gave up on because of the complete lack of snow here. Flow has been slow and steady with a few frozen days and a few high-peak days so far.

[Claddagh Farms]

Here’s Tony & I on one of our first go-arounds today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2_ojQl9JN0

I need to make some adjustments to the harness & shafts, but it all works pretty well. Tony quite a few rest breaks towards the end, and I don’t blame him, this field has a long slow slope on the uphill climb & it can’t be any fun hauling my lardy butt up there……

By the end of the 12 acres it looks like I have some minor repairs to make on the tedder. One of the wheel ratchets might need rebuilt and the drive-gears slipped apart a bit on the shaft. Otherwise, the old IH did fine. Better than my spine, for sure!

[Claddagh Farms]

Bill,

My tedder doesn’t have castle nuts on anything but the wheel hubs. It seems to have many farm-made parts on it though, so I don’t wonder if they were scavenged for something else. Do you have any photos of your tedder?

Geoff,

Thanks for the link! I have just bought a manual.

Meanwhile I have made some in-roads into getting the tedder running. Because I am tight on time, I am going for quick and simple this round…..I should have cut hay by now, but I don’t have a single horse mower, and the tractor threw it’s clutch out two days ago….. But I have fit some shafts onto it, and added a seat.

[img]http://www.draftanimalpower.com/photoplog/images/6962/medium/1_photo_3.JPG[/img]

[Claddagh Farms]

Scott, thanks for posting such great photos. They are what got me to write in this thread. I am really impressed with the versatility of the rig, and as you have shown in the pictures, I think it would be a great fit for our farm. I wish I had taken the trouble to pop over to MOFGA for that event…it’s only 10 min away!

[Claddagh Farms]

Carl, thanks for clearing that up….not coming from a purely horse background, and being tighter than the bark on a tree in winter I see shoes as an unnecessary expense in my case. I’ve also seen some poor shoeing jobs and have heard plenty of complaints about ferriers and lame horses. I am sure this is equally true in the natural hoof world. Bottom line is, unless we look after our horses we let them down and they don’t give us their best.

I think, however, if we do plan on doing winter logging…given the terrain on my farm…I will look into some kind of caulked boots for Tony. He is very good about me working on his hooves, but I was warned that he has to be tied solidly in a stock to be shod…. I may just be a big softy…but I don’t think I could do that to the old fella.

[Claddagh Farms]

@Carl, Thanks!

@Jim, Glad to know you are in the area. I know Jason. In fact, he was just by here yesterday… Hope we meet some day soon!

[Claddagh Farms]

John,

Do you have an update on this rig for us? I would love to have something like this to work our 60 acres…. I love the arch to bogie design & versatility,and think with an added removable deck & some lumber one could also haul out split firewood with the same unit.

Did you build this rig yourself? Are there plans? or do you have a source for it?

[Claddagh Farms]

I am planning on running any horses I have barefoot. From all I’ve read and experienced shoes is just an expensive form of horse-torture most of the time. The only question I have is about winter logging work….. Are shoes /caulks totally necessary for winter logging work? Would a good pair of removable boots be a better option for natural care hooves which only occasionally need the added traction? Are there such a thing?

[Claddagh Farms]

That team did really well to ground skid big hemlock sticks like those. I used to log in WA and it’s a hard job for a Deuce & a 1/2 boom truck to snag some of those logs. Do any of you other loggers whistle at your horses, or is it just a WA thing? Seems like quite a few of the loggers I knew back there used whistle commands. I could never pick it up. By & large Tony & I work silent except for “walk-on” & “back”. I’m trying to get him to learn “step-up” for taking one step forward….seems he’s always trodding on the lines, chains or trace chains…it might also help him put his shoulder to the load a bit easier. Been considering training him to sheep dog commands for everything else vocal….then I wouldn’t have to re-train myself.

[Claddagh Farms]

The old fella helping me learn insisted I remove halters before putting on bridles. It helps the bridle fit better, looks better and Boss Hoss likes the feel of the halter coming off. Elmin pointed out that the extra strap on my D-ring harness, attached to the saddle, is for tying the horse out while in harness. I’ve never used it, because I believe head control is horse control, but if I had to, it’s always there.

[Claddagh Farms]

Yup! Great job on the wagon. Read that article first. Doing something similar to that has been very much on our mind, even if it’s just for a bit of advertising. Was I was in France recently I was really impressed by a market wagon set up by a couple selling lavender products.

[Claddagh Farms]

I worried about this question when I began using our new Belgian, Tony, to log. Not knowing how he would behave in the woods, or working single, or skidding logs I set out to make things as easy for both of us as possible….

My routine is to cut in the afternoon & get as many logs ready to skid to the landing as possible. This includes clearing brush into piles for the chipper and walking all skid trails looking for obstacles & potential snags. The following morning Tony & I head out and skid as many logs as we can at an nice easy pace. At first I used a small helper to hold the lines in case Tony decided to move forward while I was hooking choker. Gradually I worked on the old boy to respond to voice command almost as much as line signals.

Yesterday was the first day I actually tested him fully. We caught a pile of brush in the chain when Tony refused to go thru some evil looking mud. Don’t blame him at all. I stood him, dropped the lines and cleared all the brush from our return path and some more. When we got to the next log Tony was standing on brush I couldn’t move and he was fidgety. I just couldn’t get the choker set at the end of a 20ft chain. I took a big chance…again…with lines dropped…and told him to back. Three times he listened and reversed until I could get the choker set. I as pulling on the chain & thereby the tugs so that was another communication in itself. It all worked well.

I’m really proud of my boy! Working him like this is a necessity where I am because the field margins I’m logging & clearing have very few trees to tie horses to. We work some, then head to the trailer for water, feed & rest. I can tie him there without worrying he’s going to eat something in the woods he shouldn’t–one of the patches we’re clearing is full of every tree bad for horses…..

[Claddagh Farms]

Carl,

Do you have any pics of your D-ring harness hooked to poles? I’m new to the harness, and am loving how easy it is to put on & go for logging, but I’m a little stumped (no pun intended) on how to set it up properly for pulling a cart or tedder. Even my 80+yr old teamster is at a loss on how to do it any more as he has been using Western harness for so long.

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