[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ed, First, I understand how frustrating it is. Many of us have seen a team on single that we have worked hard to bring along up and leave us standing in the field. It is scary, but also educational, to see the amount of force that can go with us or against us. I think you are at a crossroads with this horse and rightly so. One the hand you would like to learn from this and improve the animals ability as a work partner, on the other hand are the questions of his ability to learn from you, given your current experience level and of course a question of safety.
I think a couple of factors that could help tip the scales are what mentorship do you have available, and second are you more interested in working a horse or training one. I believe mentorship is essential to learning this craft of driving work animals. That is easy to say and many find little or know mentorship available. Some may get by with a friend they can call, some may need a neighbor that can come over and really lend a hand. I think evaluating the mentorship that is available to you and makeing the best use of it you can is important. It sounds to me like this horse needs to be trained. I don’t mean in terms of learning commands. I mean in regards to the human/horse relationship and his place in it. Hard work that takes a fair amount of time and skill. Would you rather be working on learning that and teaching it to the willful halflinger, or would you rather be skidding fire wood? I am not trying to suggest answer as I find both very rewarding and fun, just different.
I once went to visit a friend in Montana. A busy and full-time horse logger. On Saturday we got up early to drive several hours to trade a horse and buy a new one. It was clear to me that the horse we unloaded was a real beauty and superior in every way to the one we brought home. An old chunk, with half an ear missing. When I asked for an explanation it was quite simple. The horse we got rid of was knot head and couldn’t make money in the woods. This meant a lot to me as it came from a quiet teamster whose horses worked with great precision and a no wasted effort. He knew when to quite putting time and effort into a horse that was never going to meet his expectations.
Good luck Ed, Please keep the discussion going about how to proceed. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

yes, that is a rake in rough condition. Bars welded back together, teeth missing, etc. Last year I replaced the gear that slides back and forth to put it in “rake” or “ted”. They are squirrelly down hill and on side hills you want to have your horses well apart as the tongue will push up hill. Not my favorite piece for a youngster as it really rattles and scraps and bangs. I just use it as a back up and for an extra tedder. They are a better tedder than the reel for rained on windrows and the like. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

I use a home made snow plow and it works great. It is a Vee type plow made of scrap lumber from various projects. I use it with three head of horses and mules. I tried it once with out a forecart but as soon as you have removed all the snow they really want to slide up on you, the forecart makes it easier and safer. It is about 12′ wide and about 14′ long. It is built on two main beams of 3 x 10″ that were cut on the front with a compound angle for the lower 2 x 12″. the main beams help it track straight when you are pushing snow with only one side of the plow. I set a heavy cross piece between the beams and that is what my chain is attached to. It is attached in two places and comes through two holes in the plow this allows me to attach the fore cart dead center or slightly off to one side. That also helps with pushing snow with half the plow. I can easily make our 1000′ drive way 20′ wide with a couple of passes. You can see a couple of pictures of the plow in action here.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Carl and everyone, Just a quick reply to what you said about horses and fear. How many times in years past have I said ” I just can’t tell if this horse is afraid of something or if it just trying to be the boss”? I was trying to choose between two human responses. Really it was a horse response, and an individual response as Jennifer said. In reading Carl’s comments I realized I just don’t think that anymore. Now I worry less about putting the right label on the animals response to what ever is going on, and pay more attention to my response. It is my response that can create an opportunity for the horse to gain in trust and confidence. I think it can be a hard thing to teach and a slow thing to learn; but to be with horses, (working with, caring for, training, etc) and expect them to ‘be horses’ is the best we can do to make a successful partnership. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

I agree with Carl that there is a lot to learn about when an animal is working hard and when it isn’t. Also training them to work a little harder when asked takes time and experience. I have worked Halflingers, Percherons, Belgians and mules in the last few years. I have mixed them all together when I felt like it. The Halflingers are close to 30 y/o now and semi retired but in the past they pulled the same mowing machines as the horses. They would not mow as many acres in a day, or spread as many loads of compost as the bigger younger horses, but they certainly held up their end. In a general way I think a team of three Halflingers will do everything a team of horses will do. Remember to think about how they will hold back the load, not just pull it. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Rod, It seems to me to be adding an unneeded level of complication. The PTO cart is plenty complicated / heavy as is. When you have a cart built for an intended use and an intended number of animals to pull it; they should do 90% percent of the work with out working too hard. This allows a margin of error and allows the cart and animals to be relatively productive. It also means that for short stretches you should have enough animals to pull up hill or what ever. I know on my farm there are a couple spots where I have to pick up the hilly windrows before the wagon gets full, otherwise my teams buckle down and pull cart, baler, and wagon up hill at the end of every field. Make it so they work easy most of the time. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Ugh! I notice someone’s name missing form that list (I better send that in). Let’s hear from some more people about the pros and cons of Ads on their own forum. Without a front page display how much could/would we ask to be on the forum? 30$ annually, 50$ annually? I think I could convince some worth while businesses that it would be good for them to support us.

[Donn Hewes]

Here are a few questions I have about advertising, and a few ideas. I don’t know anything about web technnology so these might be very simple questions. Can we have ads be their own forum at the bottom of the page? What if two or three ads were listed in the forum each day, like threads? Could it be set up to automatically change which ads appear each day on the main screen? The rest of the ads would be available like old threads, just click on the ADS forum.

We could easily come up with a policy that all ads would be for businesses or organizations that support the use of draft animals in the interest of sustainable farming and forestry.

Ads could be plain text of a set amount, and include contact info, or a web link.

I am afraid I am not much help with the technical part of posting ads but I would be happy to help work on an ad policy That could result in ads being a constructive addition to our site. I also be willing to work on selling ads once we got to that point. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Carl, Is there any way that someone else, or a small group could take on some of the task of developing the advertising. I would be happy to work on that. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Yes, the honda runs very easy while it works at baling or mowing. The reason I went with a new honda vs. older Wisconsin or something like that is, I am not a great mechanic and I would hate to be out in the field trying to fix a dang motor. Diesel would have been nice but I couldn’t justify the added expense of 2,000 or 3,000 extra dollars. 24hp and 25hp commonly run balers and even 9′ haybines. It was interesting to see it pull a small round baler. We wanted to hook up to a 8′ dicsbine but the hitch didn’t hook up. Just finished the hay barn roof and now it is raining! Talk to you soon, Donn
Rod – Just realized you might have meant what kind of baler do I have. Just the standard issue NH 468 I believe. No kicker although it would probably work.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Rod, Yes, wanted to catch up with you also. Wanted to talk about cattle. Maryrose and are taking a quick swing through VT in the first week of Nov. If we get close by maybe we will try to stop. If you are talking about the fore cart at NEAPFD yes that is what I use to run the square baler and it works great. The last couple years I have been adding little features to make it better. About the only thing left I can think of is an umbrella holder! Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Neal, Yes I think the steel wheels have been used to adjust the speed of the knife, all thought I just wanted the standard size wheel. I make between 2500 and 3000 bales a year; first and second cutting combined. There are a lot of possible limiting factors. Fix one and you are up against the next. Four Horses make more hay than two, but it may depend on how many teamsters there are. Once you have the horses and the people, the equipment can make a huge difference in how much hay you can make. In June when the weather is only good for three days I really like my gas powered PTO cart. I have worked with four for the last few years but this was the first time in a awhile where I had someone working with me that really could/wanted to drive. I quickly realized I didn’t have enough hay ground. Started mowing abandonded ground across the street to turn it back into hay ground. I baled for a few years dropping the bales on the ground, and thought that was pretty good. Nice horse work to come back and pick them up. Baling with four head and pulling a wagon great. There are only a couple spots on the farm where I would drop bales on the ground, and that is for the hill. My wife out the door so I better be too!

[Donn Hewes]

I am in favor of any idea that keeps the site available to any, at no cost. I like Jason’s idea of printing some of it – I am afraid it requires a new layer of effort in order to fund our ongoing conversation. Feel free to print my words if it helps. I like the idea of a linked page of advertising. Unlike most advertising, the SFJ chooses which ads fits its overall message. That makes those ads incredibly useful. Which of us hasn’t picked up an SFJ to find BW Mcnair or I&J Machine. It was fun getting together with other Dappers this weekend at NEAPFD. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

a good mower will be found where ever it is at; but I would be leery of one used much behind a tractor. Pay extra attention to the slop in the pins at the inside end of the cutter bar assembly. I can’t imagine having a spare cutter bar assembly. Too hard to change and too easy to fix a loose guard or a loose ledger plate. Spare knives are probably a good idea. I like a spare mower myself, but I must confess they are my favorite piece of equipment. Pick up the book at the SFJ booth this weekend and read the part about evaluating an old mower. Hope to see you there. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi George, Both the #7 and #9 work well. Rather than pick one before hand, look for the best working machine you can afford. The condition of the machine will make a HUGE difference in you and your animals success in mowing. A free moving knife that is sharp (or brand new – 75$) makes the best machine. The tongue weight issue with the #7 is not as big a deal as it is made out to be. Have someone sit in the seat and then pick up the tongue. There are probably other good models as well; but they made so many #7 and #9 and parts are so easy to get, I wouldn’t mess with anything else. Donn

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