[fabian]

@Tim Harrigan 25636 wrote:

That is an interesting yoke. I have not seen bows like that before.

It’s the typical south-east-european kind of yoke.
It works more like a wither’s yoke not like a neckyoke.
in the second picture there are the outside staves absent, which hold the animals in the yoke (may be used for something made of them).
The backside of these yokes is mostly so shaped that it fits to the neck.

Wolfgang

[fabian]

Thank you Howard for your answer.
I’m indeed more confused than before, because the data I found at Tillers and these of you and Carl are different, in parts converse

http://www.tillersinternational.org/oxen/resources_techguides/NeckYokeDesignandFitTechGuide.pdf

from the bottom of page 8 to page 9

so I have to follow Drew Conroy who says that the oxen will show us, if they feel uncomfortable.
My cows like the neck yoke. They show no signs of discomfort, neither when putting the yoke on them nor when “working” in the yoke.
So I have to trust them.

Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_ScW141KHU&feature=related
the oxen cough (at 0:32), which mine did never, although the waggon with the manure weighs about 2500 to 2800 lbs and we have to drive over – in parts – bumpy ways because of boars which “plowed” the ways in the fields.

And here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX-XJ9zMJx8
and here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuytRXRfyeI

there are two totally differnt behaviours while plowing. The way the Team in the first video walkes I like much more than the kind of the team in the second video.

Thanks for the answer , now I have to find the way that my team walks more like the team in the first video. I think that my daughter should take a new vid and post it at youtube.

Wolfgang

[fabian]

@Tim Harrigan 25472 wrote:

Rotation of the yoke is affected by the line of draft as well as the depth of the yoke. A higher hitch point as with a wagon or a long tow chain on a sled will cause less rotation, and that will be accentuated by less belly in the yoke.

Thank you Tim.
Up to now I used the new yoke only for pulling the cart or the waggon.
With the deeper draft it worked better than before. But it seems that I should set the bows a little bit higher.

@Carl Russell 25473 wrote:

Wolfgang, I’m a bit confused about the 1/3-1/2 . If that is the way you have it set, and the yoke is rotating back, sliding back onto the top of the shoulder, then it seems to me, making it more like 1/2-2/3 would give you the rotation you want.

Carl

I built the yoke following the instruction you can find in the net:
the drop of the hitchpoint (from the neck to the draft) 0,6 bow width.
That makes with a 9” yoke 5,4” = 13,5 cm
If I take the depth of the bow:
The steer and his mother have a depth of 40cm, the young cow 37 cm
a drop of 2/3 bow depth would mean that the hitchpoint is over 26cm UNDER the neckseat ! I can not believe, that my bow should set so much higher that a drop of 15cm would be 2/3 of bowdepth. That would meean, that my bow depth should be about 22,5cm (9”) . :confused:

complicated technique…….
perhaps I should return to the forehead yoke…..;)
No, no, I won’t…

Wolfgang

[fabian]

@Carl Russell 25469 wrote:

In your description you say the yoke is rotated forward now.

I think, that was a missunderstanding 😮
The BOWS rotate forward, not the yoke. The yoke slips more than I want backwards.

@Carl Russell 25469 wrote:

I think the rule of thumb is that the draft should be about 2/3 the distance from neck seat to bottom of the bow.

if you could change to “from 1/3 to 1/2” I would agree.
(2/3 would mean a drop of nearly 11” for my team)

[fabian]

@bivol 25460 wrote:

…..and the chance to live and work. 😉

without gliding in a philosophical discussion:
Do you really think that an animal prefers a working live over an end in the freezer ?
It’s a very human seight .
But also in human seight:
What would you prefer : A short live at the beach of the Bahamas, lying in the sun and slurping Cuba Libre (or what ever) or a long live with hard work and at the end there is death too ?

Wolfgang

@Howie

Why didn’t at least YOU answer my question about the depth of the hitchpoint ? :confused:
http://draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?t=3947

[fabian]

@Howie 25394 wrote:

About half the oxen, of the emegrantes, on the Oregon trail were cows.:(

Very intelligent, these emegrantes ! 😉

[fabian]

the vertical evener you can see here:

http://www.tillersinternational.org/farming/tools.html

the last picture down at the page.

Wolfgang

[fabian]

I thought about a little bit longer whether to give a respond in that thread.
Now I can not longer bear down.
The girls in the video think that they do someting good to their heifers/cows.
That’s a very human perception.
First of all they ride their heifers at a very young age. No horserider would ride a colt.
Second I do not think that bovines are natural galoppers.
And third I even more would not galopp a cow, which has a udder full of milk between the legs. Human females do use special bras for sports, but cows can not asks for that. They suffer quietly.
This girls decline in parts that heifers should get calves because of the pain they have in calving, but they do reflect not at all, whether they have pain while jumping over obstacles and long time galopping.
I had to say much about this theme, but my English ist not as well to say it so, that everything will be understood.
But there are enough bovine experts who regard riding of heifers in this way as an act of cruelty to animals.

Wolfgang

[fabian]

@Tim Harrigan 25055 wrote:

Wolfgang, I am curious to know why you haul manure to the other side of town to stockpile it in the field. Will you be spreading it on the field when conditions improve? Do several folks haul to that field and stockpile it there for the winter?

1. town ???? we have about 220 inhabitants 🙂

2. a.) we live in the European Union where everything is ruled. If you want to stockpile it at home you have to built a plate of concrete and a catch basin for the slurry and the rain water. In the field you can stockpile it without that.
b.) because the manure is fresh it is better to stockpile it for a year that it can ripen and then bring it out in the following fall. No matter whether I have the room for stockpiling it at home, I do not want to have the manure over summer near my house, not only because of the smelling but also because of the flies. And not only because of the sensitive noses of my neighbours but also because I do not want to get attacked by million of flies in the summer.

3. it is the place where a friend of mine, who keeps sheep, and I stockpile the manure. Except ours there is no more cattle in our village, only horses, horses, horses…..

Wolfgang

[fabian]

@Ixy 25050 wrote:

I have a tame harness maker and if stepdad can copy my wooden hames, we’ll be able to provide 3pad harnesses too 🙂

3pad harness ????

NEVER !!! 😀

[fabian]

@Ixy 25043 wrote:

Well I checked with my stepdad just now and he says he’s perfectly happy to do this for the european people 🙂

Then he should make an offer 😉

[fabian]

I got an answer by Alyson yesterday

@clayfoot-sandyman 25028 wrote:

Fabian,

I warn you now, shipping plus import duty adds a lot onto the final bill –

I know. I researched yesterday in the net. Until the bows would be here they will cost so much, that it will be profitable to make them myself.
As you can see above: I’m able to do it ! but it’s a lot of work.

@clayfoot-sandyman 25028 wrote:

BUT there’s not many, if any craftsmen producing ox bows commerially in Europe

May be that I should become one of them ! 😉

@Ixy 25040 wrote:

My stepdad is a wood craftsguy, he can steam and bend things – if anybody could give him exact dimensions etc I’m sure he could do this? He’s up for carving a yoke for me one day so I’m sure the extra business would be welcome?

As I said: I can bend wood and I will do so one day. Until then I will still use my Rattan bows. They work as I could see this mornig again. The dumpcart was full of manure (about 1200 lbs. without the weight of the cart) and I hauled it out with the mixed team (steer/Xcow) for the first time. I think that I would not expect of my team to pull more than the load they had on monday on the two axled waggon or today on the dumpcart.
on the waggon it is a load of about 1500 lbs.

[fabian]

@mother katherine 24830 wrote:

I don’t know when you tried to contact Alyson, but she just had a baby in January.

It was in January ! 🙂

[fabian]

My idea is to leave the inside stave in the yoke and then put the outside stave under the neck of the ox into the hole and fix it with the pin.
will see tomorrow how it works.
should perhaps take some pics of it.

Wolfgang

[fabian]

@Roscoe 24452 wrote:

Looks like our steaks will have a name…

Our steaks ALL have names ! since 2004 when we butchered our first bull.

[Author]

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