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Nat(wasIxy)
ParticipantHe hasn’t lived outside up until the last couple of weeks, so don’t think it’s worms, and we tested for BVD which would cause general ill-thrift and he’s negative. The farm he came from is clear from most things – not johnes though, but he doesn’t have the squits at all. Most of our animals have deficiencies this year due to the poor forage from last year, but I have been particularly careful to supplement my beef youngstock, and Rum & Raisin got drenches direct just to make sure. I put diatom on them and haven’t seen any lice.
ParticipantThanks – this is the hardest thing about oxen for me – trying to get a serviceable PAIR!? I have greta singles all over the place, but never a well matched pair.
Raisin looked a lot perkier today – less like he was going to die. I’m wondering if it was the heat? not that that means we’re out of the woods, maybe I’ll have to bring him inside/hose him down?
Participantthanks! hope everybody likes it 🙂
Participant…can he see properly? shying at little things, always looking at stuff (or trying to), perhaps holding his head low to examine the ground in front of him, feeling a lot more secure in the herd, makes me wonder…?
sometimes they are just nervy and don’t enjoy work though, i had a very nervous one but the trouble is IMO there’s so many better, easy ones who love the work i dont want to waste time on the steers that dont like me, or work, or strange things etc. personally, i’d train tex as a single and try another pair.
Participantjrusan – there’s lots of pics/clips of ridden cattle on my website – http://www.theoxfiles.com and if you do make it to the Saddle cattle Forum http://www.saddlecattle.com it’d be great to see you there! My jersey isn’t big enough for riding yet, but I think he’ll be super.
Participantgreat video! thanks for taking the time to make it!
Participanti prefer horns! they just look right – cattle have horns.
ParticipantI would try the cow if you don’t have a lot of work for it to do, then at leats if you do stop working her, she still has a job – I made the mistake of going for a large steer as my first ox, and ended up with a large, hungry, bored and energetic animal on my hands getting fatter by the day…jerseys are particularly amenable and if she is responding well to you already, making further little steps won’t hurt! Our 10yr old cull cow had never been on a halter in her life, but we didn’t know that when we decided to start walking her in from the field in one – we went out, caught her and she walked back to the farm with us as though she’d done it every day. It was weeks before we asked her previous owner and found out she was completely unbroken!
Participantjerseys may not be able to do heavy work (unless you had many more steers) but they have a great attitude – you’ll have fun, go for it!
ParticipantMiss daisy’s website – Jersey cow, calved once and milked for three years aswell as being driven over 200 miles according to the website 🙂
ParticipantUsually it’s because they have other conditions – they are culls when we get them for a reason after all. As an example, one we had had a dodgy back leg. She was relatively young and gave plenty, but wasnt thriving in a large herd so we got her and could keep a close eye on her. She would lie down in a corner and due to the leg not be able to get back up. Mostly we would have to drag her out of the corner and she’d be fine, but she did it during the night once and laid on her own head trying to get up, and we found her dead 🙁 we still miss her now!
ParticipantHad a look at the site – is this just for a single animal? As I’ll be working a pair in a yoke for the most part, but wouldn’t mind the flexibility of switching to a single if needed, which the pioneer does seem to offer?
ParticipantHi! Sounds like an interesting venture – what led you to becoming a part time potato farmer? Just like potatoes a lot? I’m about to branch into doing market gardening with my oxen which is all new for me. Although my dad was a talented gardener by trade and my mum’s a keen veg grower and teaches horticulture, I didn’t really inherit their greenfingeredness and have always been better with stock….but, I’ll also give anything a go!
I looked at a kassine (quotes were around the £4k mark) but as my partner summed it up: “it looks like someone went mad in a garden shed with a load of rotorvator bits”….I think you get more for your money with the pioneer homesteader so that’s what I’m currently looking at…
ParticipantI think you should grab any opportunity to get to tillers or MODA or whatever, you’re lucky to have them!! I worked on my own for years, and was very excited to see how it was done at one of the very few places that ‘do’ oxen in the UK – the Weald and Downland museum. It was good to chat oxen with someone ‘on a level’ and gave me a lot to think about! Still looking forward to going to see the hare krishnas one day when the baby’s out!
ParticipantIn a little update I’ve been brushing them and it’s amazing how they now love a good scrub within just one day, after a year of never being physically handled at all. They’re not even fussy about their legs which still takes me by surprise after working with horses!
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