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Nat(wasIxy)
Participant@bivol 11989 wrote:
my guess is that horses are more superficially appealing to people, they are more openly affectionate and eye catching, while oxen have all that undeserved bad par too. and could it be that, at least in america, people who worked oxen were generally poorer than those working horses, so they had less education and tendency to write books not all because they had to work to feed themselves and pay the bills…
yes I agree – in this country we have ‘the class system’ and horses are seen as a ‘posh’ thing – glamourous, expensive, pretty etc and cows are smelly and stupid and even dangerous 🙁
I’m working on a novel for teenagers which features oxen 😀
Participant@CharlyBonifaz 11975 wrote:
he knows his saddle, he knows reigns, he has had children sit on him for a minute or two, he has carried a little weight, he knows his verbal commands …………that’s just it for now
by the way: have you also noted, when you teach them something and let it be for a while, they will recall even better what you asked of them later?Ah right I thought you meant do NO rding work at all until they are four! I only SAT on angus, we didn’t move anywhere until he was almost 2 and even now I only ride for less than half an hour.
Yes I find that even if in one session they don’t seem to be getting it, if I put them away and let them think about it for a few days, next time they seem to have figured it out for themselves and do it straight off!
ParticipantI can see where you’re coming from leaving them til they’re 4, but I think it’s really important to expose oxen to everything you intend to do with them when they are older, at a very young age. Mine has not done any heavy work or riding yet at all, and he’s 2 – but he knows I tack him up/ride him/he pulls things and picks his feet up etc. NOW that’s done, I can leave it til I think he’s ready for more to do the heavy stuff. If you leave it until he’s 4, and rather set in his ways, before you even SIT on him, that’s a huge and sudden jump in your behaviour (all along in his life you’ve been guiding from the ground, now all of a sudden you’re on top of him!), a totally alien concept for him and I’m not sure they will adapt as easily if left that late. I definately think it’s important to get them used to the idea that sometimes you might be on top when they are babies. You also have further to fall!
ParticipantI don’t think for one minute anyone would farm them here, but we’d certainly have afew as pasture pets/oddities though! We don’t get regular really hot weather (only sometimes) but equally it doesn’t get super cold either. Well, we think it’s cold but it isn’t really, on a global scale. It’d be no problem to house them in cold weather – most of our cattle come in over winter anyway. We are quite unusual in that we only house from january-march. Most people house november-april
ParticipantI think it depends how big they are and how big you are! I’m quite heavy, so I waited until Angus was 11 months or so as he takes after his dairy parent and is fairly fine boned. His half brother was much chunkier and I sat on him at 8 months!
ParticipantNo I’ve never even met one – the only Bos Indicus we seem to have in the UK are the mini ones, which are verrrry expensive – and we’re not allowed to import semen or embryos either!
I think it’d certainly be handy to have te hump there, although might make you lazy about fitting which would hurt the animal perhaps – you could just stick anything in front of the hump and it would pull OK. It’s probably nice to ride behind the hump too.
However, I’m quite happy with my B. Taurus boys 😉
ParticipantGood grief! My heart was in my mouth reading that! Good quick thinking, and lucky it worked out OK!
ParticipantAngus really has turned out better thanI ever hoped for my first try – I think I was just lucky to pick the one with the ideal temperament. he’s not exactly friendly and affectionate – he acts as if he doesn’t want anything to do with me most of the time, but that means he isn’t bossy or playful with me and whenever he feels insecure he shows his true colours and becomes a big soppy mummy’s boy! So, he does listen to what I say really…
Next I’m going to finally finish his harness and go gathering firewood with him, but I also want to start training him to round up the sheep – he loves to chase them so I figured I could channel it into more useful behaviour! I also have a brand new Ayrshire calf – he’s 5wks and I’ve stroked all down his legs and things and my next step is haltering him and beginning the process all over again! My brown swiss was a failure so I juts hope this one turns out a bit more like Angus!
ParticipantOk here goes:
The reins are attached to a horse halter with the throat latch cut off (otherwise it cuts into his dewlap and looks untidy, if not uncomfortable for him) so it’s just a band around his snout and round the back of his ears – very simple.
No bit, not needed, and I don’t think they would work in a bovine mouth too well. Although I think even if I had a horse I’d go bitless! 😀 No nosebits, because I don’t like the idea of piercing his nose and haven’t had a problem with control without one.
No saddle – I really worried about how on earth I’d find a saddle to fit. I thought I’d definately need one as apparently the hide slips and I’m very out of practise for riding. However, I started riding him without one and have no problems with hide slippage, he is very comfortable now he has filled out and the ride is so incredibly smooth compared to a horse it’s easy peasy to stay on! I think if I was going to do a LOT of riding I would need to look into either having a saddle made (unlikely on my budget) or making my own nice thick bareback sad – purely to save his back and my behind 😀
Sometimes I ride purely with reins – turning his head and using leg pressure is enough to turn direction. But I use extra long reins and knot them so I have a long spare bit to give him a whack with to get him going – squeezing he just ignores. Sometimes I have a riding crop with me and he is a bit more eager to move when I have it – NOT that I ever have to really hit him, it’s only taps, but he responds very well to that so if I want to get going a bit I take one. I can use it to change direction by tapping his neck with it. Tapping the brisket for stop is a bit difficult when you’re on top but to be honest I think he responds to my voice and bodily cues and just saying ‘stand’ and “willing” him to stop works!
How did i train for the reins? He’s ALWAYS been working with a halter, because he’s a single and could easily have run off, and I’ve used the rope to turn him so I suppose he ‘gets’ the rein idea due to that.
ParticipantI use reins or a goad(riding crop) and leg pressure really, whichever I have handy! I doubt we could do dressage yet but we go where I want to go and that’s good enough for me at this stage 😀 He is getting very good at ‘stop’ and ‘go’.
ParticipantYes really excellent information there for us physics dummies!
ParticipantI’m in my early 20s and my partner’s in his late 20s and we both farm fulltime. Through my childhood I wanted a farm and grew veg, kept chickens etc on a rented allotment. Then time to grow up and I went to uni and then left that after a year to get a proper grownup’s city job. Sure, I earnt plenty of money, but I only lasted 7 months full time before I started having panic attacks and constant nosebleeds. I spent my whole life commuting or bored out of my skull.
I ditched it. For a young inexperienced female, a job in farming was a long time coming but once I had a foot in the door I learnt fast (with passion) and soon started renting my own land and selling meat on the side. My partner was a dairy farmer’s son so he had a bit of a head start experience-wise and he spent his student loan money on a lucky bit of land he found and he we are 😀
It’s tough – no haircuts, no big/new cars, no new clothes all the time. Our secret is to cut your living costs all you can – you’ll NEVER earn a city wage out here so something else has to give. We produce all our own food and fuel. We live in a caravan/trailer. We don’t have a TV. We buy the food we can’t produce in bulk, and make things like bread, cakes and biscuits from scratch. Like someone else has already said – I like new clothes, but not enough to slave 40hrs a week for the privilege! Many people like THE IDEA of our life, but few could do it every day.
I say, if you are willing to slog your guts out and make many sacrifices, go for it!
ParticipantI’m all up for hurting them before they hurt me – I kicked a young bull we have int he face the other day. i was in the field petting Angus and this young bull didn’t like me doing that so he marched up shaking is head at me. The kick sorted him out, for now, but he’ll be burgers in december.
ParticipantGoing from my own experiences only, it seems to be the confident/cheeky calves that become problematic. When I was first training Angus there was a shorthorn calf in with him – I would have picked him over Angus except it was so unafraid of me I just had a gut feeling it would be aggressive when it grew up. I was right – I ended up having to watch my back when i went in the pen as the second my back was truned it would butt me! I was told it was ‘only playing’ – but that’s not funny.
My brown swiss aimed a kick at me the day I got him home at 8 weeks – that was my first warning sign but I was assured calves aren’t mean at 8 weeks old…
ParticipantYes! very much so. As the shoulders develop it seems to make a little enclave for your legs too (on steers anyway, maybe not in cows)
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