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Nat(wasIxy)
ParticipantOh yes, oxen and buffalo are raced…I wanna enter my jerseys 😎
ParticipantThanks for the feedback, seems the jury’s still out!
ParticipantI realise “it’s about the person”, what I’m not getting here is specific answers to my question, which is about these people! To try and get us back on track:
I work best with oxen, and find that donkeys are a close second. Having spoken to various oxpeople, it’s the same for them too which indicates there’s something more than random individual preference at work, that these animals are more similar in their working attitudes than oxen and horses or donkeys and horses.
Now, given that a mule is half donkey half horse, do ox/donkeypeople find they like/can work mules too, or is perhaps the 50% horse a step too far in that direction for them? I’m asking because, having never worked with one but knowing I like donkeys, I would consider owning one IF there’s enough of that donkey persona in there for us to get on. I know I don’t want to go back to rearing, nipping, bolting and spooking…donkeys and oxen seem much more ‘on a level’ with me as a working companion, they think their way through a problem/fright. Does a mule do this? Parelli reckon a mule is ‘like a horse but moreso’ the thought of which fills me with dread…but I have read contrasting opinions!
ParticipantInteresting, because legend I’m sure would have it that lb for lb, donkeys would be the stronger. But then again legend would have it that anything’s stronger than an ox apparently!
ParticipantHi Caitlin,
We keep our sheep without feed or chemical wormers/insecticides and so on. They lamb themselves and we rarely have lameness issues, yet trim just once a year. We currently have Kerry Hills which are good all rounders – nice wool, plenty of meat and not bad on milk yield either. We also have Wensleydales which are significantly more docile and have much higher value wool, but need a long time to make a decent amount of meat. We also cross the two for a meatier sheep with better wool than a kerry.
Preparing your own fleece for spinning is very time consuming and a labour of love. If you want it spun at a mill, even in ‘small quantities’ you’ll need maybe 20 raw kilos minimum.
What will be more important than breed though is how they have been brought up – kerry hills from breeders who feed a lot fo grain and baby them have flaked under our system, even though they are the same breed. You might get some casulaties untily our flock is acclimatised to how you want them to be, unless you can find a breeder with the same principles as you. Feel free to visit and we can take you through our way of doing it!
Participantwell, obviously yes, this thread is more to do with temperament/psychology than physical abilities….
ParticipantIt’s not a problem for me – I stop work over 80degrees too! 😉
ParticipantI’ve found quite a few references to oxen and horses working together in Britain, using collars.
Participant
This is a good picture of oxen doing some binding work – I think the european harnessing systems lend themselves to speed, and they breed/bred big, fast oxen more akin to horses than the UK breeds! If you think about it, good as yokes are, could you manage more than a walk if you were chocked to another person by a big chunk of wood?
Participantyou don’t have to rule out trotting and cantering – I ride mine and rounded up sheep at a fast canter on my simmi, my jersey is only too happy to trot, canter and jump and even the hereford will trot nicely for a while, and she’s really lazy.
The speed of walk is hit and miss, you’d need to go for a known speedy breed and even then you might get a slow individual. I think how you train them is a BIG factor. Certainly don’t ever let them get bored. Ploughing I think is boring for an ox, just like anything that involved same, same, same again and again. Yeah they’ll do it, but they’re not so stupid as to tire themselves out doing it top speed lol! Mine like walks out to different places, doing a bit of firewood, a bit of pulling a sledge to the sheep in the snow, a bit of riding, a bit of free playtime going over jumps and running around with me etc. Once they get bored, they slow down…that’s not always a bad thing!
Mowing can be done, they do it in europe and there’s people doing it in the UK with specialist equipment. In ‘ox days’ equipment was rubbish, the good stuff went on horses, and things are different now altogether.
ParticipantI’m glad the hoof colour thing has come up as I’ve never seen evidence for white hooves being ‘weaker’ or wearing faster, and in the horse world it’s beginning to be talked about as something of an old wives’ tale…
Mine are trained to pick up their hooves – they do it, no problem. I dunno why they didn’t in the past, probably because they were breaking older steers in a hurry and trying to train an older steer to pick its feet up…I wouldn’t want to do it!!
Jerseys are very good indeed – my Jersey is the only ox I’ve kept as he has just been head and shoulders above the rest in terms of speed, willingness and all the rest of it. I always worked my other oxen with a stick – with Ted I’ve never used one, he responds to me alone so well. I don’t even have to have him on a rope, he will follow me in from the fields, away from grass and the herd, loose. Our milk cows and heifers are super easy to work with too, all will happily walk on a halter, much more biddable than the dexters.
However, I’ve just bred a jersey calf and it’s the most stubborn little calf you’ve ever met as far as halter training goes – he will NOT walk on the halter at all, even though we’ve had him on it almost every day. He seems to really resent humans! I guess he fits into that 1% that just won’t work…
The only thing is they don’t have much bulk to them. I’ve found a good cross to be belgian blue. Any jersey worth her salt should easily calve a belgian blue, and belgians have bulk (though the crosses arent usually double muscled) and a really, really good temperament. They may well slow down more than a jersey though. But they are very pretty!
Holsteins I personally would steer clear of unless you have a LOT of work for them to do. I started with a holstein X simmental and he didn’t grow as big as a holstein but he was SO strong and severely underworked. I’ve just finally come to the decision to sell him as he was total overkill for the work I do (pulling firewood, pulling silage to sheep in winter, riding etc) and that was just a single, imagine what work a pair would need! They also need feeding and housing, so if you’re not making full use of them, is it worth it? Not to mention the health weaknesses of full holsteins. I think even if I did have a lot of work to do, I’d rather have many smaller animals than two big ones, as you have more versatility from just using one for a little job to using 8 for something bigger! With no wastage…
ParticipantThanks bivol 🙂 I still have Ted the Jersey, and he is such a delight to work with, and a lot smaller to house and feed!
ParticipantI’m selling mine, but it is for a BIG animal and I’m really not sure a jersey x anything would be big enough!
ParticipantWell, he’s gone. I was a coward and couldn’t play any part in his loading. But the final straw came when we were cutting some steers out to slaughter and he got so excited by it he just crashed straight through another fence at a gallop!
ParticipantSaddle fitting is tough – I got mine used to taking direction from behind before riding, by long reining, then really the only difference is the weight on their back at the same time once you’re on. I’m at this stage with my jersey now – he’s very willing to follow, i think it will be tough to push him ahead of me?
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