[J-L]

I’m kind do like your vet, never seen a lame mule. I work 4 and ride one on my ranch.

[J-L]

My teams live on grass hay raised on the ranch. When they’re working harder they get a half gallon of oats. They are worked all winter from Nov. to mid May feeding cattle on that ration and do just fine. They all are in their prime age wise and have good teeth, so no special needs in that regard. In the summer when I work them they are just on pasture.

[J-L]

Lucky stroke no one was hurt. I don’t put any of my animals in a shed. My riding horses usually winter out on range without feed unless it’s not blown off enough to get to the grass or if the snow is too crusty and deep. They will get along fine for a while I’m sure. You might have to feed a little extra if you get a cold snap.

[J-L]

So sorry to hear about that. We all know it’s going to happen some time but it sure doesn’t make it any easier. I hope you can take some solace in the fact that he went out doing what he was meant to do and didn’t have to linger on through lameness or prolonged sickness as so many do.

[J-L]

Speaking personally we are still on the ‘grid’. I’ve made some changes in how we operate on our ranch that help save fuel. We move cattle around to various pastures horseback as always. Some of these are 2 to 8 miles from the homeplace. We used to trailer the horses to these pastures just to save time. These last few years we ride to and from all but the furthest place. Doesn’t seem like much, but if you figure 4 or 5 trips per week it does add up to quite a bit throughout the summer.
We’ve also made changes in our haying by puting the teams in the field more and more on our rakes. Also use them spreading manure, which is quite a job with the amount generated by developing 45 head of heifers and bull calves through the winter. From the look of the cost of fertilizer this year (it’s supposed to nearly double) we’ll be glad to have it.
I’ve also built smaller meadow drags (tire drags) to use with my teams. We have to go over several hundred acres of ground breaking up the manure in the spring where we’ve fed cattle in the winter. Mostly I’ll do the acres needing it the most. This year I’ll field 2 teams on them and the tractors will sit in the shed more. Time is always the problem here. So much to get done in the spring!
Well, I’ve gone on long enough. That’s most of what I try to do to burn less fuel. Much of it is done to take the bite out of my fuel bill, but it also makes me feel a little better personally.

[J-L]

Thanks Maryrose. I was just interested and curious. That sounds like a fun enterprise. By the way, we had a small farm flock all the years I grew up on this ranch. They paid the bills when the cattle market was down many times. When the money went out of the wool and the market dropped out of lambs for a while we sold them. Sheep did well here in places marginal for cattle. We had 250 ewes for a while. I’ve tasted sheeps milk, and its not bad, just never thought of milking them. 2 quarts is quite a bit of milk. One day I’d like to try some of that cheese but have never seen it.

[J-L]

Weather was wild here today. I’m not sure how much snow we got. Probably only 4-5″. Wind has been our problem this winter and especially today. Radio said 80 mph winds and I reckon they’re right. Blew trees down, drifts are a real problem now. All my stackyards are drifted in. I’ve had to break trail most days just due to wind and drifts.
The people who’ve moved here in the last ten years are getting a taste of more ‘normal’ weather. They’ve built houses all over the high ground and are so drifted in they’ll not get a car to their houses ’til spring. County plows can’t keep up with it either.
This is one of those years when the teams really pay off. Everyone is stuck trying to get around in this stuff feeding their cows with trucks and tractors. I’m just gliding through and over it on my bobsled. Teams are getting worked down a little though, but it’s not enough to hurt them. Long time until we quit feeding though. Usually around mid May.

[J-L]

I’ve been following your thread on this and find it interesting. I have a question or two about the dairy sheep. To be honest I’d never heard of dairy sheep. Lot’s of sheep in this part of the country but none that are milked. I was wondering why you milk sheep? I suppose you wouldn’t bother if there weren’t a market for it. Why do people drink sheeps milk? And last but not least how much does a mature ewe give when she’s lactating at her best? I suppose that their are dairy breeds of sheep. I hope these questions aren’t too stupid to bother with.
The only sheep I’m familiar with are the columbia and columbia crosses that we call the western whiteface. Also the suffolk meat breed.
Very interesting subject to hear about.

Oh, I almost forgot to ask if you milk by hand or machine, and how many ewes you milked daily?

Thanks.

[J-L]

I agree with you on the horses. My old team of blacks were real nice. Not much stumbling in rough going and when you had somewhere to go they had a very fast walk and could hold it for quite a ways. My last team of belgians were kind of stumble bums. Going over the frozen cow turds tripped them up on the feed ground a lot.
The belgian mules however are a lot more nimble than the horses were. That hybrid vigor seems to have given them more bottom as well. They seem smart enough.
I’ve got to say this about mules in general, their feet are darn good. I used to continually fight lameness in my draft horses. In this country they go from wet conditions to very dry for months and cracks just hit those horses hard. My mules get a trim now and then, mostly just to remind them that I can pick up their feet. This country is quite rocky and keeps their feet worn down pretty good.
The other thing about the mules is that they are feed efficient. Granted they are only half-draft and smaller than the full draft horses but they don’t take a whole bunch of feed in comparison, especially when working.

[J-L]

When looking at any animal, attitude is where I start. Color is way down the line. Especially with mules. The saying pretty is as pretty does really applies.

Having said that, I think those perch mules are beautiful. The prettiest team of mules I have ever seen were a big pair of dapple gray mules, but I don’t know how good they really were.

The best team of horses I ever worked were Percherons. The best mules were Belgian. Who knows.

[J-L]

If it weren’t a hell of a drive from Wyoming you could count me in. Sounds like a lot of fun. I’ll bet people will go for it.

[J-L]

I think it’s possible. The differences in climate between where you and I live may be enough that I could be wrong. For instance my hay is stored outside in this very dry climate. Spoilage in well made loose stacks in this country is very little. I assume yours would be barn stored? I’m not sure how yours would go up or be fed.
In this neck of the woods there are still some ranches putting hay up loose with machinery powered by tractors. I still think it’s the best way to do it if you can get it done.
As a kid we still put ours up loose. It worked very well.

[J-L]

Very interesting debate among you. My personal feeling is that I’m still hungry if I don’t have a little meat in the meal once a day. I do like to wash it down with a good beer now and again.
For Good Companion, I wanted to put my two cents worth in as far as haying. I put up anywhere from 300 to 800 tons of hay every year. There is no way I can get it all done without some tractor work, given my labor situation.
There are several ways I can incorporate some animal power into this operation and contribute in a meaningful way.
The side delivery rake is the foremost. Just about any team can run one for a day and not be spent too badly.
I do have a JD#4 with a 6′ bar and put it in the field some, but in real thick grass hay it’ll work the dog out of a team and can’t do that much.
Another way I utilize a team is stacking bales. I do have a tractor run stacker and it’s my primary machine for this job. However, when it’s down, I use a ferris wheel type bale picker and a couple of farm wagons with teams. My son, daughter (and occasionally a nephew) and I put in 8000 75 lb bales a couple years ago this way. My stacker was broke and parts are getting harder to find.
My Dad was born and raised on this ranch. It’s part of a bigger ranch owned by his grandfather. He tells me about his youth and haying was the big item for them. One job was to run the teams in at daylight. He said they had 50 hd of horses. Not all worked at once, but they used a good deal of them. They would put 4 mowers in the field everyday. I think they ran 2 stackers when they had the help and off and on 2 to 4 buck rakes. I’m not sure how many rake teams were out at once. They did use one scatter raker per stacker (they used overshot stackers mostly, but I did find what’s left of a beaverslide and a Mormon derick stacker).
If my place were smaller I believe I could get my hay up with horsepower. I think at around 100 head or so of cows to feed I think it could be done. Loose is the way I’d do it. But as it stands I have to use some tractors to get done before snowfall.
My teams get used all winter feeding cattle. It’s a very good use of animal power. My tractors are shedded all winter. I burn no fuel and put no wear and tear on the tractors.
Last year my animals were harnessed over 300 days. They earned their oats at least as much as the riding horses, if not more so.

[J-L]

Thanks for the good information, everyone. I think I can get a handle on it from here. This is what I hoped a forum would work like. Sharing information and ideas.

[J-L]

You are correct. They want the beetle kill and mistle-toe out. I told them I could thin those and some of the blemished trees off of 40 acres. They would like them thinned to 12′ between good trees and leave the slash for the wildlife. They do appreciate the low impact aspect and have turned down some bigger logging outfits.
Most of the reason for wanting low impact was the fact that a neighboring 40 acre patch was ‘logged’ by a bigger timber harvest company and they were anything but low impact. Looked like a hurricane went through there. That company also went in with their big skidders after the thaw in the spring and sunk them up to their frames, ruining the access road. It took a D10 to pull them out.
I’d like to be able to figure out what would be fair to us both.

[Author]

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