[jac]

Hi. Chrome wont last long in a work situation and will soon chip and peel leaving some sharp bits to be a real pain every time you hitch..Ok for a show wagon that only has to run round a ring a few times.. and Im curious to know how a swivel keeps a nice straight line ?? If the draft angle is correct and billets and trace carriers dont interfere then the line will be straight. Good luck with it. I hope it turnes out ok. Cheers
John

[jac]

Edward Hart can be reached on 01584 711318 He’s quite old now and in sheltered housing but always glad to talk. The Heavy Horse magazine has started doing a piece on oxen and makes good reading.

[jac]

We can only guess at the anguish this poor man went through. Unfortunatly suicide rates seem disproportionatly high in the agricultural sector and modern pressures are bound to play a part. In our thoughts.
John

[jac]

Hi Tim.. I’ve been reading your page on cultivators and what a great job you did on that. Im not the brightest bulb in the socket so bear with me.. Am I right in saying that if I take an average of 650lb pull at around 2 ins depth I’d have about 30lbs of draft per tooth going up to a max of 40lbs at 4ins ? If i’ve got that wrong I apologise. That kind of info could be usefull for anyone building there own machines. You’re bang on with people burying the tines to deep. To my mind those spring tines work better by flexing and causing a shattering effect. They cant do that if bent back and the horses cant get any forward speed. I recently built a slitter for rejuvinating grassland with 36 7ins blades and a seed box on top. It was built on guesswork as I had no info on how much pull it would have, luckily my team handle it effortlessly as it is rolling as opposed to dragging. I’ll post fotos soon. Thanks again.
John

[jac]

Hi Ed.. Good to know thers somebody else from Britain.. Im up in SW Scotland with Clydes.. Edward Hart might be worth a fone. He usually has some oxen lierature. He’s in Shropshire. Your doing a good thing there. Good luck.
John

[jac]

Hey Tim.. Thats the kind of info I was meaning. A lot of guys that are perhaps remote from other horse workers and have no one to turn to for practical advice…myself included..could benefit from your kind of imput and save a few disillusioned horses. Thank you.
John

[jac]

Hi . I read your post with great interest.. I know this is small scale but its a start.. We have been given permission to extract firewood from a local farmers wood. We can take out the odd mature ash which I will slab up and season and all the fire wood we need. So far I have tidied up an area of 100yds x 70yds. The wood was originaly on a large estate and is a mixture of scots pine, ash, beech,silver birch and sycamore. My plan was to preserve the wood as an amenity wood and woodlot for firewood for future generations. I have brashed everything up to over head height with the view to make the wood more accessable to people wanting to walk there. The horses have done a great job and done no damage to speak of. Come late spring the bluebells are stunning and I want to preserve that. I have 50 ash whips comming on monday. I certainly dont profess to be a horse logger but know I want to improve this wood. As I said it is very small scale but if we can preserve this small corner then its a start. I look forward to reading more. cheers
John

[jac]

Hi Geoff.. Your right.. and a great book it is.. I thought it might help with the more obscure stuff like round balers and gather info from guys that use them.
john

[jac]

Latest update on the jogging gelding.. Dentist was out yesterday and what a lesson I learned.. The boy had pretty bad hooks caused by.. haynets !!!. I really should stop using equine dentists as a fire brigade service. Got them all on a 6 month check from now on. Every day a school day as they say . Cheers
John

[jac]

Hi Sabine.. What a great web site. Tons of info in there. Perhaps it should be posted on the web links page. Thank you.. I hope to visit Pferdestark in 2011 Been following it in the SFJ. Cheers
John

[jac]

Anouther crazy person here.. We visited a restored cotton mill here in Scotland and they have a wheel thats about 20 ft tall and it must be 15ft wide and when the sluice was opened that big old wheel gradualy moved but was soon up to speed. The turning power at the axle must have been very high and I could see how a generator could easily be coupled up… and all that power for just a little water because it seemed to be just a fraction of what water could be going over that was being used. It was an over shot wheel which I believe is more efficient .
John

[jac]

Hi Patrick.. Whats a bomb chute?? and come out with us for a few beers and watch the composure go west.:D

[jac]

The only learning done on that was all negative. A quite nice horse wasted and more fuel to the do gooders who want horses in harness banned. . When I think of all the ground driving I do and then you see this…Unbelievable.
John

[jac]

Hey Donn.. Great fotos and a neat job on the hitch cart. I read your bit on slack lines in SFJ, I recognised the fotof the baler, and have been trying it with my team with gradual success. .. The gelding you read about being the fly in the ointment but thanks to you guys Im getting that fixed to . Cheers
John

[jac]

Over here in Scotland we have been told that the west of Scotland, which is where I am, is to get milder and wetter !!! while down south of England is going to see droughts.. I often wonder how much of this is human damage or a natural change or a mix of both.. The Romans used to grow grapes in northern England and Scotland had mosquitos ???
John

[Author]

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