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Joshua Kingsley
Participant@Marshall 25125 wrote:
I was thinking of writing mine off, but most everything was purchased a few years ago so I don’t know if it is too late or not.
you can do a transition aquisition that makes a “hobby” purchess into a farm asset. you will just have to estimate the value at the transition.
JoshuaParticipantWell the wood lot is looking in better shape all the time. The houses are warm and the horses have been doing a good job brining in the wood.
Dad was helping with the horses a week ago and he kinda gavve me an ultimatium. Charlie my gelding that matched my bigger mare had to go. After a year of trying every trick I know to get him relaxed when working he just wasn’t calming down to the point that dad was comfortable with him here. Seeing as he owns the farm and I lease a secton of it for my horses and projects he has some sway over what I am able to have for horses.
Charlie had been good in the wood lot and on some equipment but had some real issues on other things. One was shoeing, he would let me trim him and maintain a barefoot hoof well but shoes would involve a horse that was in the air and striking or kicking out and bucking on the rear. He put me in the manger on a couple of occasions after working when it was feeding time and some other things. He had an old injury form an incident with my EX.. and so on.
To keep the peace I decided to move him on, well more like I was told that he goes or they all are going… So last Saturday he went to a fellow that was looking for a up on the bit driving horse.
Now I am at a loss as that split my main team.
Natya hasn’t been worked much in the last few months and is really getting big carrying a foal, and the only other mare I have is my bigger Mare Sunny. Sunny out weighs Natya by over a hundred pounds ( usually not a big deal till you figure that they only weigh 745 and 875) and is really a great worker, moves out and loves to pull and Natya is 16 and always a step or two behind. So now I have horses here but one is too young as he is going to be 1 in may and the other ones don’t pair up well.
So I am trying to do the best I can working single horses and then pairing up when I really need to but the best thing would be to find Sunny another mate…Sorry for the ramble
JoshuaParticipant@Mark Cowdrey 24947 wrote:
SL,
Chain up the fronts of the runners to what? That’s what I’m missing.:confused:
Markmark,
I would run a semi loose chain from the front loop on the runner to the bottom of the forecart. That would limit how far the runner could tip forward and eliminate the ski from flipping on the axle. That is my take on the whole thing.
JoshuaParticipant@Mark Cowdrey 24706 wrote:
Joshua,
Was that recently? I don’t suppose those were “corrected known issues”?
Thanks,
MarkMark,
I used them mostly from 2006 to summer of 2008 so they may have fixed the issues. my local shop says they are still the biggest ones that come back for repairs as I was asking about them the other day. For my situation he reccomended a bigger saw than that. The 455 Rancher that I have now has been a really good saw but is not a commercial saw. Between the two houses we cut over 20 cord of wood a year so he was recommending I fix up my 365XP or step up to a 372XP. Don’t know if that really helps much…
JoshuaParticipantI used a 359 a lot when I was working as a tree climber and such. they have some issues that should be brought to light as the oilers frequently quit on them and they don’t seem to start as easy as they should. I have had more issues with that one model than any other saw that Husky makes. When I spoke to my local saw shop they said that the 359 has been thier biggest headache. just my personal experiance
Joshua
ParticipantAs per our disscussion I was able to get some homemade pulling shoes on one horse yesterday and then tried to get them on the gelding… He won’t have any part of it he rears and fights. What a battle, I got shoes on him once before with the help of a friend who is a farrier. I may have to bring him back in to get these set on him. The shoes are a size 1 and I could not find any stock pulling shoes anywhere so I used 1/2 inch square stock and 3/4X3/16 bar stock to make them up. They seem to be working well on the mare so far, she sure does tear up the hard pack now so that should help with the grip issue. I will try her normal partner in the A.M. with some shoes and if all else fails I will put shoes on my other mare who is almost 100# lighter. Thanks for all the help.
JoshuaParticipant@TaylorJohnson 24375 wrote:
Man Joshua I would love to see that team work , it sounds like you hit the jack pot with them. I think that is a good amount of wood to be getting out. Can you post some pics of them . Thanks in advance ,,, a video would be great. I know I have thought about having a smaller team of horses ( I was thinking Fjords ) to work with and also ride. I have seen some good Halflingers but have never owned any but I would love to work a good pair sometime. Taylor Johnson
Taylor,
I’ll try to get some video and pics up of them in the near future. it has been a little cold for Cassie to come out with the kids and shoot video for me. The other day we were going to only to find that we left every camera including our cell phones at the house. They are a good team not matched for color as the gelding is a light chestnut and the mare is red but they will work that is for sure.
JoshuaParticipantWell they were ready to get going today with out a problem with the work the gelding is settling in and the team is relaxing with the work. I messed up and put a skid trail through a wet hole… WOOPS! Guess I need to rethink how I am going to get those bass wood logs out :rolleyes: I am thinking it will involve lots of chain while I stay on the hard skid road. The horses can still go where we started to break through but it is hard on them. On a good day lately we are getting out around 2 or 3 cord of mixed hard wood for fire wood. That was needed to be cut in order to clear some trails. It looks like this new snow might cause a few issues but we will get through it.
joshuaParticipantThanks all,
my current team is a pair of Haflingers that are about 850 to 900 pounds each and are about 14 hands, I am finding that they can handle a bunch of wood and still want to go but I am wondering if I am over working as they seem like they don’t know what quit is. I had them on some fair sized stuff 150 BF hard wood on saturday and they are still acting like they want to go go go…. The more I work them the harder they will pull, on the flip side I feel that they are getting more work than a team this size should be doing. The gelding will work up to a sweat in short order but he tends to be a “hotter” horse. Breathing rates seem good, so it could just be me when it comes to thinking I need a bigger team. My dad says this team will drop dead on me before they will give up.Joshua
ParticipantHere in the rutland area we have another option and that is there is a fellow that will come to the farm and get the beef or pork to hanging that is state inspected and then he has a small reefer that he transports to a local slaughter house that will cut for retail sale, the deal is that the meat can only be sold in state because it is not Fed inspected but is state…
This has worked well for our farm for personal use because the animals are killed where they have grown and there is no added shipping stress. The cost is minimal compared to some places that process and I am happy that with this situation I can if I want deliver the final blow in a manner that I feel is right.
JoshuaParticipant@Does’ Leap 23949 wrote:
To hop on Mark’s question, I have been thinking along the same lines – a snatch block and cable would be handy. I have a hemlock hung up as I write that I couldn’t get down with the horses.
I looked up the specs on Amsteel Blue and found the 1/4″ rope has a 7,700 lb capacity while the 3/16″ has a 4,900 lb capacity. Can I assume the 4,900 is sufficient or should I go to the 1/4″ or greater?
Thanks.
George
I would go with a minimum of 1/2 inch and prefer to use 5/8 because the torque on knots can be the weakest point. I have used all kinds of ropes for tree work while being a utility line climber for 2 years prior to 08. on the right of ways we would often use a winch and a rope to assist in tree felling if there was any dbout about where the tree would go. when working to pull out trucks we have often broken a single 1/2 inch line. so that is why I would go a minimum of 1/2 inch just my .02
joshuaParticipantWell, it all depends on the horse. My old Randy horse that passed feb 25th of last year worked up till 08 and he was about 30 then. I had him in the woods in May and then I got hurt in June, my dad swears that if I had kept him going and I was able too he would still be alive today. He loved to work and it is hard to know if he would have stroked if he had been working or not but I do know that it was easier to keep him in shape and in a good weight when we were working every day. Once he was in retirement he would run laps in the pasture out of bordom and he got thin on me. He was a great horse and I have often considered working horses till they showed me that they were ready to work less.
Participant@Rod 23266 wrote:
No longer looking at least I don’t think so. I brought in a new mule last night. She is the same size as Jenny and 9 years old, a Belgian mule for Amish background. She is just settling in and seems fine but I will need to get to know her and work with her a while before I say she stays. Bird is her name and she has a driving/working background but also rides. She chewed up two lead ropes on the way here so that is the first challenge I need to deal with, any suggestions?
I know of a mule that is in need of a home if you would be interested. He is about 16 and has worked in the past. It is somthing to keep in mind if the one you have now dosn’t work out.
joshuaParticipant@Farrier 23128 wrote:
Merry Christmas to ya’ll and a happy new year
same to you and everyone else out there.
Wishing everyone a grand and prosperous new yearParticipantget that little bugger, best of luck on the hunt and may you nail him to the wall of the smoker in the end.
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