[Kevin Cunningham]

@Billy Foster 33813 wrote:

Work harder than anyone you know

I like this part. And remember that work is not a four letter word. It can be hard, troublesome, tedious, unappreciated, and undervalued, but work that is enjoyed is not a curse.

[Kevin Cunningham]

Well he seems better today. He was limping on it yesterday but now it is barely visible. I think he will be fine as well, but I thought I would get some opinions from people who know working animals. The wound does appear to be draining from the bottom of the cut and since it is raining like crazy it should keep it washed down. He just went back to the pasture with the others and is getting along well enough. I am giving 10 ml of Pen One Pro (penecillin), for infection.

I am still haltering them up and walking between pastures. I’m taking the time to work on starts and stops and walking solo, I would like to work them separately in the future. I’ll try the yoke next week and see how it goes. I missed having them haul the hay and chicken feed out tonight. They are already sparring me a lot of labour. Thanks everyone for the reassurance.

[Kevin Cunningham]

With my minimal experience I agree that oxen could get bored with the repetition or training. Walking around in circles is not as exciting for them as going to new parts of the farm or pulling something different. Exciting isn’t always a good thing, for us, but it keeps it mixed up. There is also a sense of accomplishment from the teamster when “getting stuff done” and I think the animal senses that and feeds off that energy. It must be nice to finally be breaking ground.

[Kevin Cunningham]

DAP is where I go, because I lack good mentors and teachers of Draft Animal Power in my local area. Every book or resource I have ever read on horses or oxen recommends finding a good mentor to help you learn how to work animals. In some ways DAP is inadequate compared to a live mentor and in some ways it is superior because of the scope of knowledge and being able to have multiple conversations with multiple people. I am extremely grateful for the ability to access a group of knowledgeable teamsters from the comfort of my rocking chair at all hours of the day. We live in a good time for the distribution of knowledge. Why do I say all this because, mentors are not supposed to “like” everything you do. Friends are good for “liking” but often a mentor will tell you the truth and it is sometimes hard to take the truth. It probably is hard for some people to speak up on this forum and I know I just read posts for a long while till I spoke up. For those who do it is very rewarding in my opinion. Facebook has its place, but it will never supplant the sharing on this forum.

[Kevin Cunningham]

I use both this site and an oxen related facebook page almost daily. I come here first and then if I have time I go to the facebook page to see photos or other less detailed information. I don’t think I will look up DAP on facebook because this is a more important forum for information for me. I use facebook and our farm definitely benefits from it but I always feel like I am wasting my time there. Here I learn something every single day. There is a place for both in the world of information.

[Kevin Cunningham]

Tom,

That is a nice looking piece. I like the stakes that pull out and I now get how you use them for ramps, with the angled bit on top. Everything looks well constructed. You mentioned that you wish the bunk was a bit too far back. After using it fir a while now how do you feel about the placement?

[Kevin Cunningham]

“A man can not train oxen properly until he has first trained himself in the ways of patience, perseverance, and quietness.” -from “Trial of Working Oxen” front page article in The American Agriculturalist, December 1871, Vol. 30 #12. (stolen from the Tillers website)

[Kevin Cunningham]

It could be that my bovine anatomy is not what it should be and what I am seeing is also the triceps. It is hard to tell the definition of the muscle groups on the cattle, but what I am noticing is a bulge happening at the top of the leg and I visibly see it working when they pull.

[Kevin Cunningham]

I read this post a while back and have been thinking about it as I am working the boys recently. I am trying to see if there is any noticable change in muscle tone and size. My training regime has been steadily increasing the weight they can pull and I am noticing they are getting stronger. They can easily pull loads they were not capable off just a short time ago. The one muscle that I can see popping up and looking bigger and more defined is the deltoid. I just noticed it yesterday on my near steer bulging out and obiviously working hard on a pull. It is definately taking on more definintion. Plus the trapezious is obviously larger when you compare it to the steers of the same age that don’t do any work. They kinda look a little bit like thick necked football players. I agree that the triceps seem to do alot of work but I they are not popping up like the deltoids are. As far as smoothness is concerned I notice that they seems to pull real smooth when the gait is in unison. Meaning they are stepping with the same leg in time. If the step is opposite left and right together or if it is a half or another faction off that would mean a bit of rocking in the yoke. This could account for some surging through the chain. So is it possible to train them to step in time, like dancers or soldiers would?

[Kevin Cunningham]

Yeterday, when I went out to work the boys I too noticed that their heads were a bit low as well. I am still using the 5 inch yoke that I made with PVC bows. Well, I had recently dropped the bows down a bit by taking out a spacer, because I just assumed that since they were growing that they would need more room. So based on the conversation I put the spacers back in and raised the bows back up the the height they started with. This pretty much eliminated the low head problem. I guess my boys are finally just now starting to grow into the yoke. When I look at pictures of larger pulling animals I notice how the bows seem to almost pinch the dewlap of a mature ox because they are higher than I would think comfortable. This is the kinda mistake thing that is so simple; a half inch on the bows that makes a huge difference on the pull.

[Kevin Cunningham]

That is a great set of videos, your teams are well trained. With the double set they just seem to be walking along in that furrow casually. I’d love to see how a multiple team rig like that handles the turns. How much headlands do you need to turn them around in? Seeing your spring in Georgia make me itch for plowing time up here, I can’t wait to smell fresh soil.

[Kevin Cunningham]

This is a great conversation to ease drop in on. Tim the advice you give make a lot of sense to me when I am working with my steers who are considerably younger than Andy’s. What I am finding very interesting is the type of training and adjustment when working an older already established team. Or rather a pair. I am enamored with the concept of a the team being three not just two. This type of relationship style of driving is what makes me so excited about driving oxen (or any other animals). It is the type of thing that forces me into being a better trainer and a better person, to take it to another level. Certainly in a perfect world I would always have, my training plan in place and, I would adhere to the fixed goals, we would work to accomplish the goal, and end on a good note. But often I am in certain situations where the many variable are not fixed. I am tired, the wind isn’t right, I am in the far end of the field, the stars are not aligned, who knows? when the training is not going the way it should. It is these situations that I have to buckle down and stay focused and not let my emotions or my mind get away from me. These hard places make me be a better person because they make it so that I have to control my anger or frustration, or stay hyper aware to help assure my steers fear of something that I don’t get. I have seen glimmers of this concept that I find so incredibly transformative.

“So the whip or goad (or feather duster) is really just an extension of your arm, which is an extension of your own state of mind.”

[Kevin Cunningham]

I have used linseed oil on tool handles and the like but the problem is that is never fully penetrates. That is why commercial linseed oil has dryers that can be a bit toxic, relatively. I just oiled a post and beam structure with a newish product from Penofin, called Verde. It is their “green” alternative. It is mostly rosewood nut oil, I think. Something about the composition of the oil makes it really penatrate and last. The nice thing about this stuff is it actually has a label that states that there are no ingredients know to cause cancer. When you live in California and the state has determined that just about anything can give you cancer and they post it everywhere, that is refreshing. I know you know what I am talking about because the influence of CA is everywhere. It was nice to not have to deal with a toxic substance.

On a personal note I am attracted to draft as an alternative to tractor power mainly because I am tired of dealing with so much oil, hydraulic fluid, lithium grease, and diesel. Before you label me as California hippy, you should know that I do most of my own tractor work and maintence myself and I am certainly not as afraid of the world as CA would have me be. But still for my own health and the health of the planet I want to make logical deciesons that move us away from the use of oil. I think the best use for used oil is to recycle it and not spread it out any more than needed.

Maybe Brazillian Rosewood nut oil is not the most “sustainable” choice either if you factor in transport distance and time, but I know I am along way from pressing and boiling my own flax oil for a wood treating oil. Although, I just did plant a 1/4 acre of flax, who knows. I used it because it was easy, had desirable results, and I knew that it wasn’t going to kill me or my workers.

Who knows, maybe the best solution is to just let it be and it will probably last just as long without any oil at all.

[Kevin Cunningham]

Good luck with the Kids! We just had three sets of triplets, the most we have ever had. 40 is a lot of hungry mouths, but they all look good and a strong. Congratulations.

[Kevin Cunningham]

So, I just got my newsletter yesterday as well. What does that mean that it takes as long to get to California as it does to get to Scotland!

I enjoyed it last night by the fire with a cup of tea, quite nice. Thanks for all the hard work that goes into DAPnet.

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