[Patrick]

Here’s another unusual draft animal………but these are real.
http://camelphotos.com/camel_harness.html

[Patrick]

Seperation anxiety. He’s lonely. Remember, dogs are pack animals. It’s not natural for them to be alone. Like people, they’re all different, and some have a higher tolerance for it than others.

[Patrick]

We raised the pup around poultry so there is no problem there.

Don’t be so sure. Most terriers have years of breeding behind them which has intensified the killing instinct. Anything which is within their reach is fair game. They’re very difficult to train to do anything. It’s mostly instinct, and that doesn’t differentiate between an unwanted rat and a valuable laying hen.

[Patrick]

Event cancelled due to lack of participation.

[Patrick]

That’s good to hear. Care to share the brand name?
This brings up another issue of longevity, other than for the fabric. I guess that this too will have to wait a bit longer before people who have had them for 10 or more years can determine.
What about issues with the service from the companies who you’ve purchased from? Especially for those who had them installed? Good, not so good?

[Patrick]

Thanks guys, that helps a lot. I’m familiar with greenhouses, so the issues with snow around the perimeter I’ve already taken into consideration. My two big concerns other than snow load are fabric life and wind load. As they haven’t been around all that long, and we haven’t had a hurricane hit this area since they’ve been in popular use, I guess those questions will have to wait.

Rod, I can’t imagine trying your move on a windy day!

[Patrick]

Don’t forget this. It’s open to both the novice and the experienced teamster. Should be a good time for anyone in the northeast. We might even have all the snow melted by then, but no promises.

[Patrick]

Thanks for answering.

While I do agree with everything that you wrote, Carl, there are still some very reasonable situations in which disbudding is a valid practice. I still would not have dairy goats again, without doing it, and not only for my convenience. Small herds, limited space, smaller or timid individuals all come in to play. While I wouldn’t want an ox without horns, and maybe not even be worried about it on a single cow, how many commercial dairies have the luxury to have every single hired hand who has both the sense and the knowledge to stay out of the way? While I’m fairly certain that no one has ever been killed or seriously injured by a cow’s tail, I don’t think the same can be said for horns.

[Patrick]

Probably a stupid question, but aren’t they tough on the barn and other equipment, with horns?
Way back when I had dairy goats, sure, horns were not a problem if one was sensible and learned how to handle them, and even though the animals learned to work things out, it sure was a lot easier on the facilities, and on the more timid members of the herd, if everyone was disbudded at a few days old.

[Patrick]

actually the animal in the picture was a cow not a male at all.

Yup, I got it. You’d already written that. Hence my discussion about working cows.

[Patrick]

Some of it has to do with individual preference, what exactly you plan to do with it, and how self reliant you wish to be. I’ll tell you my experience.

When I started out with 35 acres, 8 years ago, I thought that it would be more than I could ever use. It still is, in some ways, but if I were to do it over again, I’d change a few things. My land is about 10 acres cleared, old pasture, 1 acre house and lawn, landscaped, and the remainder is wooded. Without any equipment, fences or animals to start out with, to keep the pasture in check, at first I’d wondered if I’d bitten off more than I could chew. Part of that was my over eagerness to establish gardens, both vegetable and ornamental, which were more than my time and equipment would allow to care for, and they soon got ahead of me. As I’ve slowly been making improvements, I’m now wishing that I’d held out for a property which had more pasture and less wood. I’ll never use the amount of firewood in 24 acres, but then I don’t heat primarily with wood either. We do have some beautiful walking paths through our forest, and although they don’t bring any monetary value to us, or help turn livestock into meat, you can’t put a price on how much pleasure we receive from them. If I were to do it over, I’d go for at least a similar amount, but try to find something that was at least half clear and half wooded. I don’t think that there is a maximum amount. I would buy whatever I could afford, looking for a property that is set up in such a way to be able to rent out extra pasture for hay or livestock, or wooded land with good timber that could be logged and sold, until I had a use for it myself.

[Patrick]

I think you would be a fool if you were to buy a Peterbuilt if all you had use for was an S-10.

Great analogy. Thanks for the support.

[Patrick]

Howie, Drew Conroy and Tim Huppe are the only guys that I’ve run across who would actually dare to come out in public to suggest such a radical thing as a single, or, heaven forbid, something as girly as a cow to use for work, pun intended. There may be others, and apologies if you’re out there, but I’ve just not run across you yet.

Actually, it is probably more traditional than many care to realize, as back in the day, they’d use whatever they had to pull what needed pulling. I do know that when I first started asking around at my local fairs, and even at Fryburg of all places, I was greeted with laughter and even hostility a few times, when I had the temerity to ask about something as foolish as working a single. Lucky for me, it hadn’t even occured to me yet to even think about stooping so low as to ask about using a single, female.

[Patrick]

This should be helpful to you too.

http://www.remickmuseum.org/begin%20oxen%20web%202008.pdf

[Patrick]

Good question. I’d like to hear the answer too.

I’m guessing that you’d want solid shafts on the cart, instead of traces, attached to the yoke. Horns would prevent forward movement of the yoke, just like in a team. Shafts would also prevent turning of the yoke, eliminating the need for even a breeching, yes?

[Author]

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