[Rod]

Hi John

I found this link descripbing a Pioneer snow blade and how it works. If you go the the pioneer site you can see a picture of the blade, maybe something you could make yourself from an old snow plow blade or 3ph scraper blade. Sounds like it worked pretty good for the snow they had.
http://www.ruralheritage.com/messageboard/frontporch/9947.htm

[Rod]

Try this link for some intresting stuff on this subject
.http://prairieoxdrovers.com/collars.html

[Rod]

I never made one but have done a lot of that type of thing for other uses and find the final wood piece is usually stronger than if it were one piece. You need to use good exterior glue like Tibond yellow glue with the blue letters on the bottle. I plan to try it with my next yoke and was thinking about using white oak inside with a softer wood where most of the carving is done. I have some nice basswood in the barn attic which I may try for the outside. I also talked with a professional yoke maker who told me it works good and can make a nice strong yoke if done right.

[Rod]

Try http://www.sawmillexchange.com

[Rod]

Good poems, especially Mike and Jim. Thanks.

[Rod]

Good idea, I went to our local fire department and now have 50′ of 1.75″ hose. Anybody need any, let me know.

[Rod]

I consider myself blessed because we are fortunate enough to have a neat little farm, healthy livestock, wood to heat our home, good soils to garden and grow forage, a reliable and tasty well, a nice pond and brook running through the place. We have willing animals to help us, good neighbors, a quiet peacful existence in a beautiful spot on earth and strong healthy bodies to enjoy it all with. Some would call our “lifestyle” ( I dislike that word but use it anyway) alternate but it’s not really an alternate for everyone and likely could not be any more as we have too many people, too many lost skills and maybe even not enough land for everyone to do the same. (I think anyway.) In my opinion it’s more of a privledge than an alternate.

It seems to me that working in and relearning the old ways on the land has values for society as a whole a few of which include keeping the body of knowledge on living sustainably and close to the land with minimum impact alive and up to date and to demonstrate how it can work out for some people. And in the process aren’t we are the ones who benifit the most?

[Rod]

Hi Carl
Do you use any type of chain protector to keep the chain from rubbing the animals legs?

[Rod]

I wonder if the fire danger from spontanious combustion is a s great with loose hay as with tightly baled hay?

[Rod]

My observation on enduring communities is that the more shared values they hold in common the stronger bonds of the community. The Amish come to mind. They hold the same religeous values, a strict code of behavior and a Bible based value system and they live in close proxomity to each other. Years ago we looked at buying an Amish farm in NY state. The owners were moving because thier were only two famlies in the area and they sensed the need to be in close proximinity to other Amish to continue to exist.

It’s very hard to live a life style contrary to the excepted norm without support from like minded folks. Wheather we like to admit it or not “we are all like sheep” and naturally inclined to follow the group ways.

[Rod]

The other day it was warm enough to soften the frozen manure in my cattle yard so I cleaned it with my Bobcat. When finished as I was parking it the motor gave out. Lots of noises and blue smoke do not bode well for this machine. This has been a somewhat routine happening with this older machine which finds itself in the repair shop off and on throughout the year for one thing or anouther. As I look at my farm expenses at the end of the year I see a large amount in the machine maintaince catagory and a second big figure in the fuel department. I filled my diesel pickup truck up the other day and the cost was $94.50.
When my Bobcat died (again) my thoughts turned to my two working steers and I wondered, hmmm, could they clean my pens, or maybe there is a better more natural way of feeding my stock on pasture so as to minimize the manure buildup with associated cleanup and machine issues. Moving the hay to them is possible with the steers and they will always start on a cold morning something my diesels are often adverse to.
My machines do minimize the labor of some tasks and do others with ease but not without a cost. Rethinking the way of farming and ways to avoid the machine trap are some thoughts that I ponder frequently. No answers yet but with the way fuel costs, and machine parts and dealer labor rates are going it may just be necessary in the future to go back to the older ways, perhaps mixed with some new thinking and technology to make it work a little easier.

[Rod]

Hi Carl
Good question and is something I have thought about at length. I want to use my work animals in my wood lot and possibly for some parts of my haying and other fram chores. I have a ground driven mowing machine, a sled I built and am restoring some wagons and other stuff which have possibilities for use with the steers.
My frist consideration was to get a team of horses but after thinking it through the add on costs of shoeing, harnesses, special feed and the time required to harness and unharness thought that the steers made more sence for me. We have cows anyway so the keeping of a couple more is not much of an issue.
And my farm is a hill farm. The steers go up and down with no problems but in the process get lots of training is stopping so I can get my breath. I want to ride and have them pull me around where we have to go. I like the extra control of the lines having had a runaway experience already. The steers responded to an excited bunch of my cows on the other side of the fence who thought it would be great fun to race down the fence line parallel to the driveway where I was walking my steers. ( for a bad behavior award I made the steers back all the way down to thier barn (150′)
Anyway maby I could get them to respond to voice from the back of the wagon but the halter and lines seems so much more controlling. They already know to obey the pull on the halter and since the turns are basicly breaking one steer and goading on the other it’s easy to do with my setup. Same thing with the stoping as a pull on both halters works good as this is something they are already trained for.
I have seen some photos of steers being driven and most seem to have some sort of lines for control.
Thanks for your suggestions and observations, all this kind of feedback is helpful.

[Rod]

I guess I should have said how green I am as I just bought my steers 2 weeks ago and they are pretty well trained in the basics by a competent 4h youth. Any way I got an idea after reading the replies to my post and tried it this morning. I put 2 eyelets in the outside corners of the yoke to thread the halter lines through and yoked them up with the halters on, lines attached.
After some small frustrations I actually got the geeing and hawing and stopping by a combination of commands and pulling on the lines or sometimes by the lines only. I was supprised at how much they picked up on such a short time. As soon as I can get a helper I am going to try completely driving from behind which, I think, based on my experience this morning will be a good training method. Thanks for the responses and suggestions.

[Author]

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