[Roscoe]

Thank you guys for the quick answer!
Are there any other (farmed) animals who eat brush and are not that hard on fences?
Do you keep hogs and goats all year round in the bush? What’s better to start, with (a) pregnant sow(s) or with weaned pigs?

[Roscoe]

I know a guy he is a knifemaker by trade, he makes the power for his shop with a self made wood gasification generator. He spends about 7 hour a week for cutting wood in 3″ chunks and for maintenance, mainly cleaning filters.

[Roscoe]

The only type of bells used in Nova Scotia is made out of plated sheetmetal? For oxen as well as for cows, what about horses?
I grew up in Switzerland, where different types of bells are used for all kind of livestock.

http://www.swissbells.com

[Roscoe]

What is the different between ox and cow bells? Size, shape or the material?

[Roscoe]

Why bother with electricity? Here they burn coal to produce power, so it is not greener to run an electric then a gas / diesel motor!
And the batteries are not enviromental friendly either.

[Roscoe]

Sickle Hocks, thanks for posting this link!
I found an other interesting link about rein setting:
http://www.drivingessentials.com/lp_rein_settings.php

[Roscoe]

It’s hard for me to explain that in english, but I will give a try…
Jointed and non jointed bits give different signals to the mouth. As long the reins are in the top ring by a jointed bit with shanks, it works like a snaffle bit, and that’s fine. But when you put the reins in lower slot, there is a lot of torque in the horse mouth, and the horse gets a strange and (depends how hard you pull) torturing signal.
The design of the part that is in the mouth (straight, curved, port, wire, copper, rubber, jointed) depends of the horse.
The design of outside(ring, Liverpool, Butterfly Buxton) depends on the style of the harness (work, show, driving).
If you run a show hitch, and you have a horse that better works with a jointed bit, thats the case when you use a jointed Liverpool or Buxton, but then the reins belong to the ring.

[Roscoe]

I like the Liverpool, if you have the reins in the ring, you have a very soft bit, even softer then a snaffle bit, if you need more control, you put the reins in the first or second slot. Specially if you drive with more then one horse, you can make the settings for each horse individually. By the team of my four-in-hand mentor, one horse had the reins in the ring, two in the first slot, and one in the second.

If you’re going to buy bits with shanks (Liverpool, Buxton, Ellbow, Butterfly), dont buy any jointed ones.

[Roscoe]

I will use the sled mainly for light transport and perhaps a odd time hauling some firewood. It’s no need to build a heavy duty sled for my light horse.
I went through lots of old treads, learned a lot, but have still some questions: what are moccasin runners? Is the iron lot smaller then the runner itself? Let’s say runners 4″ and the steelband only 1″ wide?
How far above ground is the pivoting point of the roll?

[Roscoe]

Have your sleds any kind of brakes (scraper, bridle chain)? Or do the Horses all the braking? in my case it is not a big issue, its pretty flat here. My kids even have a hard time to find a decent slope for tobbogganing.
How far apart would you build the runners, 40″ or 48″? It’s for a single light horse, probably next winter light horse/steer team…

[Roscoe]

Thanks for the reply, how about backing up with a cross chain setup? Is this sled not easy to tip over in thight turns?

[Roscoe]

http://www.aaronmartin.com/images/catalogue/product/461.jpg Are you looking for something like this?

[Roscoe]

I know a guy, knifemaker by trade, he produces power and heat for his shop with a self made unit. It really works fine, but he is spending a lot of time changing/ cleaning filters und cutting wood in 2″ cubes.

[Roscoe]

Life would be so boring, if everything is going smooth…

[Roscoe]

I thought about using a neckyoke, the kind it’s common for horses, for carrying the pole und backing up. Since horses and oxen do not have their neck on the same height, I thought about making the yoke kind of offset. Would be for a smaller forcart, so not much weight to carry.
In Switzerland, lots of the farmer used to be in the army reserve, they had their service horse at home and used them for work. If they were in need for more power, they used a cow as well. But there was only wagons common with a supported pole.

http://epsomhistory.com/epsom/scrapbooks/index.php?display=gilknowles/Albert Sanders Ox team 1910.jpg
That’s the kind of yoke I’m talking about.

[Author]

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