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Stephen Leslie
ParticipantParticipantMore G-Haw pics
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You must be logged in to view attached files.ParticipantHi Walt, I will upload a few of the pics of the G-Haw you sent me—soon to appear in “Horse-Powered Farming for the 21st Century”—to be released by Chelsea Green in December.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.ParticipantHello Richard, Exciting to hear about this new adventure you and your family have begun! Sounds like you have a good plan to get started—go slow and easy—best not to rush yourself, or most especially the horses. We market garden with Fjords in Vermont (4 acres) plus a small dairy. Happy to be a resource if there is any way we can help.
-StephenParticipantSo glad to hear no one got hurt, Ed. What a great tribute to you and the quality time you’ve spent that your horses listened and responded to your voice in that situation—makes all the difference. Always something new to learn. My own progression has been towards stripping down the harness to keep it as simple as possible. Horses I have now will stop and wait for me to “fix things” when they get hung up (they discover a thousand different ways to get hung up)—but a situation like that can go all wrong real fast with younger/less experienced animals so fool-proofing your harness and hitch is smart preventive medicine.
StephenParticipantThanks Jeroen—got your updated info on the Neo-Bucher into my manuscript of “Horse-Powered Farming in the 21st Century” one day before my submission deadline!
ParticipantWhen I was in your situation of having it be my first experience of trying to hitch a green horse with a somewhat more experienced horse I drove them first several times together over several days in a round pen (just towing a tire to put a little tension on the double tree) before going out into the field. Both horses had been worked previously single driving in the round pen—-so it was a “safe” environment for all of us. Also agree that fastening harness to harness from the breeching with something as simple as some braided baling twine and a couple of clips to keep them spreading apart can save you a world of trouble. Lastly, if at all possible have an experienced assistant on hand to help out if you get in a jam.
Stay safe and best of luck!ParticipantJay, been thinking about you a lot since I first read this post a few days ago. So much wisdom and compassion in the responses here—not much I can add. Some folks might remember an article I wrote for SFJ a few years ago called a “History of Wrecks” in which I outlined an incident in 1998 where my inexperience and impatience got me into a wreck that nearly got my wife killed (horses were miraculously unharmed). Took me years to get over that, in retrospect I can see that I actually suffered from PTSD for awhile. But just like you, I was driving horses again that same week—and now I am so glad we didn’t give up on the dream. Hang in there, man—our horses often know the intention in our hearts better than we do—I am confident you are forgiven by that good one you lost and the good one you still have.
ParticipantMeant to add—photo is from Wysmykal Farm in Nova Scotia
ParticipantHello Mike,
I wasn’t familiar with the Meeker Harrow you referred to so I went and looked it up.
I found a great old (1901) reference book called “The Garden Book for Practical Farmers” by Tuisco Greiner—which is available for free as an ebook on Googlebooks site. The book describes the harrow and has one drawing.
I also came across a company that might have the discs; “Wengers of Myerstown” in PA, tel. 1-800-451-5240
Thanks for bringing this tool to our attention. It really seems like the forerunner to today’s cultimulchers.
Best of luck,
Stephen
PS) posting a picture of a modified Meeker for shaping bedsAttachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.ParticipantGreat, Anthony, glad you got to see the All-In-One in action—apologies for not recognizing you (remember meeting you at Jay and Janet’s 2011 gathering).
I have been thinking a lot about trying to find a share from a defunct single-horse plow to mount on the same bar stock that Ann Siri uses on the All-In-One. Also, I would like to see if a small disc attachment could be fabricated. We sometimes end up with one or two beds in a quarter acre section that need to be renovated before the rest and it would be cool to have an appropriately-scaled tool for getting into these smaller sections. Joel and Annalisa Miller have a good article in the most recent SFJ about tillage radish in which they show a couple of the homemade attachments they have built for the Homesteader. I think Pioneer sells the basic stock for their attachments that you can then use for improvisation—probably Ann would do the same.
StephenParticipantAnthony, We did end up bringing the Anny’s All-In-One to the gathering. We have one at our place—Cedar Mountain Farm in Hartland, Vt. You are welcome to come up for a visit and check it out. We haven’t used it much because we already had other tools and systems working well when we got it—but doing the demos at the gathering I was definitely getting some inklings of its possibilities for managing smaller acreage with one or two horses.
-StephenParticipantWe have found Leon Brubaker to be a reliable source for hard to find parts of all HD sorts of equipment. 2150 Chapman Hollow Road, Port Trevorton, PA 17864 (212)-696-6410
ParticipantWe used to night graze but our Fjords got too fat with that much access to pasture. Several years ago we switched to allowing them to graze for 2-3 hours in the middle of the day. They get fed 1st cut hay in the morning and evening (5lbs each total for the day), and 1 1/2 lbs each of grain with supplements (divided into am & pm feedings). We created two acres of grazing pasture for four Fjords that is close to the barns for ease of getting them out and in. The temporary fence is moved every three or four days. Paddocks are small, so the rotation takes 35 or more days, which theoretically exceeds parasite reproduction cycles. We clip the pasture once a year (usually in July) to knock down rank growth. This schedule allows the horses to work as early in the morning as we can get going and also in the relative cool of late afternoon. The only real downside I can think of is having to harness up again in the afternoon (rather than being in tie-stalls with harness on during mid-day as on many draft horse farms). In the winter the grazing session is replaced with a third feeding of hay.
ParticipantFollowing mlelgr’s excellent advice we took out three on the Grimm tedder today. We switched out our hothead old mare and put a 6 year old in the left slot. Everything went very well, we worked for an hour and forty-five minutes and got the field tedded and the horses found a comfort level with the new hitch. Only problem is the young mare still tends to hang back a bit–but she is slowly getting better about this—a late bloomer, I think. Thanks to all for help with this thread—a great example of the practical utility and community spirit of this forum!
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