[Vicki]

My book says injectable ivermectin for mange mites, also for scabies mites. Beginning between legs and going where hair is thin sounds like pattern for mange mites. Whether lice or mites, treat all the animals in contact and clean brushes, combs, etc. and isolate from other cattle until treated.

[Vicki]

Rod! Poignant! Thanks. You have many diverse talents.

[Vicki]

When you get one from NS, let us know how the whipstock is contructed. Twisted wood, leather covered?

[Vicki]

They make them. A heritage skill for sure. The ones you see in the “praise” book are used by the head yokers who drive from in front. Those have pretty short stock with longer lash.
The ones Ray makes are longer whipstock and used when driving from the side, developed for when carting on roads. I made one under Ray’s tutelage, and it’s no small accomplishment. Ray sometimes has some to sell, but they often sell out in spring as 4H season gets going.

Comment/Opinion:
I’ve heard people say a lash is not best for beginners and I agree. It is a skill to place that lash end where it needs to go, with only the appropriate force– a skill I haven’t mastered. Beginners generally do better with a goad: a flexible stick that can be controlled more easily and precisely. It takes time until your body movements that cue your team become second nature, and if you tend at all like I did to be quick and over-reactive, a lash flying around can upset you and and them. Also it’s too easy to get a lash in the ox’s eye, which one young girl I know, who even while a great ox trainer, did too often so she switched to using a goad for basic training.
Howie uses a lash, and knows how to. I prefer a goad, because I am usually on narrow woods trails, and my oxen are short so I can reach where I need. I use the lash in public sometimes for looks, and I used a lash with my 6′ tall team because I couldn’t otherwise reach the off ox.
When your oxen know your moves and respect you, you don’t often have to make contact with the goad or lash; the way you move it cues them.

[Vicki]

I believe I remember Howie advising me to snug up the bows, then let them down only until they don’t cough. Most newbies leave the bows too low. I did at first. I got barked at too for having collars on while yoked the first time Howie saw my calves.

The steers look good on your cart.

[Vicki]

Yes, show us a pic as Carl suggested. Howie will be a great help.
Glad you are out there using them!

[Vicki]

A great story, Rod. You gotta love a calm pair of oxen. Their driving ambition is just to find the best nearby thing to eat.

This has enhanced your relationship with them!

Let the incident remind us all to death-proof our properties as much as possible: lock up all grain and feed concentrates and chemicals and fertilizers with cattle-proof latches on the feedbox, cans, doors. On the family cow site, there seems almost weekly a sad incident of a dead or nearly dead cow from having gotten into the grain.

[Vicki]

It sounds like you and Lucky are off to a great start! And you got the right idea: use only the amount of “rod” needed to get compliance. Have fun!

[Vicki]

Rod, you’ve gotten good advice already. I’d add only that you evaluate wether they seem nervous or fearful about the change or not. If not, as is likely, do yoke them and hitch them light real soon. If you worry about possible runaway, can you keep them inside a fenced pasture at first while evaluating their respect for you and/or the goad?

If they do seem fearful, take some time to get them used to you by grooming and yoking, even if you only yoke them to leave them standing or tied awhile. Then run them through a drill of basic commands. It’s like test driving a sportscar to see how it handles.

In either case, establish a routine for feeding, grooming, yoking right away.

Have fun!

[Vicki]

A young man I knew made rope with his on a simple rope twister that his father had built, then made simple “disposable” rope halters.

My trick: to get carrot seed to sprout, cover the seeding with old burlap sack cloth or other porous old fabric. The cloth holds moisture, keeps the surface from crusting, and keeps the seeds in place during spring downpours. When the seedlings poke through, gently lift the cloth.

[Vicki]

Howie that’s an offer I can’t refuse! I will have to pass on the calves though. We’re going to the auction of Dale’s collection in Arcanum this weekend. Later in April we’ll try to come over. Haven’t seen you or Betty in ages and we miss you.

[Vicki]

When placid oxen are resting and ruminating in a lying position, it is often possible to at least file the hooves without provoking them to get up. Mine did this especially when younger when I handled their feet more frequently.

I used to trim quickly by lifted my steers’ feet, but they grew too heavy for me to be leaned on. Oxen can’t balance on three legs, and lean their weight on you. I have tied mine short, then lifted the foot by a rope thrown over a beam, and after he quit thrashing and got balanced, was able to trim.

You can trim a hoof or shoe after casting an ox with a rope. The rope puts pressure on a nerve and so temporarily “paralyzes” the ox. It takes one guy to pull on the rope, and sometimes another to hold the head down, so not a one man job. It’s how it was done on the Oregon trail. I’ll post a pic of this in the gallery.

See an ox being cast in the video “OXen for Work and Fun” by Rural Heritage filmed at the ’05 MODA Gathering.

[Vicki]

See Bill Speiden drive from behind while sitting on a straw bale on a stoneboat, using lines attached to his oxen’s halters. http://www.modaox.us, go to Gathering 2008, pics 12 and 13.

See Ray Ludwig plowing while seated on a sulky plow with a long lash in hand in his booklet “Pride and Joy of Working Cattle.”

[Vicki]

Where are they?

[Vicki]

My previous comment was for bugman. For bivol: no, I have not used nose rings to train cattle, but I know people in the USA who have.

FarmerFred: As far as furor, some animal activists are outraged that my cattle wear a yoke; I would not even want to appear in public in the USA with a cattle controlled by a ring in its nose.

[Author]

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