2nd day, what a difference!

[Andy Carson]

2nd day working my new team of oxen. They were a little naughty yesterday, but wow, what a difference today! I caught them while they are eating and led them out fine, and they stood while I groomed and yoked. I did give them some oats while they were getting hitched. No big deal… Then we were off with the empty stoneboat again. They pulled it pretty steady for about 45-60 minutes today, which I was happy with. My new-found knowledge of respiration rates helped little, though, as the fast breathing only took a few more minutes to get to than the “common sense” “they look tired” observation that I was making before. I slowed down my pace alot from my normal horse type walk and I think this helped with their endurance too. One got his leg over the chain once during that time, but other than that I have no complaints. Good job boys! 😀

[dominiquer60]

Nothing like slow steady work to sharpen up any team. My boys are in for a surprise when I get home, if Carl left any firewood in the lot :), but certainly when we start with garden work.

[Andy Carson]

3rd day: I was intending to make this a light day to show them work didn’t always have to be so hard, but it turned out longer anyway. They were spunky and misbehaved early on, and I felt like I should work them until they are cooperative and quiet again. They are really learning to lower thier heads when they pull. It seems like I would get poked in the belly with thier horns, not the face :). My off ox seems to still be more forward, and is still in better shape. It shows too. You can feel his muscles hardening up and growing already. It is most apparent in the lats (The muscle behind the front leg – I think this is the name in cattle too) and in the traps (muscles running along the top sides of the neck – again, I think they have the same names in cattle). The hind quarters still look pretty “string beany” to me, but I think this is less important for cattle anyway. My nigh ox is still significantly softer all over. I am toying with moving the hitch point over (a simple adjustment with the yoke I am using) so I can continue to push both of them, or keeping it even so the nigh ox can catch up with the off ox and I won’t end up with a lop-sided team.

[Andy Carson]

4th day (yesterday): First real job. We picked rock out of the field with the stoneboat. The boys liked this job very much as it involved stopping fairly often for me to pick up rocks and I kept the rock load pretty light (not more than 100 lbs) before I unloaded. I have to say that oxen are wonderful for this job. As a driver, you are already on the ground in front so you can see the rocks easily, and they are so great at stopping and hanging out while you load the rocks and get back into position. You also have your hands free to pick rocks. It took a few tries for the boys to realize that when I go pick up rocks, it wasn’t a “haw” command, but they got it pretty quickly. I ended up saying “whoa” as I step towards the rear and back. Once I am a few yards away, they pretty much ignore me and wait for me to come back to them. My nigh ox was a little more forward than the off ox today, so I decided not to more the plate over. I got to reading my oxen book and noticed that the drag chain is probably 1.5 feet too long when I was using it. I will shorten it next time I go out, but that should help them pull a little more weight too. Either way, it’s mostly just conditioning at this point and as long as they are working they get a benefit in my mind.

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