A yoke for calves

[Kevin Cunningham]

Hey y’all,
I am new to training oxen. I have a a pair of jersey holstien crossess named Tex and Joe (the price was just right for them; I traded five chickens for the three day old pair). We are bottle feeding them and training with basic commands on the halter. They get up, whoa, and back with pretty good ease, most days. Right now they are two months old, so my question is this. What size intial yoke for calves do people prefer? I will have more time to make a yoke and do more training this winter, once the crops are all in, but I wonder if it makes sense to build a 4 inch yoke or a 6 inch (bow size that is).
Thanks

[CharlyBonifaz]

I started my calves with a 4inch yoke, figured the next size could be a 6, but changed my mind, built a 5 inch because the next size seemed so awfully big; with a 5 they still need to grow to fill it, the 4 they had outgrown within 3 months, but I wanted them to practise during that time
good news: those yokes keep (I can use them again :rolleyes: )

[Baystatetom]

I have always started mine in a 6″ made from pine nice and lite. Yup it is way to big for a while, but at that point the emphasis should be on learning to walk together and turn. It doesn’t have to do more then hold them together. You can carve it out of a 4X4 from the big box store even. Look at my album on here you can see my daughters two week old jerseys in it.

[Tim Harrigan]

My calves were not ready for a 6 inch yoke until they were about 600 lbs. If you do not want to make a yoke you can just link them together by their halters or collars with a short piece of rope so they have to walk together.

[Kevin Cunningham]

It is good to know that I can use a lighter wood for the first yoke. I live in fir and redwood country, hardwoods are hard to come by, but a good straight grain peice of fir would do the trick. On that note, the most abundant hard woods in my area (far northern California, think Oregon) are madrone and tan oak. Any idea how they would be for a yoke once I need to start pulling something?

I have been tying the halters together and the nigh calf (Joe) hates it and fights and twists his head. Tex, the off calf dosen’t seem to mind. I put Joe on the near side because he is not as well behaved and I figured I could keep a better eye one him. Maybe he dosen’t like having something tug, although I try to keep the line as slack as possible, from both sides? I have the feeling it would be better if I just hurry up and get a yoke together.

[Baystatetom]

I am on my 5th team and am still playing around trying to see what works the best as far as shape and style. As far as species of tree to use, I have seen old yokes made from eastern white pine but the far majority are sugar maple, birch, or elm. These are all diffuse porous woods as opposed to ring porous. Ash, oak, walnut are all ring porous, you can see clusters of pores in the growth rings where sap flows through the tree trunk like a giant straw. Diffuse porous woods pass sap through the cell wall and don’t have open pores, this makes them stronger against splitting. Try and find a heavy diffuse porous wood. I have always leaned toward lighter yokes but as the team gets bigger the yoke gets heavier, they need to learn to keep their heads up.

[Kevin Cunningham]

So after a quick interenet search it seems like madrone will be the best available local wood I could use for a yoke. It is a diffuse porus hardwood. It is common a firewood around here because it burns hot and long. We already have two cords of it put up for the winter, but I would still like to get some oak and fir to “diversify my portfolio.” The trick with madrone is going to be getting a long straight piece of appropriate diameter. I am also worried about weight because it is so dense and heavy. Well for this first yoke I found a nice staight peice of fir that we milled this spring. This way I get to test out the design, maybe even a couple of times. I must say that this is part of the reason I am drawn to working oxen. Where I live I am going to have to teach myself about draft as there are not alot of people doing it. None that I can think of. I am enjoying the process of training the teamster while training the team.

[Baystatetom]

You found the right place, all kinds of folks here to ask. If you can’t get a big enough piece you can always laminate a few together. If you have the ability to mill wood yourself, I would do up a bunch and start letting it dry, you’ll need a new one before you know it!

[Doug]

Kevin,

I have a five inch yoke you can use if you want, my steers are just growing out of it. I sent you a pm.

Doug.

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