Any thoughts on safety with oxen?

[CharlyBonifaz]

then come up between the team and hook to the yoke.

first of all: I’m working only with 1 ox
second: I’m still learning and have little experience
but to me it seems awfully dangerous to be standing anywhere between the animals and the load; having only one ox to hook, my procedure is different still, but that is pretty much the only area I try to avoid to be in
what’s the advantages/disadvantages of both scenarios (in between / outside)?
and how do you get out from in between if anything goes wrong?

[Carl Russell]

About the need to cut off a yoke, I worked my cattle for nearly ten years almost exclusively in the woods, on all types of terrain with carts, sleds, and loose, and found them to be very sure footed. The only time they ever went down was on the landing, when the off ox, stretching to get a mouthful of raspberry, pushed the nigh ox against a tree, causing him to fall over the pole. When i turned around I saw one ox standing, and the other one stangling between the yoke and the pole while his entire 2500 lbs was laying on the pole. I was able to just tap out the bow pin completely releasing the pressure. I think the design lends itself quite well to emergency extraction.
Anyway I got the yoke off both of them, gave the off ox the raspberries, had to work to convince the nigh one he wasn’t still dying, got him to his feet, showed him the raspberries, got the yoke un-hitched from the cart, stood the cattle, yoked them, re-hitched, and went back to work.

As far as hitching i always hitch the same way. Back Gee or back Haw over the pole, lift the pole into the ring, back them into the load, and take the chain back to hitch to the hook. This way I am only reaching in front of the load from a position that I can retreat from easily, although I never have had to.

Carl

[Tim Harrigan]

I have a slightly different procedure when hitching to something with a pole. Have them step over and line up on the pole, have the near ox step out, step in between and set the pole in the ring, set the chain in the calabash ring, ask the team to ease back and tighten the ring and pole stop, hook the chain on the implement end of the pole and step out. I have never had a problem, but if you have a young team or a team you do not know very it well might be best to have someone hold the team from in front just to be safe. Particularly with the first time with a new implement or in a more hectic environment such as I mentioned earlier.

[Nat(wasIxy)]

I never considered training them to stop when I fall – very good idea though and one I will try…

I wear sturdy footwear mostly with steel toe caps (although not for riding, naughty I know but i find big heavy boots a bit of a burden up there, trainers are like slippers and i can move about like a monkey much better :D) although when I have been trodden on they manage never to get the toes :rolleyes:

I keep my mobile phone in my pocket so if i do fall and can’t get up i can still reach it…

[Tim Harrigan]

what’s the advantages/disadvantages of both scenarios (in between / outside)? and how do you get out from in between if anything goes wrong?

Elke:
The advantage of both is that you get hooked up to the load. The disadvantage with both is that you are vulnerable when you are standing either directly in front of the team or in between them and in front of the load. But you do not have many options. When in front you are likely be facing the team. If they happened to bolt you could get run over. There is a chance you could grab the yoke and hang on. Good luck with that. On the other hand, just being in front will deter most teams from jumping in to you. But it is a possibility if they bolt because bolting is a reflexive response and they are not going to consider the pros and cons for very long.

You pretty much need to get in between the animals and in front of the load to hitch a load with a pole. The disadvantage there is if the team bolts you are again in a bad place. Perhaps you could grab on to the pole or chain and hold on but the chance of coming out of that in good shape seem remote as well.

My experience is that if something happens that causes a team to bolt it will happen so fast that you will either be in big trouble or will be left standing there asking yourself “What the…?” The key to staying safe is to learn to recognize the danger zones and be very aware of the environment. If you are going to have a problem it is not going to materialize out of thin air but it could happen fast. You can’t eliminate all elements of danger when working with animals this big and powerful.

[Carl Russell]

I will just add that in comparison, I much prefer to be facing the animals to pick up and place the pole. The likelihood that the animals bolt toward a human facing them is much much less than with a person approaching them from behind, and in between them.

Furthermore by standing in front you merely need to step back a few steps to the side to let the bolting animals go by, and when in between you are stuck directly in front of the load if they move while hitched to it.

Hitching the chain to the load by stepping in behind the cattle has a couple of advantages. The animals are not hooked to the load while you are standing in front of it until you hook them, at which point you only have one step back out of the way, and if they should bolt when you step behind them, the pole will drop and they are free to move without the load attached.

In a similar way, I always use a choker chain for logging. I stop the cattle facing the log, attach the choker, then turn them around, and take the draw chain back with me to hook to the choker. This way I am not fooling around with trying to wrap the chain around a log with the animals connected, my draw chain is always the right length, and I don’t have to stand in front of the hitched log for more than a few moments.

Although I insist that my animals allow me to approach them from all angles including in between them, I never hitched them that way. I fact I could never see the advantage, and really see that more as a show stunt, such as 4-h showing how accepting their animals are. Working my animals logging for a living, I never saw the application, and as I work entirely by myself, felt that it would be very risky, and somewhat foolhardy.

Of course we can never be completely free from risk, and each of us make our own determination what feels right and I know that many highly respected ox teamsters hitch by going between the animals so ……..

Carl

[Robin]

RE: Heavy oxen yoke for Rod. I can handle my yoke alone to yoke my big brown swiss. I was told by the young man who made my yoke “if you can’t yoke them yourself, you will not enjoy your team”. So my yoke is about 40#’s as I am not going to compete or do very heavy work. I can yoke my team myself, they are taller than I am. I enjoy them very much. We use a stone boat, ox cart, pull logs, do odd jobs around the farm. The team is well trained, thus fairly easy to yoke. By the way, should you need a nice custom made yoke, just ask the young man who made mine…..Mr. Howie!!!
A great guy to know!

[Tim Harrigan]

Carl mentioned the very dangerous practice of chaining a log when the ox end is linked to the team. ALWAYS drop the chain from the yoke when you are preparing a load. We have been considering the possibility of the team bolting, but in reality that is a rare occurrence. Getting pinched or caught in the chain is a much more likely problem if the ox end is live, no matter what the load or implement. I think about my fingers every time I handle a chain. 😮

[Rod]

What about halters? Is it safe to leave them on the oxen when not using them?

[Tim Harrigan]

I never leave them on. All they can do is get caught on something.

[CharlyBonifaz]

no halter, but:
http://www2.westfalia.de/shops/agrishop/stalleinrichtungen/anbindungen/rinderanbindung/3122-trevira_halsriemen_bulle_7cm_breitd_ring_wirbel_doppelschnalle.htm
since the neighbours live 50 feet away, cow bells are nono 🙁
elke

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Something interesting happened the other day with this stopping if you fall down thing.

We had to bring the entire herd back to the yard for some tagging/separating the bull/pulling out some steers to go on their final journey to the great pasture in the sky…this involved getting them through 4 fields, most of which they’ve grazed down but one is reserved for grazing next month and is covered with lush green grass. We knew it’d be nigh impossible to do it sensibly, but it had to be done!

They came out of field 5 at a gallop, and we ran with them down field 4 (the grassy one) and I was out front, attempting to head them off before they turned away from the gate. It was too late – the herd had turned – but I was pelting along, tried to stop, and fell over, right in the path of the herd!

I rolled onto my back, then quickly sat up, expecting the herd to gallop over me any second….

…I looked up to see the entire herd stood perfectly still and quiet, staring at me as if to say “they don’t normally drop dead on the job like that?”

lol.

[mother katherine]

Ixy,
you are funny.
I’ve been on my nigh steer’s back a couple of times now and he seems not to mind a bit.
He’s a good boy.
oxnun

[Rebecca]

Oh, yes. My off ox, Tuck swings his tail at just the right (wrong) moment to catch me in the face every time I move around behind him. It has become automatic for me to put my arm in front of my face as I pass by his rump!

[Author]

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