capabilities of oxen

[thousandhills]

This posting may show how green I am but what are the capabilities of oxen? Compared to horses I know it takes them a little bit longer to do things but can they preform all of the same tasks like haying, tilling and planting type jobs?

thanks

[Vicki]

Yes. Check out the websites of Tillers International and the Midwest Ox Drovers Association to see photos of oxen working in various jobs and tasks.

Depending on weather and breed, oxen may not always walk as quickly as horses, but they can work all day without rest and feed breaks, so may not always take longer to get things done. Also, yoking and hitching takes only mere minutes.

[thousandhills]

Thanks for the info I will check those site out.

[CharlyBonifaz]

without rest and feed breaks,

I’d like to know if that is true….
I learnt that they need a break after 4 hours of work to chew cud (while working their rumen quits his contractions) and after 2 hours break one could work them again for 4 hours
working them 6 hours without break for several days would lead to a loss of body weight
(mine doesn’t like to work through high temperatures anyway….)
elke

[Tim Harrigan]

I think it depends a lot on their condition for working. The oxen pulling the wagon trains west years ago likely got little chance to rest. On the other hand, my team would be hard pressed to work all morning even thought I would be done long before them.

[bivol]

hi!

to put it short, oxen can do the most horses can except dressage.

pulling- oxen signature work. that may include all kinds of implements, be it for farming, logging, or transportation.
they are generally calmer than horses, and although some will say slower, i read some articles suggesting that they can be trained to walk at the same speed as horses.
on muddy roads oxen have better traction.

riding-they can be ridden, and are, concerning the reliability and some other character traits, superior to the horse. that means they are sturdy enough to suffer much less from feet problems, than horses. they are as (un)shurefooted as horses, but are less prone to bolting and running away, a very appreciable trait when riding on mountain trails.

packing- oxen can be used for packing, and are known to carry loads heavier than horses carry, and derive energy exclusively off of grazing on the route.

powering farm implements- oxen can be used to power a variety of stationary machines which can, depending on their construction, tresh wheat, pump water, irrigate land, lift hay up to the barn, produce electricity,…

logging-oxen can be used to pull out logs. they can’t economically compete for the volume of pulled wood with mules and horses, but can be useful to have near for private woodlot management.

other important traits-

cattle are less flighty and prone to running away, they rather hold their ground when something unexpectantly appears, and with their size they are well able to stand up to a bear or a cougar, if need be. therefore they are a lot calmer than equines.

cattle can eat what horses won’t. cattle can survive, though not work much, on straw and cornstalks. hay quality and mould are no issue, as with horses. cattle can drink dirty water, horses won’t.

sturdiness- cattle are less prone to various conditions than horses. this increases their reliability.

they can be eaten- ok, a horse can technically also be, but i think most will prefer eating an ox.

hope i could help!;)

[thousandhills]

wow this info is great thanks.

[Nat(wasIxy)]

I’ve certainly heard of cattle doing dressage – OK you don’t get that outline, but they can do the moves after a fashion of course!

[Vicki]

Charly, no doubt there are limits and conditions to the general statement I made about oxen working all day. Perhaps I was irresponsible to toss out such a generality without investigating and presenting the facts. Nonetheless, anecdotal evidence suggests the generality: many memories from New England of oxen that were worked in field and woodlot all day, then making a twelve mile trip into town in evening to deliver a wagon of firewood. The American great westward migration and the freight lines of the West. . . There are small times of “rest” in such work and some of it may be at a pace that oxen can chew cud.

I was also thinking of conditions of use in underdeveloped regions where oxen endure.

I know that in my county, a lot of produce farming, hay and grain farming and harvesting, logging, and maple sugaring, is done with horsepower. Those horses are fed and rested for over an hour midday. I don’t have all the physiology facts right now, but you inspire me to look into differences of blood sugar, muscle metabolism, glycogen storage and delivery, lactic acid etc. between the ruminants–cattle–and horses.

[mstacy]

Hi Bivol,

Your statement about the relative economics of horses and oxen for logging strikes me as rather interesting. Actually I have been thinking about this topic quite a lot lately.

@bivol 9530 wrote:

hi!

logging-oxen can be used to pull out logs. they can’t economically compete for the volume of pulled wood with mules and horses, but can be useful to have near for private woodlot management.

Couldn’t the same “can’t economically compete” argument be applied to all forms of draft power? In this era of cheap fossil fuel (even when oil was over $150 per barrel) it seems like a skidder or tractor can pull vastly more wood than even a speedy, well conditioned team of horses. In most cases I suspect the difference more than makes up for fuel, maintenance, and financing.

There are many reasons to work with draft animals. The most important is because you want to. Sustainability, environmental impact, and quality of the work are also potential advantages of draft.

Regards,

-Matt

[bivol]

well, when i said they can’t economically compete, i meant as using oxen for profit in a logging company. they couldn’t compete in results (amount of timber in a given time) with horses and mules, red in oxen; a teamster’s guide a few people tried and no one did it for too long. ofcourse, no draft animal can compete with machinery in efficiency, but as you said, if other factors are taken in account, the animals can be a real competition.

now, i don’t know how the guys above did their work, or with how many oxen, but the main reason equines seem dominant in the animal logging bussiness is actually the nature of work. they are either used to log in enviremently sensitive areas, or work side-by-side with machinery. in both cases, especially in latter, i think they don’t get to haul out enormous tree trunks. so, the speed becomes more of an issue. and equines beat oxen in that regard.

another thing also reminds me: there’s a mountainous region in my country, where the population traditionally logged with draft animals in the past. the oxen were employed to drag the tree trunks out of woods, and horses to drag and pack wood too. the poorer people used oxen, and the better-off horses.
the advantages of oxen were: they were cheaper, could work without grain, but they had to have a day off after each working day, to rest. and they were slower.
the horses required grain, which had to be imported, but could work faster.

although, in really steep and hard terrain it is said only oxen could pull out large logs.
horses were also used to pack the wood out of forest.

the point is, that region was relatively poor, despite the large pine woods, and most of those who used horses made enough money and moved away in the lowlands. so i guess that also proves that horses, although more expensive, earn more, too.

true, Matt, the preferance to animals plays a great issue when thinking about labour needing to be done. i’d prefer oxen always.

[danb]

There is one huge problem with the notion that oxen can work all day without a break. In order for that to happen, the drover (that’s me), doesn’t get a break either. My legs hurt just thinking about it (lol).

[Nat(wasIxy)]

I question the speed thing – we have accounts in this country of oxen working alongside horses in harness and keeping pace from 300 years ago, also of oxen ploughing as fast as horses and trotting in harness. Also in my own experience I don’t find them to be slower at all. There’s less jumping and prancing around (which is a good thing for me) and you wouldnt be able to hop on and jog all the way to market…but you don’t do that in logging anyway. Also, I believe in keeping my overheads down in order to increase my margin, oxen do that nicely in all areas so I would question the ‘economically viable’ thing too. Maybe horses do work faster, but at what cost? Does the time saved = enough extra money on the end price paid for the product to justify the use of something more expensive to obtain it?

[Author]

Posts