Cows plowing

[bivol]

HI!

found a nice little vid about plowing cows in Portugal… those ARE cows…

i think they urgently need brass balls on horns, or at least corks…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziRDbrxVY_Q&feature=related

[Tim Harrigan]

Nice video, thanks. Where is that?

[bivol]

Portugal. a small state on atlantic side of spanish peninsula (aside from spain)

[Simple Living]

Bivol I love the video’s that you post from around the world! I noticed a couple things in the video that I thought were interesting. Did anyone notice how thin the yoke was, and would that cause an issue with all of the pressure being applied to such a small area? And the second thing I noticed was the very fine detailed carving and relief work done to the yoke. Do you think that would had been removed in an effort to lighten the yoke for both the farmer and the oxen?

Gordon

[mstacy]

@Simple Living 26218 wrote:

… Did anyone notice how thin the yoke was, and would that cause an issue with all of the pressure being applied to such a small area? And the second thing I noticed was the very fine detailed carving and relief work done to the yoke. Do you think that would had been removed in an effort to lighten the yoke for both the farmer and the oxen?

Gordon

I suspect that the relief work is a combination of lightening & decoration. Personally I think a lot can be done to lighten draft implements.

This winter I aquired a professionally made yoke, which I absolutely love. The craftsmanship is fantastic. But I was shocked by the weight. It weighs an honest 50 pounds without bows (8 inch). This is compared to the crude featherweight popple (aspen) yoke (6″) that I started my team on. How strong (and heavy)does a yoke or any draft implement really need to be? In the workaday world no individual draft animal is going exert more than 1 horsepower (550 ft*lb/s) for any significant duration of time. Assuming that the animal is walking at 5 feet per second that’s only 110 pounds (neglecting any vertical force component … which isn’t doing any mechanical work anyway) per animal. I’m am extremely confident that a 2 x 4 stood on edge can easily withstand 220 pounds over a 3 foot span. Layed flat might be asking for trouble though. Of course those same animals can apply far more force for a short duration (competition pulling for example).

Bearing area is a signifcant factor as you pointed out. Comfort of the animals is vitally important.

I suspect that the dimensions of traditional yokes (including our stout New England models) have much more to do with availible materials, forming methods, and ergonomics (neck seats, drop, etc) than strength.

And what about the stout chain we typically use for logging or pulling implements? Seems like overkill. How many folks have ever broken a logging chain with draft animals? Do they really need to be that heavy?

The McCormick Deering mower is another one. The “tongue weight” on mine is approximate 50 pounds, measured 10 feet ahead of the axle. In my opinion that is a poorly balanced machine (500 ft*lb moment). Not only are the animals forced to bear this (and the farmer forced to wrestle with it for hitching) but that tongue weight reduces the weight that is availible for machine traction to drive the cutter. If the machine were perfectly balanced (zero tongue weight) you would design it to be just heavy enough to provide enough traction to drive the cutter (or other implement if we think of it more universally as a ground-drive PTO). So the machine is heavier than it needs to be. This again comes back to our foundation of horsepower and speed. 2hp at 5ft/s equates to about 220 pounds. So approximately 500 pounds of vehicle weight will provide sufficient traction for a 2hp implement (assuming a coefficient of friction = 0.5). Anything above and beyond that, including tongue weight is just that much more to tire out my two little buddies (Stanley & Earl). There isn’t much room for waste when you’re only starting with 2hp.

Regards,

Matt

[CharlyBonifaz]

as far as high forces are concerned: seems like they are a cause for ruin in special situations only: hit the forest with a log in tow and get it stuck on one side; pull a tree off the stump and have the animal hit the yoke hard; things like that will cause a broken yoke not the plain travel along a road, all of them situations where a force considerably greater than one hp is involved…..have been wondering how to improve the durability of a neckyoke….ideas very welcome…..

[bivol]

thanks Gordon, will keep at it!

Elke, the “local” solution to yoke snapping problems here was is to enforce the yoke with iron or thin steel plates where it’s most likely to snap.

like here:

and here

[Author]

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