deeper hitchpoint

[fabian]

I have two 9” yokes. The older that I made in 2007 without any instruction has a drop of 6” from the neckseat to the bottom of the wood and a flat neck seat (of course with round corners) and is narrower between the bows (about 24”)
In january I made a new yoke because the folks say, that more distance between the bows is better when using the yoke on a cart or waggon. I also made it with an elliptical neckseat and a drop of 5”.
But I’m not satisfied how it sits on the necks of the cows (a little bit “rotated forward”, not as flat on the neck like the older yoke. hope you understand what I mean).
Today I dropped the hitchpoint so that they are both similar in the point of draft.
I will try on Saturday how it works.
Can it be that 1” difference in the drop makes the difference between “working satisfying” and ” working not satisfying” ?

Wolfgang

[Carl Russell]

My experience with the depth of draft would suggest the deeper draft, the more the yoke rotates forward. This is supposed to make the yoke stay forward on the neck so that the animals can lift more with the neck, as apposed to having it slide back against the shoulder.

In your description you say the yoke is rotated forward now. I am not sure dropping it deeper will change that, although I do think the deeper draft will probably be beneficial.

I think the rule of thumb is that the draft should be about 2/3 the distance from neck seat to bottom of the bow.

This is a problem I have with modern yoke makers…. the fixed draft ring. I use yokes (several self-made, not just antiques) with staples in them, so that I can raise and lower the draft with shims to find the sweet spot for a particular team….

Carl

[fabian]

@Carl Russell 25469 wrote:

In your description you say the yoke is rotated forward now.

I think, that was a missunderstanding 😮
The BOWS rotate forward, not the yoke. The yoke slips more than I want backwards.

@Carl Russell 25469 wrote:

I think the rule of thumb is that the draft should be about 2/3 the distance from neck seat to bottom of the bow.

if you could change to “from 1/3 to 1/2” I would agree.
(2/3 would mean a drop of nearly 11” for my team)

[Tim Harrigan]

Rotation of the yoke is affected by the line of draft as well as the depth of the yoke. A higher hitch point as with a wagon or a long tow chain on a sled will cause less rotation, and that will be accentuated by less belly in the yoke.

[Carl Russell]

Tim Harrigan;25472 wrote:

Rotation of the yoke is affected by the line of draft as well as the depth of the yoke. A higher hitch point as with a wagon or a long tow chain on a sled will cause less rotation, and that will be accentuated by less belly in the yoke.

I agree, and that is why more modern yokes reflect the interests of pullers to hitch near the ground at the heels, thus shallower depth to the yoke. Older yokes had more belly, deeper draft, so that when using sleds and wagons the yoke would rotate more for better seat.

That is why I also like a staple that slides up and down through the yoke so that the draft point can be adjusted based on the angle of draft.

Wolfgang, I’m a bit confused about the 1/3-1/2 . If that is the way you have it set, and the yoke is rotating back, sliding back onto the top of the shoulder, then it seems to me, making it more like 1/2-2/3 would give you the rotation you want.

Carl

[fabian]

@Tim Harrigan 25472 wrote:

Rotation of the yoke is affected by the line of draft as well as the depth of the yoke. A higher hitch point as with a wagon or a long tow chain on a sled will cause less rotation, and that will be accentuated by less belly in the yoke.

Thank you Tim.
Up to now I used the new yoke only for pulling the cart or the waggon.
With the deeper draft it worked better than before. But it seems that I should set the bows a little bit higher.

@Carl Russell 25473 wrote:

Wolfgang, I’m a bit confused about the 1/3-1/2 . If that is the way you have it set, and the yoke is rotating back, sliding back onto the top of the shoulder, then it seems to me, making it more like 1/2-2/3 would give you the rotation you want.

Carl

I built the yoke following the instruction you can find in the net:
the drop of the hitchpoint (from the neck to the draft) 0,6 bow width.
That makes with a 9” yoke 5,4” = 13,5 cm
If I take the depth of the bow:
The steer and his mother have a depth of 40cm, the young cow 37 cm
a drop of 2/3 bow depth would mean that the hitchpoint is over 26cm UNDER the neckseat ! I can not believe, that my bow should set so much higher that a drop of 15cm would be 2/3 of bowdepth. That would meean, that my bow depth should be about 22,5cm (9”) . :confused:

complicated technique…….
perhaps I should return to the forehead yoke…..;)
No, no, I won’t…

Wolfgang

[Carl Russell]

Well Wolfgang, I’m not sure how important the numbers are. I usually just go by how the yoke fits…. I did measure my 9″ yoke during chores tonight. It is set up for my Normandes.

The bows are set at 17.5″ deep, from seat to bottom of the bows. The staple is set so the point of draft is at 11″ below the neck seat. Not quite 2/3 (.628)….

This setting rotates the yoke forward, and the cattle get much more lift with their neck. There is still an inch of adjustment to lower the staple if I need to… for bigger necks. This is a very old yoke… in really good shape, but this is a remnant from when cattle were worked regularly. I also built an 11″ based on this design for my Holsteins and it moved a lot of wood.

Just sayin’

Carl

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