Discussion of Head-yokes

[Tim Harrigan]

PLEASE NOTE THIS CONVERSATION HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE “OXDROVER MEETING IN FRANCE 2011″ THREAD SINCE IT HAS GENERATED ITS OWN LINE OF DISCUSSION. TIM’S POST IS THE WHERE THE DISCUSSION OF HEAD-YOKES SEEMD TO BEGIN SO I USED IT AS THE ENTRY POINT.

Anne, nice pics and beautiful cattle. I wish I could have been there. I know the head yoke has a long tradition in France, and I know that it is common for those from one tradition, neck yokes for instance, to look at other methods, head yokes for instance, and see shortcomings. Generally, my sense is that if the equipment fits properly and the cattle are conditioned to the work there are not big differences between yoking systems. But we had a fairly in-depth discussion a while ago about methods of buffering draft forces on this board in the Working with Draft Animals section and I have been thinking about head yokes in that context.

I did some work at Tillers a few years ago carefully measuring draft forces for a wagon loaded to about 6000 lbs and comparing pulling forces for neck yoke oxen and horses with a standard harness system. I think the most interesting result of this work was the effect that the type of hitch had on the wagon draft. Hitch in this case refers to the team (horses or oxen) and the harnessing method (collar, standard tugs and evener for horses; neck yoke and steel chain for oxen). Compared to the horse hitch and rubber-tired wagon (average draft of 260 lbf), draft increased about 19% (to 309 lbf) when using an ox hitch. When using steel-tired wagons the ox draft increased about 17% from 490 lbf with the horse hitch to 574 lbf with the ox hitch. There no reason to think that the wagons pull harder with the oxen. The difference is in the transmission of pulling forces to the team. The horse hitch reduced the high-end drafts compared to the ox hitch. The horse hitch redistributed the load through four traces and the two-horse evener and shared the load between two collars. The ox yoke transferred all the pulling force through a single towing chain. There was little redistribution or sharing of high-end drafts, and every surge and shock was transferred directly to the yoke beam and bows, and into the neck and shoulders of the team. The multi-component horse harness was an effective draft buffer for absorbing the high draft forces compared to the ox yoke.

I have been thinking about how those high draft forces are buffered with a head yoke. I think the muscle and soft tissue of the neck and shoulder would absorb the shock loads with a neck yoke, but if seems like those forces would be transmitted directly into the neck and vertebrae with a head yoke with little buffering effect. I know a pad is used on the forehead with some systems which would help, but some are fastened directly to the horns. This would not generally be a problem pulling a cart or other light loads, but it seems like it could be with some of the bigger loads our teams pull, large logs for instance.

What do you think about head yokes for heavy draft work?

Best regards, Tim

[fabian]

The use of the head-yoke is forbidden in Germany since about 80 years because of animal-welfare.
Due to the unification in the EU I think it will be so in the complete EU. The forward use in parts of the EU does not change this. And in my opinion the forbiddance of the head-yoke is right.

Off topic:
Tim, what’s with Will and Abe ? I missed them in the pics of the Moda-gathering.

Wolfgang

[Tim Harrigan]

Wolfgang,
Will and Abe are doing fine, I just did not take them down this year because I was really busy at that time and I decided it would be a good time to work a little with some 2 year old steers that a friend of mine has that have not yet been worked and never in the yoke. They have some promise but they need a lot of work, and soon.

In the next few days I want to get down to Tillers and do some work and draft measurements with their new ground-drive forecart and hay mowers. Andy Carson will soon be sending me his nice draft buffers for performance testing and evaluation, and I also want to get in the woods in the next few days to drop and skid some big, dying Ash trees that were destroyed by the Emerald Ash Borer. Will and Abe will get a good workout with that.

I know the head yoke is still used a lot in some parts of Canada. I would like to do some testing but I do not know anyone in this area using a head yoke. It would be interesting to see if there are measurable differences in the two methods. There is interest in the German 3-pad collar but there is some concern that they will not hold up under some of the heavy loads that we sometimes pull such as pulling competitions, logging or plowing. What do you think?

[mitchmaine]

we have an international ox pull here in maine each september at the cumberland fairgrounds. 3 teamsters from eastern canada and three from maine and new england. you have to win alot of ribbons to qualify for this pull. everyone in it is good at what they do.
the main interest in the event is seeing if the neckyoked newenglanders can whup the headyoked pei’s. mostly they can’t, and the reason is always given to the difference in yoking. the headyokes are always more successful. and it makes me wonder, if as a rule its easier (?) for the cattle to pull with a neckyoke, why would it be forbidden in eastern europe. and is it actually easier?
tim, you should set up some preliminary testing on comparisons of the two. i realize once the team is lashed together, there is little room for freedom of any kind from your teammate. but if the resistance is less for the pair perhaps it is actually an improvement for them. just wondering. thanks

[Tim Harrigan]

@mitchmaine 27971 wrote:

the headyokes are always more successful. and it makes me wonder, if as a rule its easier (?) for the cattle to pull with a neckyoke…

I can see where the head yoked oxen might have a higher hitch point which would provide some advantage, and the cattle might have more ability to make some minor adjustments in hitch angle by moving their head up and down which could be an advantage. And cattle have a lot of power in their necks. I am just wondering about the force generated and how the cattle absorb the stress. I know cattle fight and push with their head, maybe I underestimate their ability to withstand the beating.

No head yoke cattle around here so not much opportunity of make any measurements.

[mitchmaine]

i was thinking the same thing, tim. watching the bulls and bucks go at it around her, you have to wonder if mother nature didn’t include some inherant kind of shock absorber on those beasts.

[CharlyBonifaz]

if as a rule its easier (?) for the cattle to pull with a neckyoke, why would it be forbidden in eastern europe.

the headyoke was forbidden in Germany (not necessarily in Eastern Europe) about a hundred years ago for animal welfare reasons; although I have never worked with such a yoke I can see the problem: the yoke rests in the hollow behind the horns and this is a rather tender spot for one, plus usually a lot of hay/gras-debrise accumulates there and if you don’t clean it out properly I can imagine there will be sores easily; the farmers then must have used these yokes also without the padding, so it needed to be fit to the animal extremely well too…..

There is interest in the German 3-pad collar but there is some concern that they will not hold up under some of the heavy loads that we sometimes pull such as pulling competitions, logging or plowing.

they won’t, at least for real hard work…..thought there even was a paper on that at Tillers…..

[fabian]

My English is not as good as it should be but I try to do my best :
I was always a proponent of head-pulling technics with oxen. And I am still up to now.

But despite all critique I have to the manual of Dr. Minhorst, I think he explains very good the shortfalls of the head- yoke. In pulling contests these disadvantages don’t play a role because the contests occur on EVEN ground. Most of the drawbacks of the double head yoke can be eliminated by using the single forehead yokes. But Dr. Minhorst does not accept another hitching than the three pad collar.
But everyone I talked with about the three pad collar agreed that it is NOT appropriate for really heavy work.
pulling a cart or waggon, which is the most action bovines do here, is not classified as “heavy work”.
Meanwhile I prefer the american neck yoke because
1. the animals learn quicker to work in a neck yoke than in a forehead yoke
2. the hitching is very easy, I can hitch to a one-axled cart and
3. I can make them myself.

@mitchmaine 27971 wrote:

and it makes me wonder, if as a rule its easier (?) for the cattle to pull with a neckyoke, why would it be forbidden in eastern europe. and is it actually easier?

I do not understand (because of my poor English) what you mean with this.
Fact is that the NECK YOKE is not forbidden. And Eastern Europe is definitively “neck yoke- resp. withers yoke- country”

Wolfgang

[mitchmaine]

@fabian 27983 wrote:

My English is not as good as it should be but I try to do my best :
I was always a proponent of head-pulling technics with oxen. And I am still up to now.

But despite all critique I have to the manual of Dr. Minhorst, I think he explains very good the shortfalls of the head- yoke. In pulling contests these disadvantages don’t play a role because the contests occur on EVEN ground. Most of the drawbacks of the double head yoke can be eliminated by using the single forehead yokes. But Dr. Minhorst does not accept another hitching than the three pad collar.
But everyone I talked with about the three pad collar agreed that it is NOT appropriate for really heavy work.
pulling a cart or waggon, which is the most action bovines do here, is not classified as “heavy work”.
Meanwhile I prefer the american neck yoke because
1. the animals learn quicker to work in a neck yoke than in a forehead yoke
2. the hitching is very easy, I can hitch to a one-axled cart and
3. I can make them myself.

I do not understand (because of my poor English) what you mean with this.
Fact is that the NECK YOKE is not forbidden. And Eastern Europe is definitively “neck yoke- resp. withers yoke- country”

Wolfgang

sorry, wolfgang. my english is poor sometimes too. i meant to say headyoke there or forehead, like you say.

[fabian]

@mitchmaine 27985 wrote:

sorry, wolfgang. my english is poor sometimes too. i meant to say headyoke there or forehead, like you say.

“headyoke” and “foreheadyoke” are two different kinds of yoke .

[mitchmaine]

thanks,fabian. the yoke used by the canadians is a peice of ash carved out in the back to set over the poll and lashed to the horns without pads. always heard it referred to as a headyoke (as opposewd to a neckyoke with bows).
what are the names of the yokes in the photos above?

[fabian]

@mitchmaine 28003 wrote:

what are the names of the yokes in the photos above?

These are also that what you call headyoke.
The name we use in Germany for it is “Genickjoch”, would be translated as “napeyoke” (may be)
The foreheadyoke is without wood behind the head, only iron or wood in front of the head.

[CharlyBonifaz]

example of 2 single forehead-yokes (thuringian style)

[fabian]

Thank you CB !

And these are the links to the vids of the oxdrovers gathering in February 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QMZX6-JAsA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLla9meCnh0&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGn59M3HFhc&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTC6caN8Yoc&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdjqO1H_xXQ&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOywkDdm-ZQ&feature=player_embedded

Wolfgang

[Anne]

From my point of view each yoking system has it´s pros and cons.
If you want to compare them, you will have to consider the whole context:

– who is using them
– for which task
– for which animals
– under which circumstances

During the circumstances of a pulling contest (two strong, well matched oxen, heavy load on on a sled, flat,even,smooth ground) the use of a neckyoke has the advantage, that the animals are firmly fixed together, which makes it easier for them to synchronise their movements.

But it would be at least particulary wrong to come to the conclusion, that the headyoke must be the best yoking system for everyone everywhere.

Because: Change the circumstances:

Take a two wheeled wagon. If you now take a headyoke, the animals will not only have to pull the load. – They will also have to carry it on their nape. Make another change: Bad street with lot´s of holes.
No the use of a headyoke will get cruel for the animals. Each hole in the street will be a beat on their nape.

Leave the street. Add mountains, …

There are lots of situations in which a headyoke wont be the best choice.

And if your animals dont have horns, or are different in size, you cant use it at all.

My suggestion, if you compare yokes:

Dont think only about the strongest and best matched teams under ideal situations.

Think also about skinny weak animals. – And skinny weak owners like me 🙂

A skinny cow will be able to work longer and harder with a three pad collar, than with a single headyoke.

The weakest animal will be the one, that profits most from a good harness. The three pad collar was designed for cows. So far I havent seen one, that is large enough to fit for an ox.

[Author]

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