draft distribution in neck yoke

[CharlyBonifaz]

we’ve been discussing if the draft distribution in a neck yoke can be compared to that of an evener or if both animals at all times have to pull the same load? in an evener (resembling a triangle) the one up front automatically carries a higher load than the one further back…..:confused:

[Baystatetom]

@CharlyBonifaz 29073 wrote:

we’ve been discussing if the draft distribution in a neck yoke can be compared to that of an evener or if both animals at all times have to pull the same load? in an evener (resembling a triangle) the one up front automatically carries a higher load than the one further back…..:confused:

Some yokes have a movable staple so you can shift more of the load to one animal or the other. My off steer is always a step ahead and I have to constantly try and slow him down. I have been wishing I could move my staple over an inch to see if it slowed him down. I just tried an old yoke my grandfather made because the bows were getting tight on the other yoke. This different yoke is has 22 inches between bows compared to the 18 inches of the other one. I have only used it twice but so far they are staying side by side. I actually had to give the off steer a few snaps to the rump to get him moving. I have no idea why the width between bows made the difference but I am glad I tried it out.
I have also heard of putting a chain from one side of the yoke back to the load bearing chain off the center in order to put more weight one way or the other. I never tried it because I was afraid to drill holes in my yokes not knowing exactly where to put it.
~Tom

[CharlyBonifaz]

moving the staple would indeed make a difference;
we were wondering though about the distribution while pulling with evenly strong/willed animals and one of them steps ahead….in a good evener that action would put him automatically in a position with a higher draftload behind him

[Andy Carson]

Looking at a yoke sitting vertically, the staple (and pivot point for the ring) looks to be ahead of the point where the oxen make contact with the yoke. If the yoke stayed verticle, than this arrangement would distribute less weight to the leading ox, rewarding them for stepping up. I know the yoke doesn’t stay completely verticle, though, and the angle it assumes under load would have a big effect on this load distribution. If the yoke tilts forward, than the pivot point of the ring might indeed be brought behind the contact point of the oxen on the yoke, and distrubute a greater load on the forward oxen. This ability of the yoke to do this would depend alot on the height of the yoke and the angle it assumes under a given load, as well as attachment point of the staple and the geometry of the staple/ring attachment.

If you have a photo of the particular yoke you are interested in, and a photo of it being used under at least a moderate load (side view), I could speculate in a more detailed way.

[Baystatetom]

I don’t see why your idea wouldn’t work. instead of a traditional staple you would have two staples with short chains leading to a ring of some sort forming a V. I would hate to mess up a good yoke but I have one I recently cracked, maybe I can cobble it together with a few lag bolts and try it out.
~Tom

[Andy Carson]

I bet that would work too, Tom. Based on the horse evener analysis, you probably wouldn’t want the ring to hang back too far, maybe in the range of 4 inches or so.

[Carl Russell]

This is a good discussion as it gets to the basics of adjusting and building yokes. Bows and staples should be set so that they allow the yoke to roll forward on top, creating that triangle formation (at least looking straight down from above). In this way, the yoke acts like an evener, placing increasing weight on the advancing bull.

I know there are some who set their bows and staples so that the yoke pulls back and settles into the shoulders similar to horse collars. In this instance the yoke will not have as much triangular shape to the pulling points, the two neck seats and staple.

A while ago Wolfgang was asking about yoke depth, and bow alignment. The deeper the yoke in relation to the bows, and neck of the animals, the more rolling action you will get on the yoke. The yoke should roll somewhat, so that the bearing surface is actually the neck seat and not the bows. In fact the bows should be adjusted so that when under heavy pull the yoke could rest in the hollow of the bull’s neck without the bows at all. This is a combination of depth of the yoke/draft angle and the depth of the bow which allows that yoke to turn in at the top of the neck, where the ox can apply its power most effectively.

(I know this is a bit divergent, but it is appropriate in relation to establishing a more triangular mechanism out of the yoke/draft points)

You want the pulling ox to be able to lift the load with the base of his neck at the shoulders, rather than pushing the load by leaning into it with his shoulders. The rolling yoke requires the ox to lower its head then lift as the yoke seats into the base of the neck. The yoke that slide back into the shoulder requires the animal to push against the yoke with shoulders more than neck. The latter is fine for short pulls with steep draft angles, like in pulling contests, but in the working situation a yoke that settles into the neck gives the ox a better working leverage, and creates a better evener affect.

The rolling yoke with a deep draft also can be applied to a variety of draft angles, like carts and other wheeled vehicles because the higher angle is off-set by the depth of the yoke, and the pull forces the yoke forward and down onto the neck so that the animal still has lift even against a high angle of draft. Also a deep yoke will create a better triangulation than one with a shallow setting. This goes a long way toward making for a better working yoke that can be applied to pulling loads over varying terrain over longer distances, as opposed to a pulling yoke that is applied against loads on level ground over very short distances.

My favorite 9″ yoke is very old. The draft is deep, and the depth of the staple is adjustable with threaded ends, as well as a wedge-shaped shim. It also is made with the staple off-set 1/2″ from dead center. 1/2″ is not a lot, but it seems that there is often one ox that works harder than the other, so the yoke can be swapped one way or the other depending on which steer needs the load.

Carl

[dominiquer60]

Carl,

This comes at just the right time because I am finishing my 7″ yoke and would like to improve upon the 6″ that I borrowed. I am more of a visual person and though I think I understand the jist of what you have written, perhaps a picture of your 9′ yoke would clarify a lot for me.

Here is a visual of what I am currently dealing with a 6″ with a shallow belly and a rather flat neck seat. I am aiming to make my 7″ neck seat deeper and more elliptical like Tillers recommends, I can see how it will prevent a pressure point and allow it to roll better on their necks. I am having a hard time trying to finish shaping my 7″, it still seem so bulky and I would like to make it as functional as possible so we can work to our best potential as a team. If I get a moment later I will take a couple shots of my yoke in progress, I would love to get some feedback from fellow DAP members on it.

Well I seem to need a 101 in managing my pictures as well, I will have to come back to this after potato harvesting.

[Baystatetom]

When it comes to yokes you will hear as many opinions as when it comes to which breed is best. I just copied all the old yokes my great grandfather used. He always kept two teams, one of brown swiss, and the other he tried different breeds all the time. He did own a tractor but always preferred to do his farm work and logging with the oxen. His yokes are all shallow. But I have also always heard the higher the hitch point the deeper the yoke. That 60 year old elm yoke I just tried on my steers is quite shallow and holds them far apart so I didn’t really want to try it, but so far my boys are working really well in it.
If I were to buy a new one there is a guy in Connecticut, Watson Smith, I really like his yokes.

[Baystatetom]

I guess I spoke to soon. My off bull was charging ahead again yesterday. I am really liking the idea of an evener, that way the team will learn to stay together by being rewarded with a lighter load, as opposed to moving the staple and giving one animal more weight all the time. I wonder though, if oxen have been in use for thousands of years how come nobody else thought of this before now? I would think enough oxen have been used for enough different jobs that the yoke would be perfected by now.

[Tim Harrigan]

I am not sure you or the oxen will be very happy with a 2 chain arrangement. A yoke with a single attachment is basically a class II lever with each of the steers alternatively acting as the fulcrum and the applied load at their end of the lever. How that lever responds depends on if they are stepping in phase (each ahead simultaneously) or perfectly out of phase (most lever action). You may find a lot of wasted energy in the load transfer process if you start messing with the system. Try it though, report back. Don’t ever discount the perceptiveness of ox drovers throughout the ages.

[Baystatetom]

Oh no didn’t mean to discount past teamsters at all! I meant to imply that if it was possible they would have done it already, therefore it might not be possible.
To diverge farther from the subject, what does anybody recommend to solve my problem of the off steer staying a step ahead. My solution of smacking him on the nose or knees and saying “easy” over and over doesn’t seem to be working. If I try and speed up the nigh steer we all end up running and the off one is still in the lead.
I wonder if it is partially due to their different pulling styles. The nigh steer pulls with his head down, while the off with his head high.

[Andy Carson]

This is becoming very interesting… I believe both a deep yoke on a tilt and a two chain attachment on a shallow yoke would act as an evener. If one used two chains, it would be critical that the chains be kept short, moving the pivot point back only a few inches. This still allows the yolk to act as a class II lever, as it rotates around the union of the two chains. If the chains are very long (and or spread wide apart) the lever action would be lost, which I would suspect would be a very bad thing (as Tim points out).

There are another two points in this thread I find interesting. One is if an evener effect is even desirable for oxen. Perhaps as some yokes would have an evener effect and some do not, maybe this is not an important design element. Why this might be is very interesting. Perhaps oxen “lever” a load (with one ox moving and the other acting as a pivot) more than horses do. If this is the case, than a yolk with need to not shift too much weight onto the forward animal and a “lagging” pivot point would be a bad thing and one would want to keep it even. I do not know about oxen enough to know if this is an important aspect to thier pulling…

The other thing that I think it interesting is the general idea that things that have been around for a while must be perfected by now. I do think there is some merit to this idea, but I generally disagree. I think alot of old technology was developed in large part by trial and error and observation. I think this type of design is critical for getting a design generally right and for figuring out what the most important elements of a design are, but I do not have much faith that this type of design truly makes something “perfect.” I believe there is still substantial room for little tweeks to existing technology that optimizes it. Granted, these are likely going to be minor modifications and improve efficiency by less than 10%, but I think they are important none-the-less. I think being open to these types of design tweaks keeps the “language” of animal power “alive,” is exciting and attactive to creative people, and helps animal power adapt to a constantly changing world. I suppose I am getting a bit philosophical here, but I look at the tools and techniques passed down through the ages as a wonderful and very well informed start, not a finished product. I mean no disrespect with this… Indeed, I think some of the old timers might be proud that someone is thinking and tweaking as they probably did to some degree in thier youth.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Countymouse 29124 wrote:

The other thing that I think it interesting is the general idea that things that have been around for a while must be perfected by now. I do think there is some merit to this idea, but I generally disagree.

I am not suggesting it can not be improved, just that if something seems simple and obvious maybe there is more going on than meets the eye. One question to consider, though, is improvement at what cost? Simplicity and ruggedness had value in that working environment, and still does in many cases.

[CharlyBonifaz]

The other thing that I think it interesting is the general idea that things that have been around for a while must be perfected by now.

may be the neck yoke has been, just we don’t understand all its little secrets….in eveners I came to understand that just an inch would mean quite a difference; so maybe by lowering the hitchpoint you get more than one improvement? I also understand that the animals should indeed step up as one, is that not so? I wouldn’t want one to take care of the whole load while the second remains a fixpoint….

what does anybody recommend to solve my problem of the off steer staying a step ahead. My solution of smacking him on the nose or knees and saying “easy” over and over doesn’t seem to be working. If I try and speed up the nigh steer we all end up running and the off one is still in the lead. I wonder if it is partially due to their different pulling styles. The nigh steer pulls with his head down, while the off with his head high.

no recommendation except I would check the setting of their bows and try and change my own whereabouts; the thinking behind the latter: I’m the boss and the nigh steer – “out of respect for my rank” – walks set back/head down, while the off steer is out of my critical distance and does not feel the need for acting similarly (does that make sense?)

[Author]

Posts