How long – agewise – can oxen work?

[sanhestar]

Hello,

me again 🙂

I’ve read some posts stating the possibility that oxen can get too heavy to continue working.

OK – simplest solution would be to cull them when they reach that stage but – knowing me – this would be the last solution I would want to go (as long as it’s still in the animals best interest).

So I wonder: how long can the approximate oxen do usefull work? 10 years, 12 years? How long do they live if not culled? Which breeds are more prone to getting too heavy (I suppose the meat breeds)?

Would it make more sense – for the more light work I need to have done – to work with cows instead? Besides, they would give me calves now and then and don’t grow so big.

[Carl Russell]

The size of the ox has more effect on the feet and legs, than on their stamina. Of course one can over-feed oxen that will be too fat, and therefore tire easily, or at least will be lazy.

My last pair of Holsteins weighed 2700 lbs each. They were quite large, but agile, and powerful, as they were worked regularly. Unfortunately they only lived to about twelve as one developed a nerve/joint problem, and was unable to get up when laying down. It’s a problem when you can’t get a 2700 lb animal to stand up. He stood the last 24 hrs of his life.

The problem with dairy breeds is that feet and legs have been at the bottom of the genetic priority list behind production, milk components, and body size (??????). I would have expected a few more years out of them, but I got nine steady years of woods work out of them.

I’ve been told the smaller breeds like Durhams, and Devons have had less pressure on them for milk, and therefore haven’t lost as much in the conformation for longevity of motion. Also being smaller, they tend to put much less stress on the feet, legs, and joints. I would expect 10-15 years of good work.

If the animals can remain healthy, the longer they live and work for you, the better the value. By the time I had to put down my oxen (they were twins, within sight of each other their whole lives, they owed me nothing, so I let them go together), they and I moved as one. I led them by the horns with no halter, drove them 1/2 mile to pasture loose with whip only, could drive them yoked through a single barn door, backing one out, turning their heads through, and walking the second one out. It would be worth your while to get a pair that can have some longevity, because down the road the investment will be paid back many times over.

Carl

[Rob FLory]

Hi,
I had a team of Devons that I worked until 16. By that time, they were getting slow, but were not overweight due to proper feeding regimen. One of them lost all his teeth so that was the end of them.

I am currently working a 13-year old Devon-Holstein who is going strong. His yoke-mate died a year ago by wasting away, probably cancer or heart problem.

Rob Flory

[bivol]

hi!

for light draft you should use cows. a shorthorn cow would be ideal. they are dual purpose breed, so they have good muscling, give milk, but not so much you don’ know what to do with it. and if she gives too much, get an extra calf.
cows have numerous advantages over oxen, given they do mostly light work and have good feeding.
first, you get milk (to drink, make cheese, nurse a calf), calf (to eat, sell, or turn into a working cow or ox), and meat, when they grow old. and ofcourse, work.
i heard cows are easier to train than oxen.
but the biggest advantage is that a cow makes her own replacement, so a long useful working life is not that important.

good luck!

[Author]

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