how many young folks out there?

[Nat(wasIxy)]

I’m 23. Was always just *obsessed* with animals, and in particular, working animals that were vital to communities, like the reindeer of the saami, mongol horses and bedouin camels etc. I loved cattle, but they were inaccessible things to me, not being from a farming background – in this country horses are the only things I could realistically get contact with so I started riding when I was 9 and wanted A PONY above all else!!

Then I discovered oxen and never looked back. 😉

[Gabe Ayers]

As a former teacher who now farms and works in the woods with horses, I find it thrilling to hear about folks who are trying to learn these skills. There are many other more lucrative ways to make a living, but few more fulfilling and more demanding than working with horses on a farm or woodlot setting. Two of the goals I have for my own work are gaining the skills and knowledge of the generations before us before they are gone, and also helping to pass on what I have learned to others who are committed to this work. I think there is no substitute for a mentor who can teach you how to do it right. I encourage anyone who wants learn to work animals to reach out to folks who have these skills and are willing to pass them on.

[MNMULE]

I’m 23 got started with draft animals when I was twelve. I went with an older neighbor of mine on a wagon train for a week and really enjoyed getting to drive horses. Now I have my own team and saddle horses. I’ve had a team of belgians and team of light horses and now a team of mules. I use my mules mainly for wagon trains and getting firewood.

[TBigLug]

@lancek 12834 wrote:

And big lug i would have taken you for a little older

I get that alot. Even though I am the youngest in even my group of friends my age they refer to me as the old man since while they’re all out there bar hopping and whooping it up I’m at home cleaning harness and setting up the barn for the next morning’s chores. I got all of my wild (and buddy do I mean WILD) days out of my system by the time I was 21. I wasn’t always a good person but I learned alot of hard knock lessons early and it helped make me who I am today. Just the old guy in bibs on the front porch whittling a stick after dinner. 😀

[dominiquer60]

Putting a number on something can be dangerous, I still feel young at 31. My father said that I have had an agenda ever since I was old enough to help in the garden and do chicken chores (about 2 yo). Maybe it was too much PBS and all creatures great and small, but I have wanted to be a farmer for as long as I can remember. When I was 7 my aunt gifted me a few riding lessons and I have been involved with horses ever since. I took draft horse courses in college and did vegetable farming apprenticeship after school. Draft horses are not part of my everyday life and I am thankful for every opportunity to be around them and the skilled teamsters that keep them. Last year I got the Ox bug at NEAPFD and my fall tour of New England. In November 2008 I had the great fortune of driving a young team owned by Jim Hawkes at the Low Impact Forestry workshop in Unity,ME. I have been obsessed ever since. Fortunately my boyfriend’s father has encouraged me to fiddle with a pair of beef calves (steer and heifer team) and they are coming along well. We are in the process of making a yoke for them, but I wager I won’t be able to work them with it until I get back from my winter job. I look forward to hearing from a local farm when there is a pair of Shorthorn or Normande bull calves available.

[ivy]

I’m 28. When I was 23 I went to work on a farm because I needed a job and found that I loved and was quite good with animals, but not so good with tractors. So what could be better than a cow that does the work of a tractor? 2 years ago I started my steer. I also now have a heifer who works with him. I hope before too long to use them to do all the work of the tractor for my 4 cows and 1/2 acre garden. 🙂

[vthorselogger]

I am 32 and just started with a pair of older belgains in april of 09. My wife grew up on a morgan farm and had a little driving experience. As for me we went and looked at this team and the man said have you ever harnessed a horse to which I replied no, so he says well your gonna learn aren’t ya to which I said yes sir! So we got them harnessed and he said have you ever driven a team to which I replied no, so he said well today is your lucky day and handed me the lines. He told me what command was what and then told me to get movin. I tell you there is nothing like it, and I can’t wait for spring to get here so I can get back to driving. It truly is a fulfilling lifestyle. We are working on getting a farm of our own. We will undoubtedly be a horse powered farm for sure. Our son is turning 7 and loves to be around the boys, so hopefully he will stay interested. Now that the bug has hit my wife and told each other we would never be without horses again! Keep up the good work here. thanks 🙂

[Stable-Man]

20, and no experience yet, but I’m trying to get work this spring at a farm, then want to use that experience to get another job working with draft animals if the career suits me. Thinking that oxen would be more interesting to work with, so that’s what I’ll look for.

[jac]

Hello my name is Caitlyn and I am 11 years old I am the “C” in my dads title “jac”…I can drive our clydesdales in the hitch cart and look forward to be having a shot with the plough.I also like Aberdeen-angus, I am a member of the of the Aberden-angus cattle society. Bye for now 🙂
Caitlyn

[Anonymous]

I’m a 23 (24 this month) year old female and enjoy the farm life. I relish in the satisfaction in knowing that I can do it myself. Last year I dug and tilled my entire garden by hand, planted it, watered it and weeded it. Yeah- it was tough, but there is something to be said for doing it the old fashioned way. I also hunt and fish and enjoy living off the land. No one in my family hunted, and no a boyfriend didn’t get me into it. I just decided I wanted to try it. Now I make part of my income traveling the country as a spokeswoman. 🙂 I was also born in the suburbs, but drawn to the country. I’ve been working with horses for over 10 years (also something I picked up on my own). I started training them in junior high and it continued into highschool. In college I studied Animal Sciences (commonly called the farmer’s wife degree) and I also worked on Pre-Vet as well. Someday I’d love to get to the point where I can farm with horses. Currently I rent my farm, so my landlord has dibbs on the land to farm. Someday I’ll have my own place. Someday. For now, just big dreams for this little gal.

TBigLug- I thought you were older, too. 😉

[Berta]

Ooo, I’m closing in on the cutoff, will be 25 this summer.

I’m in college but I’ve been training a team of oxen at a local vegetable farm. Didn’t have any experience with oxen before, though I certianally have worked with cattle.

I was a horse person as a kid – been around them since I could walk into a paddoc on my own two feet. Up until these last few years, I only worked with riding horses. I think I still am interested in horses but more in their draft with riding as a side activity. Don’t know though, can’t afford anything as a broke Aggie student.

[8BitFarm]

hi there! I’m 29, can I still be “young folk” for another little while? :0)

[ctpatt]

I am 23 and I do not have any real experience with draft animals, but I am hoping to remedy that soon. I am really drawn to farming with draft animals, but being raised in the suburbs I don’t have access to land or stock. I took a job out of college as an IT Consultant and am putting away most of my salary towards buying a farm. I am originally from the Texas Gulf Coast and will likely return there to start my farm. I am seriously considering using water buffalo as work animals since they better adapted to the climate. Everything I’ve read seems to indicate that they are intelligent and easy to train if you start with calves.

[chrisf.]

I’m 24. I bought percheron 4 years ago traded for my belgian after a year and bought a second belgian this year. I’ve always been interested in hitching horses so When I bought my house and had room to keep horses I bought one. For now, due to a lack of land and to much work I don’t use them as much as I’d like but I’m hoping to buy some farm land and some bush in the next few years. For the time being I can work them on my uncles farm. I’ve had them on the side rake, the plow, the discs and the binder. If times got hard there would be a lot of things to get sold off before the horses.

[Farrier]

I just turned 26. I’ve been shoeing full time since I was 16, been a part time hardwood logger since I was 18 and been farming since I could walk.

[Author]

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