judging the weight of loads?

[PeytonM]

Is there an easy way to judge how much a hitch weighs? I have 2 Belgians, I weighed them 3 weeks ago and they lost alot of weight from the heat and they were 1960 and 1780 so I think the one is 2200 and 1900 or so.

I want to clean off the fence line off and most of them are white birch, I have a farmall H and it had a hard time pulling it in the snow but it was wet heavy snow and im sure that my team could out pull the H. most trees about 8-10 inches in Dia.

I’ve seen horses on the net pull some pretty crazy stuff as far as big logs go, but I have a bob sled I wanted to load up so I dont know if theres some way to tell what a tree weighs. I know different types of trees weigh more than others but whats a good rule of thumb I can follow? I would slowly work them up to it right now its just starting to cool off here in WI we have one day of 90’s this week and then its suppose to drop 20 degrees from what I’ve heard but that can all change.

thanks for the help. I dont plan on starting to log with them till later on in the year. another month or so.

[Does’ Leap]

I think there is a difference between what horses “should” pull and what they are physically and psychologically capable of pulling given their condition and experience. If your horses don’t have a lot of experience logging, I would start with small loads and move up from there. Here is a link to estimate log weight based on species: http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl?calculator=log_weight.

Good luck.

George

[mitchmaine]

“go light, go often”. that was the old saying. at the end of the day, the pile might be bigger.

[Gabe Ayers]

I use a bobsled in the winter up here in VT and you can really get a lot of wood on that tool. I have found that I can get more than 1000 bf of pine on a load, less for hardwood. The trick for me is the start – if your team can get it moving then usually they will move it along OK. Positioning of the sled at the loading area is critical. Having the runners pointed slightly downhill really helps as that first pull can be really tough if the sled is sitting in a depression of even on a flat. Snow helps to eliminate some of the friction, as I don’t use the sled much without snow cover, as an arch is my tool of choice in the non-winter time. Like others have said, going often with small loads is beneficial, but there is something to be said for a team that can take a days worth of logs out in 1-3 sled loads. Remember that the same load on the ground and then on a sled or arch may produce very different outcomes, and slope and ground conditions also make a huge difference. In general, I have found that it does not matter as much if you have the biggest, heaviest team, but rather if you have the team that is the willing to muckle on to a big load and go for it. But, in the long run giving your horses loads they can manage confidently is one of the best things you can do as a teamster. If the horses trust that you are going to make it manageable they will be willing to pull every time. Good luck!
-Brad

[PeytonM]

before I got this team they were used on an arch, and then also single with out any thing to skid them out of the brush. I have a bunch of white birch to cut and then there are 3 really big oaks that are down already. A friend has a few Ash trees that she wants down for fire wood and some smaller oak that are dead. You loggin boys feed anything special? I was feeding oats for a while and man where they hyper, I don’t what them to be hyper but if there is something they could eat that would help give them a little steam

[mitchmaine]

Peyton, the tools used to move wood, arches, scoots, go devils etc. all provide wide variables. The wood you move and the terrain, and the distance, all variables. Your only constant here in the experiment is your horse(s). so get to know what they will and can give you spread over whatever time frame you want your workday to be. I think horses feel better when they sense when the job will end. If you keep a schedule to break for lunch and quit around the sametime of day with them, they can set a pace of their own. Outside that framework, they can get balky if they can’t sense the “end of the job”. Works the same with mowing and so on. Once they know what is expected of them they can give you quite a days work. Back to twitching, once you get a feel for what your team will/can do, you can better judge the variables like size and specie of wood and distance and so on. Start with a ridiculously light load, and add on till the start to work and back off a little, and when they start to muscle up, work it up again. Corn is the “high octane” of the horse fuel world, but don’t over do it. Good luck there.

[Carl Russell]

So to follow Mitch’s “Go light and go often”, I’ll add “Oats’ll get you in the ditch, corn’ll get you out”.

Feeding, equipment, and muscling will all help, but they won’t be as important as practice, experience, and leadership. This exercise, like most with animals has less to do with them learning, or getting strong, it has to do with you learning what they can and cannot do, and what it takes to get them to do what you want. If you want to be pulling wood this winter with them, then you need to get started right now. All you need is a whiffle-tree, hook, and a choker chain to get started. This all has much more to do with how you use the lines, and how you direct the use of their energy, then how much weight to hook them to. A person can tire a horse on a light load just as effectively as on a heavy load, if they are not paying attention to details of using live power to move weight.

And yes, they can be hyper on oats, but when you get fluent with the exercise, and you are thinking ahead of the beasts, hyper can be a real asset in the woods.

Good luck, Carl

[PeytonM]

Hey thanks alot for all the help. how do you guys feel about using the tongs or what are they are called with the spikes that stick in the end of a log over chain?

[Baystatetom]

Tongs are great on bigger logs, but I can’t make them stay on smaller firewood. Maybe I just need smaller tongs, but then again chokers don’t take much time or extra energy on the small ones.
~Tom

[PeytonM]

how do you guys charge for labor that log with horses? I got a small woods for my uncle to clear off. thanks

[Scott G]

“”Oats’ll get you in the ditch, corn’ll get you out”.”

… and alfalfa & sweet feed will get you hot, bothered, & upside down in the brush. :rolleyes:

I’ll go with Mitch as far as going light and often, specifically early & late in the day while saving your harder pulls for mid-day (before lunch & mid-afternoon if you’re working them that long). Slowly work your way up to what your horse can handle and work on conditioning. Every horse/team are different as individuals. Being tuned into your horse’s capabilities is far more important than running off of a weight conversion chart.

You want to take advantage of every possibilty to most efficiently utilize your horse(s) for the job. The biggest advantage you have is to use your brain to efficiently layout the harvest specifically to the advantage of your animals. “Listen” and be dialed in to your horse(s). They will let you know what works and what doesn’t. While you don’t want to develop a consistent “dishonest underachiever”, about the worst thing you can do is either stick or consistently overload your hitch and end up with balky horse(s). Developing/maintaining the “can do” attitude with heart is paramount.

As far as devices, ranging from the most simple go-devil up to a wagon/forwarder, the less friction you have the greater the hitch/load capacity and easier on the horses. Often, especially in my part of the country, the issue isn’t hitch capacity as much as it is slowing it down when your headed back down the mountain… :rolleyes:

My two cents…

[PeytonM]

I’m in WI, the first job I got is part of my uncles land right by his farm, its a on top of a small hill and isn’t a steep grade, its a rolling hill. He said there is a lot of white Birch on the out side and Oak and maple when you get inside. My dad has a running gear that I could put them up on but the hard part i think for me is going to be loading them up by my self cause that running gear is a little on the High side whats a Go- devil? should I have trees down for them to just go out and pull out or cut them down and then limb them? I was thinking about going out and cutting down a few trees and limb them, enough for them to work for a few hours till dark after I’m done with work.

thanks for all the help,

[Author]

Posts