Odd Jobs

[LStone]

The horses and I gained some more perspective on the way things were back in the day before the auto Saturday. This spring to give the horses more work to do I’ve made a couple trips to a local farm to pick up hay to feed them. Well Saturday I made a run to the feed store on the wagon. About 5 miles each way and a stretch of state highway about 1.5 miles with ample shoulder in most places and a 45 mph speed limit. We had a lot of chances to build on old situational training experiences and gained some new ones to reinforce in the future. Anyway it took slightly over 4 hours to make the trip and things worked out very well.

Once home, I took harness off the team and harnessed up the two year old. We dragged a small paddock and made a few turns, ground skidding some stud trees down to my wood-yard to feed the wood stove with.

All in all a pretty honest day of real work done by younger horses. The weather managed to cooperate too.

I am planning to use them for local errands such as getting their feed and hay, and dump runs. During power outages I have used them to haul their own water from a stream down the road. I don’t actually do any large scale farming yet but I have a small market type vegetable garden. I will eventually purchase a small plow harrow etc. and I don’t have enough pasture to make hay with. Does anyone have any other “odd job” suggestions that I can use the horses for?

[Rod]

I like the question because I grapple with the same thing with my animals. What can I do with them?

[Does’ Leap]

I have been working a single horse clearing old pasture that has grown up with poplar and birch. I drag poles to one pile and then bunch large amounts of brush with 2 chains and drag that to a burn pile.

Good work, especially if you want more pasture.

George

[Gabe Ayers]

Dragging pastures with a chain harrow is a good small job that is beneficial. Some folks use the same device to drag gravel roads to knock the hump out of the middles.

A stationary treadmill would be a good addition if someone has something to do with the power generated from such a device. Cultivating row crops is a good thing to do with them too.

That road work is a good thing to do too, if you have the time.

Maybe some other folks will have ideas. I understand having to get it done with the tractors though, since we often end up in the same situation, because of the same weather related issues. I often just get discouraged that I have to many acres and to many horses when that happens, but it boils down to to many expenses to address with animal power alone in all settings. Need to scale things to appropriate sizes…. (like Carl and others). But we do keep them in the woods all the time so at least that work is always there.

[Jim Ostergard]

I agree with the Bachelorfarmer. I find that I get so drove up with other things I’m not in a good place to hook Rusty up and just drive him up the road. Its fine when we are in a wood lot each day but then there are sometimes fairly long periods where I’m off on a skidder crew or doing hand work or repairs or whatever and he just hangs out and gets slack. I don’t have farm chores but the idea of dragging his pasture is a good one I’ll start doing. Don’t much like pleasure driving either. Nice thread,
Jim

[OldKat]

@Biological Woodsman 8921 wrote:

Dragging pastures with a chain harrow is a good small job that is beneficial. Some folks use the same device to drag gravel roads to knock the hump out of the middles.

A stationary treadmill would be a good addition if someone has something to do with the power generated from such a device. Cultivating row crops is a good thing to do with them too.

That road work is a good thing to do too, if you have the time.

Maybe some other folks will have ideas. I understand having to get it done with the tractors though, since we often end up in the same situation, because of the same weather related issues. I often just get discouraged that I have to many acres and to many horses when that happens, but it boils down to to many expenses to address with animal power alone in all settings. Need to scale things to appropriate sizes…. (like Carl and others). But we do keep them in the woods all the time so at least that work is always there.

Make ice cream! 🙂 Yum!

[Rod]

Hear is one job that’s easy on the driver and good exercise for the horse.

[Rod44]

The only thing more fun that driving a Haflinger is driving two of them.

Put some sweat under their collars yesterday double disking an acre garden.

[Rod]

Hi Rod (44)

Do you also raise Lowline cattle? Nice looking team.

[Rod44]

No cattle. You have a nice team too!

[Robert MoonShadow]

Seems to me that an answer to what to do with your horses/mules is already supplied by others here: Some need work to do, some need extra help to do it. Even if neither are near each other, the idea still applies: If you’ve got an idle horse or team, it seems to me that you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a nearby farmer with broken equipment or not enough time that could sure use the help… neighbor. Unless, of course, you happen to live in a part of the country where all the farmers have their work done right on time, all the time. :rolleyes:
Sure, he might need 60 acres hayed & no time/equipment to spare to do it (for example)… but I think he’d appreciate you & your single horse or team mowing 5 acres, huh? I’m just suggesting that instead of just looking for things to do with your animals for yourself, there’s plenty of opportunities to help others… and make an impression of the value of small, animal-powered farmers as neighbors = important when the next government-sponsored stupidity comes along (NAIS?), or you need help, yourself.
Just a thought.

[dominiquer60]

This happens all the time in Plain Clothes Christian neighborhoods, they all help each other and live close enough to do so. A friend of mine (Englishman) used to help his Amish neighbors with a tractor or truck now and then and they would help him in return. They had him driving teams and helping with threshing too. Amish can make good neighbors once you get to know them and any time a group of people get together to help each other community is built, and that is always a good thing in my eyes.

[Rod44]

Having horses, I would rather have an Amish neighbor than an English neighbor.:)

[Michel Boulay]

Hi Rod and Rod44,
you two being far apart seem to be good look alikes. Both have nice looking teams and the same wagon.:cool:
Mike

[Rod44]

Couple of “hunks” aren’t we Rod. Are you a Rodney or a Roderick. I’m a Roderick.

[Author]

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