Pairing of animals

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Now, most of the stuff I’ve read says thatwhen you put a team together, you can’t split them up, swap them round or work them as a team with other animals.

I can see that being the case with animals brought up and always worked together, but what about singles who have particular attachment to a teammate?

I’ve seen many accounts and photos of oxen working with horses, in a pair, in fact even one ox in a team of 3 horses for some reason?

I’m wondering if I got another single (which I should do anytime now – ayrshire or dairy shorthorn) if I did want to work it together with Angus (this is with harness not yokes) do you think it would work? He did get on well with his younger brown swiss friend and didn’t like to be left out if I was training him. I think it would be OK – you maybe wouldn’t get the true harmony you do from a pair brought up together but it would basically work.

[mother katherine]

I’ve heard and read that, as well. I believe it would depend on the individual steer. At a symposium I attended there were a couple of pair whose partners had died. One steer actually switched position as well as accepting a new partner. These guys were quite mature when the changes were made.
I had 4 calves, all brothers born within 2 weeks of each other and brought collectively to the monastery as newborns, that I was starting and, at the beginning, switched them out in training to see who worked best together. In a couple of months, bRod would accept only Bright as his partner in the yoke.
Question of curiosity: why “Ixy”?
oxnun

[bivol]

if steers are brought up together, they bond more, and it’s ofcourse harder for them to accept change of partner. but that’s why it’s recommended to teach oxen to work as singles and then teach them to work as a team.

in the past, the rule was “use what you’ve got”. if you have a cow and a horse, you’d use that, and see that it worked.
so, yes, oxen can be worked with other animals, especially if wearing harness, but you must adjust your training to make these two animals

I can see that being the case with animals brought up and always worked together, but what about singles who have particular attachment to a teammate?

my guess is that, although the oxen share an obvious affection to each other, they already know to work on their own, so pairing with other oxen shouldn’t be a problem. just consider that oxen, as well as people, just can’t “stomack” some other oxen, they have mutual antagonism. there is no rule to that, you just have to observe their reactions. but i guess it could be due to their characters being fundamentally different…:confused: matching for temperament is very important. search the new ox to fit the temper of your ox.
try to get an animal of similar hight.
you use the harness so adjusting the strenght shouldn’t be a problem, but their speed should be similar.

see that they’re matched in temperament and size, and it should well work.

[Howie]

If they are trained properly as a single, there will be very little problem working them with any other animal.:)

[Nat(wasIxy)]

@mother katherine 11310 wrote:

Question of curiosity: why “Ixy”?
oxnun

Because I breed a rare breed of chicken called ‘ixworths’ – 😀

[Vicki]

Like Howie says, there should be little problem. Of course, the animals will have to adjust a bit to each other to be really fine-tuned, but should be perfectly able to perform work in the yoke. Having the same pace or speed is important.

I have a single that I can put in either side with my main ox team. They all live together so they “know” one another and each’s status in the herd. But oxen should be reasonably interchangeable, especially if keeping to the same side in the yoke, though a clever ox can even learn to change sides.

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Just what I wanted to hear people, as my new Ayrshire calf arrives in just over a week if all goes to plan 😀

[ivy]

I had been wondering about animal pairing lately as well. I have a Holstein steer who is 1 year old and trained single. All the while I have been training him, I have had a Jersey heifer almost 1 year old who is pretty interested in what was going on. So this summer, I started taking her out, single. She’s pretty eager to please and things have been going along well, even though I didn’t start her as young as my boy.

Lately, I’ve been clipping their halters together and making them go as a pair, heifer nigh and steer off. This sort of works okay, I think they just need more time.

But I wondered if there is any kind of yoking or harnessing system that accommodates for such a difference in size and strength? I have seen yokes that can use leverage (slide in or out a little) to balance the animals out, but they are rather different sizes now and the discrepancy will only get bigger.

This, of course, is not a huge dilemma for me, as I don’t need a pair, matched or otherwise. Yet, when people just had to pair what they had – horse or ox or whatever, what system did they use?

[Howie]

Use two single yokes tied together and a double tree.:)

[Tim Harrigan]

Ivy: If they are pulling a load that requires some effort you can give the smaller one an advantage by doing what Howie says and moving the hitch point on the double tree closer to the larger animal. How much does each animal weigh? I can give you some guidance based on that for a starter.

[ivy]

Hi Tim and Howie! Thanks for replying.

Lucky (steer) weighs about 775 pounds and Hershey (heifer) weighs maybe 550 pounds. Lucky also trains with heavier things while Hersh more goes out for fun right now, so I suspect he is stronger (at least for now) on more than a pound per pound basis.

[Tim Harrigan]

Ivy:
Usually you would start by adjusting based on the proportional weight of each animal. The combined weight of your team is 1325 with Lucky about 60% and Hershey 40% of the total weight. I would make an evener out of a strong piece of wood like oak or hickory. Drill holes for each end clevis about 2 inches in from each end. Measure the size of the evener based on the distance from the center of each end hole. A length of 36 inches (40 inch overall) or 38 inches (42 overall) should be fine but that will depend somewhat on the length of your single trees.

The center hole placement is the important one for distributing the pull. You want the largest animal to have the shortest distance from their clevis to the center hole. Keep it simple and line the center hole up with the two end holes. The placement of the center hole can be made in opposite proportion to each animals weight. Lucky is 60% of the weight, so give him 40% of the distance to the center hole. If you use a 38 inch evener place the center of the middle hole 38 inches * 0.40 = 15.2 inches in from the center of his clevis hole. That means the distance from Hershey’s clevis will be 38 * 0.60 = 22.8 inches from the center hole. 15.2 + 22.8 = 38 inches. That will distribute the pull evenly based on weight. You may need to do some fine-tuning based on how they actually pull, so a series of center holes a few inches apart might be useful.

If you do it, let us know how it goes.

[ivy]

Awesome. Thanks Tim. An excellent combination of math and oxen, two of my favourite things. I will let you know how it works out.

Cheers
ivy

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Yes really excellent information there for us physics dummies!

[Author]

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