Practical Uses for Light Draft

[dlskidmore]

I current have a (mosty) draft trained Great Dane. So far we’ve done tire dragging and bicycle work with a sled-dog style harness. My goals were to train her for pleasure driving, but I’m looking to apply her to more practical uses when we get more land.

She obviously doesn’t have the power to operate heavy equipment. She wants to really move or be at heel, walking ahead of me for long periods of time just is not interesting to her. She does seem to enjoy heavier work if she is beside me and working with me instead of for me, but heavy work for her is still light work to a horse. I do think though she could be very useful just helping me move things around the place.

Equipment I’m planning:
Cart
Wagon Adapter and Cart Shaft
Dorsal Hitch Harness

This setup should be able to bear more weight than I’d actually want her pulling, and will feel similar to other equipment I’d like to have someday.

I’ve also heard from other dog drafting people that use their dogs for light logging. (Pulling out firewood, not structural timbers.)

What practical uses have you found for smaller draft animals?

[mother katherine]

This is to tout the ox again.
As you are already used to walking beside the draft animal istead of behind it, the working cattle would be familiar, as most teamsters walk beside their teams, as well as ahead of or behind them.
No reins.
oxnun

[dlskidmore]

@mother katherine 18530 wrote:

This is to tout the ox again.
As you are already used to walking beside the draft animal istead of behind it, the working cattle would be familiar, as most teamsters walk beside their teams, as well as ahead of or behind them.
No reins.
oxnun

I’ve read about using oxen, but not heard of it being done anywhere around here. How do you find suitable yokes/harnesses? I’ve also heard unfavorable things about the temperament of oxen, and read that historically farmers were able to improve productivity after switching from oxen to horses. What are the pros of oxen over horses? (Assuming I want to go for a larger draft animal I’m not currently familiar with.)

[dlskidmore]

We have small push reel mowers that can be handled by an individual human, and really wide ones for two-horse teams. Is there something in the middle for small draft animals?

Maybe something like this with no seat and a slightly wider mower. (My large self is hard enough to pull over rough ground without powering a ground-driven mechanism too.)

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