starting my first team

[skunk]

so i want to start a team of oxen this summer for small low-impact logging jobs that dont need a tractor or for costumers that would rather have draft animal power. mostly pulling firewood and maybe some saw logs here and there. there are some teams for sale in my area but i kind of want to train my own for a more and better hands on relationship and train them the way i want.

im interested in jerseys or some other smaller breed. mostly because i think they would be more affordable to keep. but will they actually be more affordable? so i have a few questions.

how many bales of hay would a team of jerseys eat in a day? i dont have pasture of my own. how much more would a larger breed eat? will a jersey team be strong enough for pulling firewood/saw logs all day? and how much do they weigh? id like to have a small trailer for pulling them to jobs.

thanks! -skunk

[Tim Harrigan]

To answer a few of your questions, of course large animals will eat more than small animals. For general planning purposes you can think in terms of cattle eating about 2.5% of their body weight in dry matter per day. So if an animal is 1000 lbs, about 25 lbs of dry matter. Dry hay might be 15% moisture so you will have to feed about 29 lbs of hay to get 25 lbs of dry matter. When you throw in feeding losses that might be 10% or so depending on how you are feeding them you could be in the 30-35 lb/day range for each 1000 lb animal.

Jerseys can be a good working team and I am guessing steers will go about 1500 lb when full grown. What is unknown from your description is how well trained and conditioned they might be. If they are in working condition they could be a good team for skidding firewood and reasonable size saw logs.

“so i want to start a team of oxen this summer for small low-impact logging jobs that dont need a tractor or for costumers that would rather have draft animal power. mostly pulling firewood and maybe some saw logs here and there. there are some teams for sale in my area but i kind of want to train my own for a more and better hands on relationship and train them the way i want.”

When I read this I picture you managing and using your team the same way you might use your tractor, taking them out for certain jobs here and there and parking them when animal traction is not your preferred method. Starting and training a young team will take a considerable amount of time and commitment, and when the team is young it will not include getting much actual work done. When they are older, the more they are worked the better they will be. If you do not put time in early on, and work them only occasionally later on, you will not likely have the nice working team that you envision.

I encourage you to consider purchasing an older, trained team if you will have enough work using oxen to justify the time and expense, and the value of the enjoyment they will provide if you truly like working with them. They will be productive sooner, and will probably be more forgiving in their response than a younger team might be since this is your first team and there might be some gaps in your training process. That will give you a chance to learn about working and training oxen and will allow you to be better prepared to train a young team down the road if you decide to go that way.

[fabian]

Tim, what do you think about the future behavior of the well trained team if the new teamster is not as experienced as he should be (and the former trainer probably was) ?

Wolfgang

[Tim Harrigan]

@fabian 27070 wrote:

Tim, what do you think about the future behavior of the well trained team if the new teamster is not as experienced as he should be (and the former trainer probably was) ?
Wolfgang

I think it will depend on the team and the teamster. Some teams are pretty laid back and willing to go along with just about anything without complaint. Other teams will begin testing you as soon as you pick up the goad to find out exactly what they can get away with. Match a novice teamster with a ‘hot’ or poorly trained team and you will probably have problems. It could work, but the teamster better get up to speed quick. Put the same person with a laid back team and it could go fine, the only drawback is they might not learn much.

In some ways the same thing can happen when training a young team from calves. Some are laid back, others are not so willing to follow along easily. It seems like a lot of novice teamsters who do not have ready access to a mentor end up not that happy with their first team. It is a challenge to anticipate what the important issues are the first time around, and they may not realize when certain behaviors indicate problems are emerging until they become a project. And, they often do not understand how to correct problems that have cropped up. None of the important stuff a teamster needs to know is in a book.

So it is hard to anticipate how a given situation will unfold, but it is nice if the team and teamster are a good match. I just sensed in this situation that getting to work might be important and in that case an older, trained team is a good choice. I don’t buy the idea that you have to train a team from calves in order to have a solid relationship. They are herd animals. If you respect them and demonstrate leadership and trust, you will bond as a team.

[Baystatetom]

I got a team of jerseys for my kids a few years ago for two reasons, one I got them for free, secondly they are wicked cute calves (very important for little girls). I heard all kinds of bad things about jerseys but I have to say they were hands down the smartest, fastest to learn team I ever had. It took no time at all to have them working like robots. I swear I could have taught them to do back flips in a week. They pulled hard too, but in the end I decided that I would not keep them long term because I just wasn’t convinced they would be strong enough to pull large logs. Firewood defiantly yes.
I have another team I am planning on using for logging, following the low impact idea. I am a consulting forester and clients ask me about draft animal logging all the time. However I am thinking of using them with a tractor. Essentially I want to use the oxen like a winch. They can bring the trees from the stump to wherever I can easily grab it with a tractor.
Tim gave a pretty good answer about feed. I am not that scientific but I can say my spring born jerseys ate 120 bales in there first winter, and my blue roans the same age must have been north of 150.

[Anonymous]

Hi skunk,
I started a new team my self about two years ago, never having worked or even owned any animals besides pigs. I’m big on being self taught, and I asked every teamster I ever met any question I could, and read everything I could get my hands on, and today Luke and Able are a competent team in the woods and out. I started a team for some of the same reasons that you have, and having had the experiences I’ve had, I would totally recommend getting a team. As Tim says, a team is a big commitment. I certainly wouldn’t call my self an expert by any stretch, but if I could give you any advice it would be to think about a larger team than jerseys, and to find a teamster who is willing to mentor you. I’m not bashing jerseys at all- from what I know they are smart as a whip. I will say that as I work in the woods, although my team is not full grown, cattle, even large breeds, are much more agile and maneuverable than a tractor, and that in woods work there are often times when little more than huge amounts of strength are needed. Good luck!

[skunk]

thats for all the info. its going to be hard for me to decide what to do. i do feel like i definitely have the time to train my own team. currently im only finding afew tree jobs a week and can keep it that way if i had to train a team. plus i can get new borns for free at a local farm. i do like the thought of a trained team thats ready to make some money and work around home as well. im getting alot of folks that want me to do work with draft animals so that sooner the better.

there is a team for sale for 800 around here trained by children. they are 10 months and can do all basic commands and work in a yoke. i feel like if a 10 and 12 year kid can train a team of oxen, why cant i? there is a nother team thats 3 year old jerseys for 1400 and they come with a yoke. thats still alot cheaper that a 4×4 tractor and a winch.

good info on the amount of food they eat as well. im going to keep that in mind.

im still not sure on the breed. i like the idea of the smaller jersey for ease of transport and less hay consumption. but now and then you just need that big log pulled…

miles, i think i have heard about you before. claire told me about you and your oxen. maybe sometime we could meet up and i could check out your team. give me a ring if you have the time and interest. 802.598.4434

thanks for time info everyone!!!

[Author]

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