starting oxen

[Rod]

I have a 9 month old Dutch Belted steer which I am working with having originally planned to use him as a single steer/ox. However I am now reconsidering the single oxen thing as I realize the amount of time I need to put into him before he is fully trained and ready for heavy work and think perhaps I should be training a team to be sure I am not sorry later.

I have located another Dutch Belted steer one month old that I can get to pair up with him and wondered if the age difference between him and my other steer is going to be a huge training and matching problem. Probably in a couple of years they will be the same size etc. but what about in the mean time? What training obstacles would I be looking at? Any ideas or experiences are welcome. Dutch Belted steer calves are hard to find.

[Howie]

It will be a year or so before they really match up size wise. You can get a lot of work out of them in the meantime. Train them both single. Then put them side by side whith their yokes fastend together and hitch them on a double tree.
Years ago my son and I used to work his Irish Dexter, 1200#, with my off ox, a Holstien 2500#. We done it just for fun and demonstration. I think Andy has a picture of them working that way.
You can work them this way as long as you want.
When they get somwhere near the same size you can build them a regular yoke. If need be you can put different size bows on each end.

[Author]

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