Thoughts about the biomechanics of oxen pulling heavier loads

[Andy Carson]

As I have been working and conditioning my new oxen, I have got the chance to see how they adapt to pulling heavier loads. I think the adaptations and pulign techniques are interesting and thought I would post my thoughts. I am sure I am not the first to make alot of these observations, but I think they might stimulate some interesting discussion. First, I find it interesting that the pull from these boys is so smooth and steady. There are no noticable changes in the forward velocity of the sled at different parts of the gait. I think some of this might be attributable to having a large percentage of the load and effort carried by the front quarters. I suspect that that front quarters are more adaptable to exerting a slow smooth pull because of the flexible make-up of the joint itself and the many muscle groups that can be recruited to different parts of the movement. I have attached a link to a an atatomy schematic with the muscle groups illustrated for the purposes of discussion. Somehow, I had expected that the main “worker” muscles would be the latissumus dorsi swinging the front leg back like a pendulum and the trapezius lifting to support the load which is placed on the neck. Having watched the boys working and feeling the heat and tone of thier developing muscles, I see large contributions from other muscle groups which I had not initially expected. I was suprized to see how hard the triceps brachii work. I guess this makes sense as any pulling on the part of the latissimus dorsi only be effective if the leg was straight (as a pendulum) and the triceps would have to be strong enough to hold the leg straight. I have also noticed alot of development of the brachiocephalicus on the side of the neck. These muscles has really perked up and will make my boys outgrow thier yoke pretty quick if they keep growing at this rate. I suspect these muscles are used to control the lateral forces that the yoke exerts on the neck. I don’t know if this is a “normal” muscle to develop or a sign that they boys need more practice working together so they aren’t exerting lateral forces. I do not notice these lateral forces when watching them work, but I suspect that since they are still learning to walk together, significant lateral forces wouldn’t suprize me. I took a look at several pictures of competative pulling oxen and was interested to see that it seems thier muscle development is generally (at least to my yet untrained eye) distributed pretty uniformly thought the body. Perhaps something about the gait of oxen allows muscles from the entire body to be recruited without a larger fraction of the work being delegated to specific muscle groups. There does seems to be larger muscles in the front quarters, but these muscles were larger to begin with and I am not sure is they grow by a larger percentage than the muscles of the rear. In a more detailed view, even the muscles of the shoulder and neck seem to grow my about the same percentage comparing untrained oxen to competative pullers. This is consistant with the idea that the complexity of the shoulder joint is able to distribute the load uniformly throughout the different sections of the stride, which generates a very smooth pull and generally uniform muscle development. Like I said, many of these observations might be obvious to others, but I thought they were interesting and might be interesting points of discussion. Who else has thoughts to share?

Here’s the link to the atatomy chart, so we are sure we are talking about the same muscle groups.
http://livestock.iptime.org:8000/~livestock/dairy/Dairy/A/A028.htm

[Tim Harrigan]

This is not something that I have given much thought to. If you look at some of the pictures of pulling oxen that Oxhill just posted in the Oxen section you will see really well defined muscle action. Regarding the smoothness of power delivery, if you go back an look at some of the draft measurements I made you will see clear pulsing as the team steps into the load. I am not sure if it is a smoother delivery though a chain with a team that a single with a singletree. With Will and Abe I thought is varied depending upon if they were stepping forward in phase, which would accent the pulse, or out of phase i.e. where one began the forward stride when the other was completing it. That would minimize the pulsing. The out of phase would have the chain and yoke act more like a class II lever with each member of the team alternating between being the force and the fulcrum. The pull that Will provides single through the singletree is pretty smooth, although I have not measured it.

[Andy Carson]

Andrew’s pulling oxen pictures are great to use to flesh out these thoughts. It is interesting to note that the different teams (and possibly different breeds) seem to use different pulling techniques. The chianina types seem to lower their rear end and lift the front end in a way that reminds me of horse pulling, except for the hyperextended back. This essentially uses their body weight as a lever against the weight of tye self with the bottoms of their rear feet as a pivot. Because of the extreme weight and the geometry of this body positon, the potential force from this type of pull is enormous. The rear quarters of these types look particularly strong. With this technique the power has to be transmitted through the entire body to the yoke. It seems to hyperextend the back, which is nasty looking to me but i really have no idea if it should really be a concern or not. The trapezius is also huge in these types as power has to be trnasmitted to the yoke. The other technique that seem to be used is the lean forward and catch yourself before your once hits the ground. In this technique, power seems to come from the front legs with the weight of the upper body pivoting around an axis at the bottom of the front feet. The oxen that do this seem to almost fall forward and then catch themselves before thier noses hit the ground. Because the distance between the weight (upper body, head, neck) is closer to the pivot point, it would be important to keep low and the animals seems to have learned this. These types also have alot of muscle developement in the trapezius to transmit power from the front quarters to the yoke. They also seem to have alot of muscle development in the triceps, which allows the front legs to act as a functional pivot point and also elevates the front end after each stride/fall. These types seem to replace the muscle development in the rear with muscle development in the latisumus, giving some of these a “buffalo hump” look. It’s hard to tell what the rear is doing with this technique, but I am sure it’s doing something. Even thought the muscles are huge back there, they are well toned in these boys.

Regarding the smoothness of the pull, I do remeber your data about this now that you mention it, Tim. I know I don’t have data on this, but the pull of oxen sure seems more smooth than what I’m used to seeing from a single horse. Perhaps, as you point out, it is the difference between a team and a single. I do think that oxen are smoother, though, but I am not sure. Not 100% even, but just smoother. The slower rate of pull might be deceptive. Perhaps next time I’m out I’ll put my coil spring buffer on and see if it flexes much.

[Kevin Cunningham]

I read this post a while back and have been thinking about it as I am working the boys recently. I am trying to see if there is any noticable change in muscle tone and size. My training regime has been steadily increasing the weight they can pull and I am noticing they are getting stronger. They can easily pull loads they were not capable off just a short time ago. The one muscle that I can see popping up and looking bigger and more defined is the deltoid. I just noticed it yesterday on my near steer bulging out and obiviously working hard on a pull. It is definately taking on more definintion. Plus the trapezious is obviously larger when you compare it to the steers of the same age that don’t do any work. They kinda look a little bit like thick necked football players. I agree that the triceps seem to do alot of work but I they are not popping up like the deltoids are. As far as smoothness is concerned I notice that they seems to pull real smooth when the gait is in unison. Meaning they are stepping with the same leg in time. If the step is opposite left and right together or if it is a half or another faction off that would mean a bit of rocking in the yoke. This could account for some surging through the chain. So is it possible to train them to step in time, like dancers or soldiers would?

[Droverone]

simple physics would say that stepping in cadence would allow the load to stop for an immeasureable millisecond, between the steps, whilst not being in cadence would allow the load to be in continuous motion, due to the fact that a leg would be in contact with the groound continuously.

[Andy Carson]

I agree that out of phase walking should produce the smoothest pull. There are probably advantages to walking in phase, though, such as in overcoming inertia to start a heavy load. I wonder if the animals can feel these efforts and adjust on thier own to walk in phase or out of phase at different times. They wouldn’t have to reason this out, it might just be a feelign of “or this is easier now” and a rough memory or the times with walking in or out of phase is easier. I notice many of the same muscle you mention, Kevin, except the deltoids. I suppose the application in cattle might be different, but I would imagine that these move the front legs foreward for the next stride. Important, yes, but not what I would consider a high strength movement. I am finding it much more tricky to see the muscle movements and articulations in cattle than in horses. It might be the flatness of many important muscle groups, but I also think that the complexity of the shoulder joint makes these observations hard. There are so many muscle groups there and some of the deeper ones are hidden by the surface groups or are underneath the leg. One thing that really helps me notice fatigue is if a muscle starts to quiver. I don’t like to push them this far, but when I do, it’s always the triceps on my guys.

[Kevin Cunningham]

It could be that my bovine anatomy is not what it should be and what I am seeing is also the triceps. It is hard to tell the definition of the muscle groups on the cattle, but what I am noticing is a bulge happening at the top of the leg and I visibly see it working when they pull.

[Droverone]

http://livestock.iptime.org:8000/~livestock/dairy/Dairy/A/A028.htm
This might help

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