DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › The Front Porch › Introductions › Tiny farming in France
- This topic has 10 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by Jeroen.
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- February 8, 2013 at 8:54 pm #44496JeroenParticipant
Hi everybody,
I found this forum through the DAP article in the Small Farmers Journal and would like to introduce myself.
On my holidays in France I got introduced to draft horses, learnt to work with them and became addicted. Bought my first horse in 2008 and three years ago my wife and I decided to leave crowded Holland and try make a living in the French countryside. We took our two drafts with us.
Now going into our fourth year we have our Garden from which we sell our vegetables, My wife (being a teacher) works in the local secondary school and I do some carpeting, logging, the chores and the household.
The horses are two Belgian mares (from Belgium) 6 and 12 years old. The oldest works well, but is a little hot and the youngest enjoys life, works well, but at her pace, sadly she is traffic shy which we work on. When we team them up it goes rather well, but I have to improve.I like this forum very much. In Europe working with draft horses is rare and allthough everyones grandparents has worked with them they are but slowly coming back mostly for ecological reasons. I allready read lots of good stories and got some good ideas and tips.
Some photos from us:
February 8, 2013 at 9:12 pm #77363gwpokyParticipantWelcome Jeroen,
Those are some beautiful horses, thanks for sharing the pictures and your introduction, put a huge smile on my face.
Hope all is well.
February 8, 2013 at 9:54 pm #77361greyParticipantMay I ask – where do you acquire your harness and collars? Is it antique equipment that is put to modern use? Or are there craftsmen who still fabricate these items new?
The rope traces with the wooden peg fastening at the collar seems (I beg your pardon) primitive, yet very functional.
February 8, 2013 at 10:23 pm #77366Billy AndersonParticipantHello Jorean
beautiful horses! well done for making such a brave move. Much respect. Must have been nerve wracking. Where in france have you moved to? Could you not have lived the same life in Holland?
February 9, 2013 at 9:23 pm #77369JeroenParticipantThank you!
Harness and collars are from Zeeland, a Dutch state just north of Belgium. They are still being made. In fact the all black collar is 10 years old and the other is from 1954. There is little leather in our harnesses, but for each job we have to take a different harness. Rope tugs and the wooden pegs are quite common, practical and cheap, but we don’t use them for logging.
The move was (and sometimes is still) nervewrecking. Quitted two well payed jobs to live our dream. Now short on money, but always outside spending lots of time with the ladies. In Holland a life like this would not have been affordable. Land and houseprices are too high.
A photo of our logging harness. The metal front part of the tugs rounds the shoulders, so there is no rubbing.
February 11, 2013 at 4:13 pm #77362dominiquer60ModeratorWelcome Jeroen,
It is good to have another vegetable farmer on the forum, what nice crops and a beautiful team you have. I like the simplicity of your harness. It looks like you use the same collar and switch the rest out depending on the task, is this correct?
Welcome to our draft community, I am glad that you found us. Please feel free to look around, all of the posts are searchable by subject, look for the search option above. You are welcome to bring up an old thread for more discussion or to start a new one of your own.
I look forward to learning more about your harness and vegetable production.
February 11, 2013 at 6:00 pm #77364LongViewFarmParticipantWelcome to the group Jeroen,
your horses are beautiful. I am hoping to make the jump to homesteading and providing income with my horses in the middle future. Where are you located in France. I’m headed that way in August and would love to see your operation if you take visitors. I’ve been trying to find farm stays and gites, particularly with horses.
I’m glad you are finding success with the new lifestyle.
Cheers,
JayFebruary 11, 2013 at 7:00 pm #77367carl nyParticipantNice team,How much you charge to ship a couple 100% mares to up-state New York….LOL My son has a 50% Brabant stud and a grade mare. His FIL has a team of 75% mares. Beautiful horses.
February 11, 2013 at 10:40 pm #77370JeroenParticipantThanks for the warm welcome!
The collars are horse-specific and the rest changes all the time. The collars are twice the weight of an american collar, so its impossible to keep everything attached. Downside is that you have to remember the adjustments or re-adjust all the time. Alltough I find them beautiful I will switch to american hame/collar combination when there is money in the bank. For now they work fine and I have to sell a lot of vegetables to pay for new ones. Transportation makes them costly for a european. We pay about $1200 each.
Being a longtime subscriber to the Small Farmers Journal I allready got lot of good ideas and tips from the US, but this forum is a super extra tool. I will certainley post questions when I have them. The internet has been a very good instrument to us up untill now! I don’t know how you all feel, but working drafts over here is very much a sort of draft desert with little oases.
Thanks for the compliments on my ladies, I love them and can watch them for hours. But in fact there is a downside to their beautifulness. Our belgians (same name for a different breed) aka dutch or belgian drafts are heavily bred on exterior and less for work. Breeding has become a sport, but finding a fine working animal has become very difficult. Too much inbreeding has caused the problem of chronic progressive lymphoedema (bad swelling legs) which can not be treated untill now. They still breed with horses who got it and it is genetic. The eldest mare got it and I see the first symtoms on the youngest. There is a way to slow down the swelling and thats work, work, work. I have to work them everyday which is fine by me. Learnt even to ride them (and how to fall off).
We are located in the south west of France, just above the famous Bordeaux wine area. We don’t do farm stays or visits, but when you are close give us a call. In fact operation is a big word for the tiniest of farms…
Brabant is one of the regions where the breed originated, this region nowadays is located in the two countries Netherlands and Belgium. We don’t call them brabants anymore.
Shipping is to expensive as you say, but the purchase is not. A breeding mare will cost you around $2500. A yearling $1300. But then again: how to find a healty one…They change color all the time, same horse:
February 12, 2013 at 4:08 pm #77365sean518ParticipantHello Jeroen, welcome aboard. Beautiful horses! I have two 50% European blue roan Belgian fillies. We board two other European crosses (we call the European Belgians Brabants here in the US to distinguish them from American Belgians, which are just called Belgians) and one of them has CPL in one hind leg. It’s not fun at all to deal with, but it is manageable. I’m glad I have crosses, as I don’t want to have any horses with CPL, and that will lessen the chances (along with the feathers). There is a lady in Ohio who has just started importing Belgians from Belgium again. She’s making sure that their the offspring of clean legged horses, although that’s no guarantee that the CPL won’t happen. She got a shipment of two blue roan filles, and has two more shipments already lined up. They’re out of my price range, though, she’s asking $13,000 each for them.
Best of luck with everything!
– Sean
February 20, 2013 at 10:46 pm #77368rookieParticipantWhat beautiful horses!! Welcome!!
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