Tough going in Vermont clay

[goodcompanion]

Hello All,

Thanks to Carl and Lisa for putting this together. I have high hopes for this forum!

By way of introduction, I’m a farmer and baker in addison county, vermont. Last summer my family and I moved onto the farm. We’ve been trying to build-up the sort of operation that I think is central to discussions of an animal-powered future–it’s a diversified operation with a focus on grain production and brick-oven baking here on the farm. In the height of the summer we baked 500 loaves a week. Now we’re more around 200, just because it’s winter and there are no farmers’ markets.

Frankly the horse-drawn aspect of what we do has had a lot of ups and downs for the short time we’ve been at it. It is tough to get the right team the first time out and we’re still not there. It’s been very gratifying when things have gone well, and very frustrating and expensive when they have not, which I have to admit, is the majority of the time.

I’m still committed to a horse-drawn future for this farm and am determined to keep at it. I believe down the road it will really come down to a choice between animal power or no power at all, so someone’s got to learn how to put the animals in harness, drag the equipment out of the hedgerows, and figure out how to make it all work, so why not us?

But in the here and now, my 50 year-old 8N tractor really gets the work done when the chips are down. Lynn Miller says a fit team can plow an acre and a half a day, why can’t mine manage more than a quarter acre? The tractor can do four or five in a day on just two cans of gas. If my goal is to be financial viability for the farm in the world we live in right now, well, if I’m brutally honest, the smartest thing I could do is to get rid of all the horses.

I’m frustrated with the lack of peers in the field around here. Most draft owners I know hereabouts, in my immediate area, do not expect their horses to pay off unless they are in the pricey ride business.

Bottom line is, in my opinion, this is a tough field to get into, with a hell of a lot to have to know. And the world doesn’t spare the punches while you’re trying to learn it.

I have had a lot of challenges learning to bake first-rate bread too, but while yeast, like horses, require a lot of knowledge and intuition to understand well and make work for you, they are also very very cheap and you can kill them by the millions and not feel bad about it.

[John O]

The economic viabilty of animal power seems like an essential topic, though I don’t mean to imply that everything comes down to money. For my farm, oxen seem to make some financial sense. I have a small herd of cows so have extra bull calves– steers are fairly easy to train, easy keepers, hardy, and taste good if things come to that.

Today I spent some time training my newest team, a small pair of Dexter calves. They’re nine months old and do well moving small square bales around the farm on a small sled– it saves me time, trains them, and doesn’t use fuel.

In the summer, I make my hay (5,000 bales this year) with two Farmall H’s but I’m trying to devise more ways to farm with animal power.

I like these Dexters– I’ve had more than a few teams of various breeds but the thrift of the Dexters makes sense. They don’t eat much and seem to be proportionately stronger than other breeds. They’re not docile but fiesty enough to get the job done. I’ve done mostly logging with them– they do well on the snow. The question is how much farming can get done with a team that weighs about a ton as mature animals, as do Dexter steers.

[Anonymous]

For only using drafts one year, you have learned some valuable lessons already.
For a team that doesn’t do much all winter, it could easily take a couple weeks or better for them to harden up enough to be plowing an acre a day and here in the northeast, sometimes you only get a couple good weeks to get your plowing done. I insisted on ‘making it work’ and spent the whole year always a month behind and still not being able to finish all I wanted.
You’re also right on about so much to learn about farming and farming with horses. After about four years, you should learn enough to know how much you still don’t know. You seem to be there already? Sustainable horse farming is only for the privledged.

[Jim Ostergard]

It is very difficult to sometimes justify the learning curve and economics changing to animals as the motive power. I am a full time logger and used a farm tractor with Farmi winch and a small skidder for a number of years. Changed to a single horse and it has not been easy. Here in the mid-cost area of Maine most of the good wood is gone. Working on the traditional stumpage model with the low production is pretty much a losing proposition. Its a niche market and in the last few years I am seeing more possiblities from folks who are willing to place a low impact harvest over maximizing the dollar value of the extraction.
And then there are the animals!! My first horse after I got rid of the skidder and forwarder (learned a month later that horses don’t stack wood) and I had a hard time of if. I just was not at a place to understand him and get him to work. Gave him to a young fellow who wanted to cut wood in the winters and they do really well together. Right horse to the right person. My second and current horse was a rescue Belgian and after two years we have a good working relationship. Not being a, “horse person,” has made it a longer process but it has been worth it to have such a special relationship with a large animal. He is old, very powerful and enjoys our partnership.
Still a lot to work out and I hope to find financial justification for a partner for him this winter. For this month I’m running a skidder on a job up the coast to get some money ahead.
Keep trying, don’t get rid of the tractor….yet. The proper time for that will come.
JIm Ostergard

[goodcompanion]

Thanks for your thoughts. I’m kind of wondering if there is someone else out there who is embarking on a mission of similar challenges who might be interested in exchanging ideas and observations in more detail.

I’m learning to be a realist. One of my strategies for next year is to make a practice of using the horses for smaller jobs with more regularity, instead of just for large jobs occasionally.

Large jobs occasionally is the nature of a grain farm. We need grain to bake bread. Growing less grain isn’t an option since we still don’t produce enough to supply our own bakery. I’ll just be flexible about how these large jobs get done. But we’ll diversify our planting next year and incorporate more beans and maybe potatoes, plus the grain and hay, and that will lend itself to a more even workload throughout the season.

[Anonymous]

Well I would’ve loved to have shared more details from my experience but you ask for someone else who is embarking on the same endeavor(?). Goodluck with that.

[CRTreeDude]

I am not sure it makes any sense, but it might so I will through it out there.

Using draft animal power is going to make the most sense when you using it in situation where it is a disadvantage to use something else. This is not to say that you won’t be able to use it elsewhere, just it may not be profitable.

The same thing is true for business. If you choose to use older technology, make sure it is to produce something that cannot be easily massed produced.

For example, we are going to use horses for hauling timber, these tend to be thinnings and so are not that big. Usually we will not thin more than 10% a year in each section – perhaps 20%. Our terrain for 8 months of the year is very soft. Usually here logging is only done for a short time of the year. Using horses we can harvest all year long – and hopefully for less costs.

What I am trying to say is look for areas to use draft animals where it is an advantage, not a disadvantage.

[Rod]

The other day it was warm enough to soften the frozen manure in my cattle yard so I cleaned it with my Bobcat. When finished as I was parking it the motor gave out. Lots of noises and blue smoke do not bode well for this machine. This has been a somewhat routine happening with this older machine which finds itself in the repair shop off and on throughout the year for one thing or anouther. As I look at my farm expenses at the end of the year I see a large amount in the machine maintaince catagory and a second big figure in the fuel department. I filled my diesel pickup truck up the other day and the cost was $94.50.
When my Bobcat died (again) my thoughts turned to my two working steers and I wondered, hmmm, could they clean my pens, or maybe there is a better more natural way of feeding my stock on pasture so as to minimize the manure buildup with associated cleanup and machine issues. Moving the hay to them is possible with the steers and they will always start on a cold morning something my diesels are often adverse to.
My machines do minimize the labor of some tasks and do others with ease but not without a cost. Rethinking the way of farming and ways to avoid the machine trap are some thoughts that I ponder frequently. No answers yet but with the way fuel costs, and machine parts and dealer labor rates are going it may just be necessary in the future to go back to the older ways, perhaps mixed with some new thinking and technology to make it work a little easier.

[Rick Alger]

I think your strategy for next year is sound – frequent use at small jobs. Back in the sixties a lot of farms around here were still mixed power, and they wouldn’t have kept the horses around without a good reason. I’ll bet you have neighbors who did this also. They could tell you which small jobs they used the horses for. Jobs that come to mind from my experience are row crop cultivation, raking, rock removal, fencing, logging and spreading manure.

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