Using a pole with swiss-type harness and team

[Gulo]

I wonder if anyone can tell me if they have any idea how the ox-collar setup is used with a team on a pole. I am using the collar setup on my water buffalo, as they seem to prefer it to a traditional yoke, but have yet to find a diagram showing how others attach a pole when using a team. I am thinking i will simply sling a horse-yoke underneath, hanging from the bottom hame-straps. I am going to try them out on my forecart, maybe rake some hay with them.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[bivol]

Hi Gulo!

when you mean pole, do you mean the wagon pole?

if you mean road work, than you basically harness them as on the picture below.

note that the pole is held level above ground without the oxen holding it up, as they would do with a yoke.

braking is accomplished by heavy leather collars around each animal’s neck, who are connected to the pole.

[Gulo]

Thanks, bivol.

I still can’t really make out what they are doing with the pole (wagon pole, yes.) It must be attached to something between the animals, but i can’t tell what. Is that some kind of cross-bar?

[bivol]

no, there’s no cross-bar, they’re simply chains leading from the animal’s leather collar (not the harness) to the pole, where they are secured by pins.
i don’t think they need cross-trees.

note that the chains were fastened well before the animals. this is because they were in the breaking position, they breaked the wagon and remained there. this is where the oxen should be when they’re breaking, not too far behind (so, watch the chain length!). the pole should be long enough,too.

also, look at this picture. seems to show the chains. the big iron ring aroung the pole is fixed to the middle of the chain, and it’s slipped and fixed to the pole.

[Vicki]

bivol, these photos are so fantastic! Thanks.

[bivol]

@Vicki 11203 wrote:

bivol, these photos are so fantastic! Thanks.

😀 no problem!
these are from Germany, if you want more, just google “ochsengesapann” (ox-team), or “kuhgespann” (cow team), and click on pictures!

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Thanks for the keywords bivol! There’s pages and pages of pictures! Oxen must be/have been more popular in germany than england as in english there aren’t so many?

Are there many ox books in deutsch? Ich lernen deutsch auf dem schule fur funf jahre, aber ich bin nicht so gut! 😮 If only I was better!

I notice most of the oxen wearing collars rather than yokes, too. And I found my dream – a picture of three working abreast! It’s my ambition to work a welsh black, ruby red devon and white park abreast 😀

[CharlyBonifaz]

“ochsengesapann”

“ochsengespann”
might find you more with googles 😉
also try the french
“attelage de boeufs” , “attelage bovin”
the italian
“coppia di buoi”
the spanish
“yunta de bueyes”
and don’t forget to check on youtube as well
lots of fun!

and ixy:
yes there are actually 2 books/booklets in German concerned with the working oxen:

“Modernes Geschirr für Arbeitsrinder” by Rolf Minhorst
http://zugrinder.de/eng/eng_index.html
it contains a pattern for various sizes of 3pad-harnesses

“Kuhanspannung in Deutschland” by Heinrich Steinmetz
a reprint from 1936
http://www.amazon.de/Kuhanspannung-Deutschland-J%C3%B6rg-Bremond/dp/398086751X
contains any knowledge they had on German harnessing of cattle during those years; very good overview over the then known harnesses, yokes etc.

elke

[Anne]

We tried it this spring.

If you are on your own, walking next to your team, braking is a problem.
I always need a second person to slow down the wagon. On the picture you can see a friend of mine doing the braking on the wagon.
Each animal is wearing a neckband which is fixed to the pole by a chain. That´s fine to do the steering. But it´s not enough to brake the load safely.
It might not be such a problem in a plane area. But if you get some speed…

[CharlyBonifaz]

@Anne
try a britchen hooked to the pole
elke

[bivol]

@Ixy 11237 wrote:

Thanks for the keywords bivol! There’s pages and pages of pictures! Oxen must be/have been more popular in germany than england as in english there aren’t so many?

Are there many ox books in deutsch? Ich lernen deutsch auf dem schule fur funf jahre, aber ich bin nicht so gut! 😮 If only I was better!

I notice most of the oxen wearing collars rather than yokes, too. And I found my dream – a picture of three working abreast! It’s my ambition to work a welsh black, ruby red devon and white park abreast 😀

No problem, glad you like them!

bovines, mostly cows, were very popular in germany up until the 60s, when the mechanization was complete.
i red somewhere that the working cow population in the 30s numbered somewhere around 2.5 million. without oxen.
cows were the prefered, and often only, power source available to smallholders.
they gave milk, calf, and work… and on top of that, a little, but (in my country) much appreciated fact: cows weren’t mobilized in case of war, and horses were. so in case of war, a smallholder still had the means to work on his farm.
when you make that three-colour abreast, do post it! it could be used as a commercial, too! 😉

books… hm, there is the manual for making the 3-pad ox harness, (autor dr. Rolf Minhorst) and it deals with working oxen and various things like comparing efficiency between head yokes and harness, working cattle history, shoeing, history of yoke types, and of course, making a 3-pad harness. this manual covers all the essential stuff one needs to know if one is an “extension officer, eko-farmer, or hobby ox driver”.
elke, good thing you posted the “kuhanspanung in deutschland”, i’m ordering it right away!

to all interested, you can try googling:

German

ochsengespann pflügen (oxen team plowing)

ochsenkarren (oxen cart)

ochsenwagen (oxen wagon)

ochsen pflügen (oxen plowing)

kuh pflügen (plowing cow)

Italian

buoi aratro (oxen plow)

Romanian

car cu boi (cart pulled by oxen)

boi carul (oxen cart)

car cu bivoli (buffalo cart- yes, Romanians have water buffaloes)

Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian

volovi

[Anne]

Hallo Elke!

I tried it that way:

How do you fix them?

[fabian]

Thank you Bivol for giving the romanian keywords. You made me a fine evening 😉

[fabian]

Anne: Does THAT work ?
I fix the Britchen at the collar. That did work good
Since one year I use most the Neck-yoke. So I fix the britchen at rings on the backside of the neck yoke.

[CharlyBonifaz]

@Anne
run it all around the animal and hook it to the ring on the pole (you can still run the circle through the neckband).
I do like the sturdy look of that britchen on the right! been thinking of making a broad one from a horses breastcollar…..

@Bivol
do you speak any Bulgarian? The university from Sofia keeps up its forest holding in Jundola, where they work with oxen. The type of forest and terrain make them superior to horses. About 10 years ago they must have worked 16 oxenteams. I#d love to search the net for them……
elke

[Author]

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