You will have a good piece of equipment to smooth fields, driveways, and woods roads. Chain link fence or a screen discarded from a loam or gravel processor only needs a pipe or hardwood 2 x 4 bolted across one end to keep them rigid. Car or truck tires cut in half and bolted together make a good drag. You can fashion ground smoothing equipment with material from your farm. Katy Huppe and Tim Huppe logging with Star and Lion. Breakdowns can cause serious trouble and injury. Command the cattle to do what you want and see to it that they do so. Be sure the equipment is in good condition. This task should be like any other you perform with your cattle. If your harrows don’t have stone boxes on top, build them and pick stones while your cattle are taking a breather. If you have a double gang set of harrows, unhook the rear set and work your team on the front set until they are ‘hard’ and in condition for a greater pull. The likelihood of the animal backing around and stepping on the sharp discs is uncommon when a pole is in use. If you have a steer that has a tendency to be nervous and back chain, the pole will help overcome this problem. You will be pulling the harrow by the chain and the pole will serve useful in steering, stopping, and backing. Fasten a chain onto the yoke ring and run it back to the hitch point on the harrow. Run the pole through the ring up to the stop on the pole. Install a stout pole on the draw of the harrow. The basics are the same.Īfter the ground has been plowed, hook to a set of harrows. Most plow matches are geared toward horse teams. Take pictures, ask questions, and do a lot of listening. Seek the advice of an experienced teamster and learn the proper techniques. Purchase a good land plow with strong handles. If you have a good pair of helping hands on the farm, teach your cattle to plow ground. Wendy Huppe with Bo & Luke logging at Berrybrook Farm. These competitions are one reason the working cattle numbers are on the increase. These gatherings are an excellent place to learn new techniques, exchange information, and purchase equipment and cattle. Well-organized workshops focusing on farming and logging with working cattle are now available regionally.Įquipment such as yokes, bows, logging equipment, and farm equipment is now more easily available through magazine and internet sources.įairs and exhibitions conduct pulling contests, log scoot classes, plowing matches, precision obstacle courses, etc. Museums and living history farms such as Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, Howell Farm in New Jersey, Sauder Village in Ohio, Remick Farm in New Hampshire, The Farm School in Massachusetts, and the Ross Farm in Nova Scotia, just to name a few, are working cattle on a regular basis and offer opportunities for others to learn on their respective sites. Tillers International in Michigan has for many years offered workshops and internships for those seeking to learn the craft of working steers and building related equipment. 4-H clubs around the country offer working steer programs and the opportunity for youth and their families to participate in their project. The New England Ox Teamsters Association, the Maine Draft Horse and Ox Association, the Midwest Ox Drovers Association, the Mid-South Ox Drovers Association, the Prairie Drovers Association, and many more offer expertise and opportunity for those interested in working cattle. Organizations provide support at regional levels. Magazines such as Small Farmer’s Journal, Rural Heritage, Mother Earth News, Draft Horse Journal, and others provide us with articles telling stories of cattle working on farms, in the woods, and on exhibition, etc. Photo from Tillers International of Kalamazoo, MI. A complete novice can follow Conroy’s teamster guide and produce a good pair of working cattle. His many articles in farm magazines go into greater depth on a variety of subjects. His books The Oxen Handbook and Oxen, A Teamsters Guide are the most definitive sources of information to date. He has spent many hundreds of hours researching and writing. The older, accomplished teamsters will say that no one ever taught them to train cattle they just did it! Very little information was available in print until Dr. Many farms trained a team each year, either for sale or for future replacement in their own draft program. It was common for a young boy or girl to be responsible for the care and training of a team from calves to the age of working capability. There are several factors contributing to this increase.įor centuries, the skills of training steers for work and the craft of building yokes and related equipment was passed down from generation to generation. The present number may be the greatest in over forty years. The number of teams of working steers and oxen being trained and used in some fashion in North America is on the rise. Working Steers and Oxen on the Small Farm
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