oxen

paperboy-7 · #1 03/14/05, 09:09 PM

hi has anyone trained a team of oxen? im looking for an old book, oxen handbook, anyone have one to sell? are there any oxen near anybody on the forum spring is almost here in tn thanks p

lilsassafrass · #2 03/15/05, 07:19 AM

I have a yoke of highland oxen .. very pamperd , actually i am retiring them this year , and my daughter and I are schooling in a new yoke of highland calves this spring .. they are almost done with their manners lessons and voice commands , and I have a small training yoke they will be large enough to put them to the yoke soon ...this will be my 6 yoke of oxen I have schooled , 2 yokes of highlands and 4 yokes of short horns over the past 25 years

there si a very good website just do a google search for Tillers
They give seminars , they have suppies and books , also .. if you contact
some of the eastern , and new england states extetion offices , you might be able to purchace the 4H handbooks for droving , over there droving is a popular 4H project .. (not so in Ohio )
I wish All this wonderfull info was out there when I first started .. I learned from an old farmer in his 80's and from trial and error what not to do

but oxen , can be fun ... besides useful companions in labor ... (if you can see a steer/ox as a companion !!!! )

this next young yoke , I am going to experiment and train them into using a harness as well as a yoke ..
saw a picture of a cool ox collar in rural heritage magazine last time I was in CT and browsing the mags , might go back and buy that issue , and take it to bowmans in MT hope , see if we can come up with something similar

Paula
Hyde Park Farm

Haggis · #3 03/15/05, 07:25 AM

I have two 2 year old Milk Devon heifers that I am working on. They just about defy all of my efforts. Milking Devons are clever and spirited, too much I think for so for me to start with old cattle. Herself is telling me to by a few day old Holstein bull calves and pick the best two of the lot for training. The others could be used for freezer stuffing this winter.

Two really great sites are the Rural Heritage site out of New England (they have lots of books and films for sale and a forum), and the Prairie Ox Drovers out of Canada (Barry and Gloria are great).

dosthouhavemilk · #4 03/15/05, 08:25 AM

My uncle has a pair of Jersey oxen.
Niagara is actually an oxen out of my line of cattle. They are around 8 years old now.

paperboy-7 · #5 03/16/05, 04:31 AM

thanks to all ox lovers. im in the dark but youal have helped greatly. have milking devon bought when weened little bull.about 40 m away have been going over when i can but not enough. a neighbor has a baldy calf that his mother rejected. said the calf followed him in the house the other day, thats the kind of calf i should train i went for breed, o well trying to buy that calf but my neighbor is a hard nut to crack.. thanks again

Slev · #6 03/16/05, 06:00 AM

Paperboy- Don't try to crack the nut! ...will the nut to open.

Use the force... :haha:

MullersLaneFarm · #7 03/16/05, 08:02 AM

Any book by Drew Conroy
Here's a few for you ...
http://www.ruralheritage.com/ox_paddock/index.htm You should be able to buy the books used online

Also check out the websites from this page:
http://www.ruralheritage.com/hay_ride/index.htm You'll have to scroll down to oxen.

And don't forget the "Front Porch" on the rural heritage site ...
http://www.ruralheritage.com/message...rch/index1.htm

It looks like there is a conversation going on right now about oxen

paperboy-7 · #8 03/21/05, 08:31 PM

hi all i ordered drews new book ox handbook was 29.00 pp thanks again p

Haggis · #9 03/23/05, 10:46 AM

I was reading on the Ruralheritage forum about a fellow who kept or keeps a span of cows trained to the yoke. He raises as many as five calves per year on each of these cows while working them on the farm. Now there is an example getting the most from a cow; the farmer gets a draft animal, a yearly calf, and a cow with milk willing raise a number of adopted calves in her spare time.

I have two older Jerseys that I'm not going to break to the yoke, but my 4 heifers are destined for a working future. A single cow will do about as much work as a mule or horse while their required feed and tack is much cheaper or can be home made, and the single cow can funish milk for a family and a yearly calf, or just raise 4 or 5 calves each year for export.