[Baystatetom]

Nothing different to say from everybody else, sorry for your loss.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

I have been playing with my yokes a lot. I have one more unfinished one to try out. I really don’t want to speed up the slow one, if they both had that hot temperament I might not be able to control them. Could also be the age, 2 and 3 year old steers tend to be fast. I think I got good advice in the just work them more idea. Also I was pumping them full of grain trying to get them up to a good working size as fast as possible, I have started cutting back the grain while bumping up the hay and they seem a bit more docile. Could be all that molasses had them on a sugar high. I had not had them in the yoke for over a week (hunting season) until yesterday, I was expecting a fast pace workout but they were calm and cool. Even my 4 year old drove them around the yard.

[Baystatetom]

A best friend in the woods is really hard to replace. Loggers and farmers spend more time with them then most people. I had a lab mix for 14 years. I waited over a year before getting a new one. He is great (another lab mix), but sometimes he’ll do something that reminds me of old skidder and I still miss him. Sorry for your loss.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

I bumped into a guy I know over the weekend who has had oxen his whole life both for work and pulling. I asked him about slowing down that faster off steer. He says why are you asking me, you already know the answer. I say know I really don’t. He replies what is the problem with almost any team of oxen. And how would you fix it for somebody else? I stand there with a dumb look on my face. Finally he says WORK THEM MORE! Double their yoke time for a while and they will straighten out.
Hate to admit it but I think he is right.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

I’ll let you barrow my walking plow, or maybe sell you a old one that needs some TLC, but you’ll have to take it easy on them the first year, plowing is pretty hard work. Austin’s farm in Belchertown has had a small plowing field day the last couple of years, it is a good place to meet like minded locals and see what other teams do. I am in Westhampton if you ever want to bring your bulls over for a play date.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

My grandfathers old scoot was held together with round dowels, not sure the trick but they lasted a long time. The scoot is hanging from the rafters in the old manure shed. I was going to get it out of there 15 years ago but decided it was too dry rotted to use, so there she hangs.
I made a small one and used carriage bolts thinking that they wouldn’t wear to fast if I kept it off the road. I was wrong, the heads wore off pretty fast. I got one year worth of gathering sap out them. Next time I’ll try one of the methods previously mentioned.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

I just said in another thread, a old timer told me one time “Just remember a lot of guys better then you have been killed doing the same thing”. I think of that all the time. I am sure I don’t do the same job on the last tree of the day that I did on the first.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

I am really starting to think the trouble with mine was all the wet weather. Day after day of rain softened them up then they beat them up rubbing trees and what not out in the pasture.

[Baystatetom]

Kevin that sounds like a great way to branch out. Meeting new people making friends and gaining exposure all are good things. People who get to know you will either hire you or tell there friends about you and they will. My wife used to pick on me for hanging out with guys twice my age at coffee shops, but now those guys get me a ton work. The bigger your network the better.
I hope to be able to offer the complete package, forestry, harvesting, and milling. I didn’t mean to say I would quit forestry, just quit the job that has me on salary with direct deposit every other week. Scary to give up the security.

[Baystatetom]

Brad, I am really chomping at the bit to quit doing consulting forestry full time and work in the woods with my oxen as much as possible. I have been working on a business plan and trying to crunch numbers. Before anything else I have to prove to my wife that I can do this without bankrupting us. I am glad to here your per/mbf rates are right in line with what I was expecting I would need to get. I still struggle though with how to deal with poor quality wood. Do you find that land owners are okay with paying you more then the wood is worth for species like hemlock and beech?
I also like your approach of mentoring a new comer. My grandfather was a dairy farmer/logger who did every imaginable job in between. Never turn down work if you have the time to do it.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

This is the type of thing I never tell my wife about. Every day was just great! No problems at all today dear.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

It has been a while since I asked any loggers about it, but I am pretty sure a Million $ policy cost the cable skidder guys around $500 a year. Interesting that there is no difference from skidders to horses. I guess maybe the pros and cons even out to the same in their eyes? or maybe they just don’t care enough to figure it out, and they consider a logger a logger.
Come to think of it, a lot of guys only carry $500,000. $1mill is required to work in the Quabin Reservoir so some just go for that so they are all set to bid timber there. I have a line in my timber sale contract that requires the logger to have $500,000 but I never ask for proof unless the landowner wants to see it.
~Tom
Tom

[Baystatetom]

The last 4H team I had 20 years ago was calm and laid back. Like Tim said I could drive them all day and never say a word. In fact a few times I am pretty sure I did. The one I have now have much more fire in them. I can’t just talk to them I have to yell. All my neighbors are quite familiar with the phrase “Dam it Star Gee over there”.

[Baystatetom]

Your right Erika. That’s one thing I had to teach my kids, was to stop moving when they said whoa. If you say whoa but keep walking most teams will not stop.
~Tom

[Baystatetom]

I’ll have to check that out myself. Although mine move pretty fast with a load, I’ll have to be sure and fall to the side not in front!
Tom

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