[Carl Russell]

Sorry Jason, I moved this to the SDAD category too. Just trying to keep organized. Thanks, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Just moved this thread to a better place, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Rod, what year is that truck? How long is that bed? I’ld love to look at it.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

OldKat;11170 wrote:

….Wow, I wouldn’t have thought anybody on this board would have even known who Jerry Jeff is….

“Up against the wall you redneck mother…..”?????

You can’t be serious. Of course we would know JJW. At least a few of us.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Yup, I pitched a lot of hay, shoveled a lot of manure, cut a lot of wood, rode many miles on the fender of the tractor or sitting beside the teamster, and generally “gophered” for many years to learn about animals, crops, and woodlands.

I’ll say it never felt like I was paying, but I sure as heck wasn’t getting anything for free.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Just so you know, if you don’t already, just hit “Quote” in the lower right corner, and you will be able to reply with all that Scott has written here, then just delete whatever you don’t want.

2) Throw out some names for the effort. Ideally ones that could carry over into the eventual association. Key words could/would be; draft, forestry, logging, powered, animal, international, etc.

Vote for one
“International Draft Animal Forestry Initiative (IDAFI)”

3) Mission statement. This should be 1-3 sentences at most.

Vote for one

“To facilitate the international connection between draft animal forestry practitioners, exchanging information, providing benefits of association (i.e. insurance, cooperative marketing, etc.), and advocating toward mutual goals.”

4) Goals. List five goals, in order of priority, for this effort. Clear, concise, and limited to one complete sentence.

Vote for five

1) “To establish an international directory of associations, organizations, and individuals who are supporting /(or practicing)/ the work of draft animal forestry practitioners.”

2) ”To improve opportunities for draft animal forestry practitioners to unite regionally, and internationally, to share information, work, markets, and advocacy.”

3) ”To advance an ecological perspective of forest management, based on the use of draft animals, and other low impact/low input strategies.”

4) ”Share techniques and strategies.”

5) ”Work to establish a separate and reasonable Worker’s Comp category for animal loggers.”

[Carl Russell]

Julie, I’m glad it is working for you. I would not be too concerned about another command.

After all you are not wanting to teach the horse to “hurry up”, but to maintain an appropriate working speed when asked to move forward.

That is why I just use the name. To get the horses attention, and the poke gets them back to where you expected them to be anyway.

You should only need the command that you typically use for forward motion, and use the stick to help the horse understand what speed is expected.

Speak her name to get her attention, and poke with the stick to show her that her choice to slow down is not acceptable to you.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Jean;11148 wrote:

DBF – …. He needs to turn the color of sweat and if he was somewhere with someone that could make that happen he would not be a problem horse. However he is with me and I have been learning as I go and I was not ready myself to get that out of him. We may be the classic green with green…Jean

Jean, this is a very sober and clear point of view. I am impressed with your openness, and introspection. You may be right that you have not had the skills that this horse requires, but you have surely learned a lot working with this horse, and you are showing a true and solid foundation of an accomplished teamster.

Keep up the good work, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Welcome!

Sounds like you’re on your way.

Ray Ludwig wrote a great book, as did Les Barden (a short and concise booklet), both of which you can get from New England Ox Supply http://www.newenglandoxsupply.com/

I know very few people who have all size yokes, unless they intend to raise a lot of cattle. Try to find someone to share with.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

If they are harnesses on the pole with a D-ring harness, adjusted correctly, then the tugs will always be tight and when they lean into the load it will be right there. No need to teach them to tighten the tugs. Also horses used to move heavy loads will learn to stop and continue leaning into the load, ready for the next start.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Great to have you on board. Post pix of that mini clyde. Hope you’re having fun!
Carl

[Carl Russell]

Paul will also be at NEAPFD both days, and he will be presenting on Sunday 10/18, a slide show about Horse Power Farm.

[Carl Russell]

Thanks for all those pix, Geoff. They look good to me. Try wiping your screen:p.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

TSI = Timber Stand Improvement -typically seen as non-commercial removal of poor quality trees that are in direct competition with Crop Trees. Also known to some degree as crop-tree release. [ATTACH]583.jpg” /> This photo shows a stand of paper and yellow birch that were regeneration from a clear-cut of spruce in 1973. In 1988 I did non-commercial crop-tree release in here, favoring the birch as residuals as they had better potential than the red maple, pin cherry, gray birch, and aspen that were associated species.

I actually employ crop tree release in all stages of harvest, commercial and non-commercial. Looking at the forest as a stand of trees to be grown, identifying crop trees, and rather than finding trees to harvest, I look at trees to leave, and designate trees for removal based on the degree to which they compete with my residuals. This way crop trees can be found in all age classes, and harvest need only occur where the removal will actually benefit crop trees. That is why in the above photo you can see dense patches of softwoods, and a few clumps of red maple. I only removed the trees that were in direct competition with my crop-trees.

[ATTACH]584.jpg” />
Another component to crop-tree management is getting adequate regeneration to produce crop-trees that will replace the older tree (overstory). In this picture you can see a small opening that I made when the regeneration was only a couple of feet tall. Within the clearing there are several good quality pole-sized white pines that have gained significantly since i made the opening. You should also be able to get some sense of how light strategic harvests can effectively maintain high stocking at the same time managing and harvesting timber.

[ATTACH]585.jpg” />
Here is another small opening with well established regeneration that is over-topped by some large, and very large sawtimber. This place is slated to have some of the overstory removed to release this regeneration. In this next picture you can see what this might look like in 15-20 years.[ATTACH]586.jpg” />

The next step will be to go through these growths of saplings identifying crop-trees and releasing them when they are still 1-4″DBH so that they will be able to maintain their vigor. By giving those crop trees that advantage, in another 15 or so years I will have a dense pole sized stand with well formed trees out-performing the lower quality stems.

Many stands that are not grown like this end up growing and growing without thinning because there is no timber that is harvestable, until there is, then it is harvested and the lower grade trees that have grown with equal advantage are either left as residuals, or they are also cut leaving nearly nothing of any value.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Yes Scott I know that. I have grown into an adult along with all these trees. Not only have I seen the results of my own work, I have also watched stumps rot into the earth where I watched my dad cut down trees when I was 5-6.

In the first picture you can see the red spruce stump, 12″D just in front of this sapling. When I cut the tree, it was specifically to release that sapling, and I took measures to protect it.

It just occurred to me that this is also a good example of the type of value that I add to properties through my timber harvesting. Look at those good young white pine saplings, given plenty of room at opportune times. Think of the value that thinning like that will bring to me, or other landowners, in the future.

There is no doubt in my mind that the forest improvement harvesting that I do is worth more than the typical mechanized, high volume, even aged, leave it and check back in 30 years type harvest. That is just one aspect of why those of us practicing forestry like this should not be bashful about explaining why we can’t log for the same rate as mechanical loggers.

Carl

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