[mitchmaine]

thanks from me too, great discussion and very interesting.

[mitchmaine]

thanks,fabian. the yoke used by the canadians is a peice of ash carved out in the back to set over the poll and lashed to the horns without pads. always heard it referred to as a headyoke (as opposewd to a neckyoke with bows).
what are the names of the yokes in the photos above?

[mitchmaine]

thanks,fabian. the yoke used by the canadians is a peice of ash carved out in the back to set over the poll and lashed to the horns without pads. always heard it referred to as a headyoke (as opposewd to a neckyoke with bows).
what are the names of the yokes in the photos above?

[mitchmaine]

@fabian 27983 wrote:

My English is not as good as it should be but I try to do my best :
I was always a proponent of head-pulling technics with oxen. And I am still up to now.

But despite all critique I have to the manual of Dr. Minhorst, I think he explains very good the shortfalls of the head- yoke. In pulling contests these disadvantages don’t play a role because the contests occur on EVEN ground. Most of the drawbacks of the double head yoke can be eliminated by using the single forehead yokes. But Dr. Minhorst does not accept another hitching than the three pad collar.
But everyone I talked with about the three pad collar agreed that it is NOT appropriate for really heavy work.
pulling a cart or waggon, which is the most action bovines do here, is not classified as “heavy work”.
Meanwhile I prefer the american neck yoke because
1. the animals learn quicker to work in a neck yoke than in a forehead yoke
2. the hitching is very easy, I can hitch to a one-axled cart and
3. I can make them myself.

I do not understand (because of my poor English) what you mean with this.
Fact is that the NECK YOKE is not forbidden. And Eastern Europe is definitively “neck yoke- resp. withers yoke- country”

Wolfgang

sorry, wolfgang. my english is poor sometimes too. i meant to say headyoke there or forehead, like you say.

[mitchmaine]

@fabian 27983 wrote:

My English is not as good as it should be but I try to do my best :
I was always a proponent of head-pulling technics with oxen. And I am still up to now.

But despite all critique I have to the manual of Dr. Minhorst, I think he explains very good the shortfalls of the head- yoke. In pulling contests these disadvantages don’t play a role because the contests occur on EVEN ground. Most of the drawbacks of the double head yoke can be eliminated by using the single forehead yokes. But Dr. Minhorst does not accept another hitching than the three pad collar.
But everyone I talked with about the three pad collar agreed that it is NOT appropriate for really heavy work.
pulling a cart or waggon, which is the most action bovines do here, is not classified as “heavy work”.
Meanwhile I prefer the american neck yoke because
1. the animals learn quicker to work in a neck yoke than in a forehead yoke
2. the hitching is very easy, I can hitch to a one-axled cart and
3. I can make them myself.

I do not understand (because of my poor English) what you mean with this.
Fact is that the NECK YOKE is not forbidden. And Eastern Europe is definitively “neck yoke- resp. withers yoke- country”

Wolfgang

sorry, wolfgang. my english is poor sometimes too. i meant to say headyoke there or forehead, like you say.

[mitchmaine]

i was thinking the same thing, tim. watching the bulls and bucks go at it around her, you have to wonder if mother nature didn’t include some inherant kind of shock absorber on those beasts.

[mitchmaine]

i was thinking the same thing, tim. watching the bulls and bucks go at it around her, you have to wonder if mother nature didn’t include some inherant kind of shock absorber on those beasts.

[mitchmaine]

we have an international ox pull here in maine each september at the cumberland fairgrounds. 3 teamsters from eastern canada and three from maine and new england. you have to win alot of ribbons to qualify for this pull. everyone in it is good at what they do.
the main interest in the event is seeing if the neckyoked newenglanders can whup the headyoked pei’s. mostly they can’t, and the reason is always given to the difference in yoking. the headyokes are always more successful. and it makes me wonder, if as a rule its easier (?) for the cattle to pull with a neckyoke, why would it be forbidden in eastern europe. and is it actually easier?
tim, you should set up some preliminary testing on comparisons of the two. i realize once the team is lashed together, there is little room for freedom of any kind from your teammate. but if the resistance is less for the pair perhaps it is actually an improvement for them. just wondering. thanks

[mitchmaine]

we have an international ox pull here in maine each september at the cumberland fairgrounds. 3 teamsters from eastern canada and three from maine and new england. you have to win alot of ribbons to qualify for this pull. everyone in it is good at what they do.
the main interest in the event is seeing if the neckyoked newenglanders can whup the headyoked pei’s. mostly they can’t, and the reason is always given to the difference in yoking. the headyokes are always more successful. and it makes me wonder, if as a rule its easier (?) for the cattle to pull with a neckyoke, why would it be forbidden in eastern europe. and is it actually easier?
tim, you should set up some preliminary testing on comparisons of the two. i realize once the team is lashed together, there is little room for freedom of any kind from your teammate. but if the resistance is less for the pair perhaps it is actually an improvement for them. just wondering. thanks

[mitchmaine]

thanks john. i think you are right. i bunched some of yesterdays hay up with the tedder, raked some into windrows and left some be. raked it all up this morning and its hard to tell one bale from the other, except, dinghy as it looks, rained on june hay is far better than perfect august hay. wished i had one more day with it, but forecast is big rain tomorrow. the weather people here aren’t very successful with their forecasts lately.
best wishes, mitch

[mitchmaine]

my twenty percent chance of showers turned into a tenth inch of rain this afternoon. after reviewing tims numbers, i find that even tho it hardly shows up in the rain guage, 1/10 inch of rain is 2700 gallons of water, or almost 22,000 lbs water per acre. ouch.
some of that i presume goes into the very dry ground under the hay, but most gets picked up in my making hay.
so now back to george’s quiry, how to tedd this stuff. when you have nothing to loose, experimenting can be fun. so i think i will try raking up my hay next and let the wind through it and see if it dries faster. at this point, the water i’m trying to dry is mostly rainwater, and i think if i leave it lay wide and kick it with a tedder it will draw more water from the ground than if i rake it up and see if it will cure. any thoughts out there?

[mitchmaine]

carl, i really like your videos alot. i like the others as well, all the you-tube plowing and logging clips. very interesting watching the horses work. but yours have a teamster-eye view thats pretty neat. you can hear the trace bchains rattle and the creak of the harness, and almost smell the horse. i think i got leaning one way or the other trying to steer your cultivator while i was watching. great job, and thanks.

mitch

[mitchmaine]

hi pebbles, if it s soft to touch and the horse doesn’t flinch when you touch there, might be just a bog spavin.
not a good practice to go on what the vet told the former owners. you probably should get your own vet to look at her.
if its a bog spavin its not too pretty to look at, but shouldn’t be a problem with her working. hope it turns out good for you, happy horse hunting.
mitch

[mitchmaine]

lotta work to get a road named after you, but……………..last call was from wyoming line. torrington? anyway, they spent a few days on this BIG ranch resting up and working cattle and doing that, so off again towards idaho.

mitch

[mitchmaine]

@near horse 27812 wrote:

Standard = bear urine in a bottle; Economy = bear urine still in bear!

geoff, don’t the deer out there ever suffer from lead poisoning?

mitch

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