[near horse]

Along the subsidy line – they only kick in to pay farmers a floor price (not sure how that’s determined) when market prices are below the base or floor. When market prices are good, then no subsidies – isn’t that how it works?

Today I drove through town and saw grain prices on the commodity reader board – holy moses. Other than the last few years, those boards have historically had wheat in the $2 to $4 per bushel and barley around $100/T – it was like that for 15 years or more. Today I saw wheat at over $8 and barley over $200/T. That’s an incredible jump (I know it happened a couple of years back but it still floors me). Subsidies would not apply to farmers receiving those prices.

[near horse]

Thanks Jim – looking forward to the pics.

Hey, is the artist guy that lives near Ed named Pete? And his significant other named Sandy? I got an e-mail from an Pete and Sandy today and wanted to make sure who it is. That’s my best guess – they’re visiting N. Idaho.

[near horse]

IMHO – the sawyers here open a face cut as I described then make the backcut up to very close to the hinge, pulling out when the tree starts to tip. They only use wedges for odd leaners and to keep their bar from getting pinched. Also, they hardly take a step or two out of the way when the tree starts to fall – and it’s usually just heading for the next tree.

I see lots of guys sacrificing safety for speed ($$$). Not a good excuse but a real one.

Thanks for the info.

[near horse]

@Does’ Leap 24120 wrote:

Jeremy:

….. I take off their bridles, loosen the pole strap, hay and water them while they are attached to the logging arch. After lunch, it is quick to get them going and we are back to the woods…..

George

Hi George,

It looks like you also chain the arch to a tree – sort of a parking brake?:)

[near horse]

@Carl Russell 24110 wrote:

Not too vague, but the pics would be great… I have been thinking on doing this for a while.

As far as cold travel Mark I haven’t made the highway trip like you describe, but I think that the horse will have very little exposure to wind in the front…. I would probably blanket him.

Carl

After sleeping in the stock trailer during the 2010 NEAPFD nor’easter (I know it wasn’t that bad) I’ll tell you that wind moves all over in those things – brrr. So I too am interested in seeing how you fabbed your plexi-glass panels and aluminum track, Jim. Did you run it all the back or half way?

Thanks.

[near horse]

I want to ask about the Carl’s first pic in post #42 showing the face cut. I’ve never seen one with depth so shallow and the “height” so “tall” if you get my drift. Is that a GOL thing? I’m used to about a 1/3 of the tree’s diameter as the depth of the cut and a much lower starting point for the angled cut. In fact, I’ve seen where guys make the angled cut so it comes out of the stump rather than the log itself – thinking that you’re not impacting the log itself .

So, if you can decipher what I’ve described so badly, what are the thoughts/reasons for this difference?

[near horse]

A few eeks ago there was an episode of “The prairie Farm Report” with a couple of designs for ice free cattle waterers – either Alberta, Sakatchewan or manitoba – but they all qualify as plenty cold places.

I’ll see if I can find more details of their design.

[near horse]

@TaylorJohnson 24018 wrote:

When you have Whearhouser , Ponssie, timber jack , ……. funding the studies then you are not going to get a straight answer on it . They are going to say silly things like a 70,000lb machine is lower impact than a 1600lb horse and that a 8′ wide machine is lower impact than a team of horses . Some common sence could go a long ways in this country. We have to get out of the thought pattern that the way to education is from school and a book… people are so disconnected that it is unreal….. there is no argument here . Taylor Johnson

This “spread the load” idea is the same one being used by the Dept of Transportation engineers and Exxon Mobil in transporting loads in excess of 350,000 pounds over a mountain highway – if you put enough tires under it, then the impact is negligible. Our own governor (idiot) made the statement that each of these shipments would do less “damage” than your 3/4T pickup. Please.

I respect the choice each of you/us make in how to spend our time or how we respond to misinformation. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not trying to win the argument or change the mind of someone who’s decided horse logging is stupid. I’m trying to put an alternative response to the stupid rhetoric so the unknowing readers can see there’s more to contemplate than the narrrow-minded and untruthful rhetoric being posted.

People do read these posts and many,to gain information – and, in a lot of forums, the preponderance of readers are “guests” (nonmembers). So, I respond. I do understand that rebutting the stupid remarks demeaning what we do, isn’t for everybody and that’s fine. Like most things in life – it takes all kinds.

[near horse]

I got an update RE: USDA, Monsanto and Round up Ready alfalfa. It looks like Vilsack and USDA are supporting a “peaceful coexistence” between the GM users and the non-users – just requiring buffer distances between the two when planted. How is that supposed to work? Who gives way and plants their crop elsewhere?

Read on –

Take a stand for organics, tell Secretary Vilsack and President Obama to reject Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa

Everything you thought you knew about organics is about to change. If the USDA and Monsanto get their way, organic integrity is about to go the way of the dinosaur.

Once again, the organic industry is under assault. This time the USDA is determined to let Monsanto ride roughshod over common sense environmental rules that would protect organic farmers from having their crops contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified (GMO) Roundup Ready seeds.

Last month, the USDA released its position on Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa, stating that the USDA would go ahead and allow GMO alfalfa to be planted in the U.S. despite the fact that is scientifically proven to contaminate organic alfalfa, a crop that organic dairy farmers and organic beef producers depend upon for feed. According to USDA organic standards, GMO crops are not allowed for animal feed.1

If organic and conventional alfalfa crops are allowed to be contaminated by GMO alfalfa, the organic dairy industry stands to lose more than $1.4 billion, as organic integrity is dependent upon GMO-free ingredients and feed.2

Click on the link below to tell Secretary Vilsack and President Obama that you refuse to accept genetic contamination of the organic industry. Tell him it’s time to stand up to Monsanto and the biotech industry. It’s vital that he hear from you today.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/329?akid=285.59451.a73XdM&t=7

Coexistence and the Road to Continued Organic Contaminiation

In his most recent announcement, Vilsack hoped to be able to offer a “middle ground” on GMOs. The Obama administration’s bright idea calls for a new era of “coexistence” between the organic and biotech industries.

The “coexistence” model – one of the two proposed options – would create “geographic restrictions and isolation distances” between GMO and non-GMO alfalfa fields. The problem with “coexistence”, is that it looks a lot like the past 15 years where organic and conventional farmers have been forced to go out of business or adopt GMOs because the technology is so flawed that it can’t be planted in one farmer’s field and stay there.

No, GMO crops routinely contaminate other farmer’s fields — that is, genetically pollute other crops that don’t contain their patented genes. While prudent, non-corporate scientists have warned against the unknown long-term consequences of genetic contamination in nature caused by GMO seeds and crops, past administrations and USDA bureaucrats have gone ahead and recklessly approved these crops anyway.

Already the biotech industry is throwing a fit about this being a “dangerous precedent”, taken to mean that they could no longer fully dictate the terms of seed planting and approval. 3 But we need to let Secretary Vilsack and President Obama know that if they allow GMO alfalfa to be planted, from this point forward, the history books will write about the loss of the organic industry under Vilsack and Obama’s watch.

Click on the link below to tell Secretary Vilsack and President Obama that you’re outraged that they would needlessly put the organic industry, environment and future generations at risk in favor of corporate profits.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/329?akid=285.59451.a73XdM&t=9

GMO Alfalfa Not Needed By Farmers, Not Worth the Risk

Unfortunately, rather than provide protection for the fastest growing and most profitable sector in agriculture, the Obama administration is needlessly putting the $26 billion organic industry at risk over a GMO crop that is not needed by farmers.

As a crop, genetically modified alfalfa is entirely unnecessary. Since alfalfa is a perennial grain, it has significantly less weed competition than annual crops where Roundup is normally used. Unlike corn, soybeans and other crops, alfalfa does not have persistent weed problems, therefore Monsanto’s and the biotech industry’s arguments for seeking approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa based on the need for weed control are completely without merit. It would appear that the only thing that Monsanto is seeking is another revenue stream for its failed line of Roundup Ready seeds.

Unfortunately, if Vilsack does go ahead with his decision to deregulate GMO alfalfa or opt for “coexistence”, things are about to get a whole lot worse for farmers. Not only will the organic industry have to deal with massive genetic contamination, but farmers everywhere will have to figure out how to deal with the further spread of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready resistant superweeds which have already spread to at least 10 species of weeds and have infested millions of acres in 22 U.S. states since 2000.4

For farmers the rise in superweeds leads to an increased usage of herbicides, which not only contaminate our rivers and streams, but also decreases profits for farmers and creates unknown potential human health problems. Already, farmers across the U.S. are being forced to use 2 or even 3 toxic herbicides to keep superweeds at bay.

Click on the link below to tell Secretary Vilsack and President Obama to stand up for organic integrity and that organic farmers and consumers have a right to eat food that is not contaminated with Monsanto’s patented GMO genes!

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/329?akid=285.59451.a73XdM&t=11

Thank you for participating in food democracy, your action today may help save the organic industry.

Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! Team

Sources:

1. “USDA Announces Final Environmental Impact Statement for Genetically Engineered Alfalfa” United States Department of Agriculture, Press Release, December 16, 2010.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/326?akid=285.59451.a73XdM&t=13

2. “DeFazio Wants Rules on Genetically Engineered Alfalfa”, Natural Resource Report, July 3, 2010.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/180?akid=285.59451.a73XdM&t=15

3. “Biotech alfalfa restrictions would be ‘dangerous precedent’”, Dairy Herd Management, January 7, 2011.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/327?akid=285.59451.a73XdM&t=17

4. “Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds”, The New York Times, May 3, 2010.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/328?akid=285.59451.a73XdM&t=19

Keep GMOs out of Organics!

Clicking here will automatically add your name to the letter to Secretary Vilsack and President Obama:

The USDA must immediately ban Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa from the market and work to ensure that the organic industry is protected from genetic contamination and loss of profits and stand up for the basic rights for Americans to know what is in their food and how it’s produced.

Go to the food democracy site to support the above statement.

[near horse]

Pretty neat Victoria. After you’re sure it’s how you want it, I’d cut off the ends of most of those bolts. Those things have a way of finding something to snag on – you or your ox.

Also, I don’t know much about how you handle ox feet but don’t most horse stocks have a short block anchored to each upright post to allow securing the lower leg and support the hoof? Just asking.

[near horse]

WHat were you using for a lens and filter on your camera? Or, with digital cameras do you do all that stuff w/ photoshop?

Sepiatone makes those pics look old – nice.

[near horse]

Hi John,

My other “name” is bunchgrass – name of our farm Bunchgrass Farm. I only was tipped off to the arborist site when Lance (I think) started this thread. Hopped on over, read the posts and spoke what I felt (of course, I had to register first) – glad you thought it didn’t stick out too much.

[near horse]

I agree that you can’t change some people’s minds but a lot of people come to read these public forums and formulate an opinion from what they read. So, I thought it might be worth wading in on the horse logging issue to try and add another perspective (although I might have done it badly).

With regard to posting quotes – Carl, how does the multi-quote work? Does that mean “quotes from multiple posters” or “one posting but can break it up into multiple segments”?

Thanks.

[near horse]

Hey Mac,

My horses barley match – so the matching harness would be lost on them!

[near horse]

@Carl Russell 23957 wrote:

George is referring to a special type of rope made of extremely strong nylon fibers. I have some of this 3/8″…. made for ATV winches to replace wire cable…. and it is every bit as strong as similar sized steel cable.

I have a 5/8″ braided nylon Bull rope that was designed for heavy loads, pulling trees and lowering. It is also very strong, and when doubled up through a snatch block it is plenty strong enough for moving any tree like what George is describing.

Carl

How about sizing your rope to fit your block and tackle? Some of the pulleys I’ve found online are either meant for small cable or, the “climbing style” for smaller rope. There were a few that looked to be designed for big cable logging setups (and priced as such).

So, what do you have for snatch blocks or pulleys? Single or double?

[Author]

Posts