[near horse]

Hi Russel,

There’s a “basic” drawing for a wooden doubletree in the book “The Draft Horse Primer” by Maurice Telleen. That said, some of the round pipe or square tubing designs don’t look to hard to fabricate w/ a little bit of welding.

Are you asking more about the actual measurements of the singletrees etc?

Good luck –

[near horse]

Hi Donn,

I have an old JD clattertrap too! Mine has the heavy duty tractor tongue and I’ve used it behind the cart but was contemplating setting it up w/ the team tongue and seat. I don’t like running it behind the cart so well – tractor tongue is a bit short for cart use. Now I’m a bit worried. My rake has a tendency to snag a tine on the bar where the strippers attach (bar w/ strippers? That seems a strange phrase to write in a farming post). That will lock up everything – not to mention bending the poop out of the tine.

Glad you were able to handle things so well. Don’t tell me it’s warm enough to be raking in shorts! We’re still waiting for summer –

[near horse]

Big Horses – we got some of the same issues. The most reliable deterrent is a fence but instead of going for 8ft tall, run a regular 46 – 54 inch tall fence (permanent) and then during problem deer season run a stand of temp poly wire on step in posts about 3 ft outside the perm fence. Deer won’t jump the width – get shocked by the e- wire .. We can hear them snorting out of frustration but keeps them out of the garden.

[near horse]

Erik,

I don’t know what your baking “days” might be like but my daughter worked for a small local bakery (1 baker) – called Wheatberries – he was in at about 3am getting started each day. He has established a clientele that includes most local coffee shops, sandwhich places and restaraunts as well as a small storefront. But he doesn’t have a wagon !!!

[near horse]

How about when folks actually slow down or even stop when approaching by car from head on? My horses get more concerned about that behavior than cars “acting normal”. Probably a result of what they’re used to – horses like a predictable world.

[near horse]

Hi Erik,

Just to give you a sense of what your good craftsmanship might be worth, check out this “Library Wagon” from eBay. Not very common but easily something you have shown you could put together!

BTW- how’s the baking going and when do you find time to do it?!!

#94 – 6945 – 00052 A very unique 1920’s horse drawn library wagon. This wagon was used to travel from town to town on the prairies like the Bookmobile is used in some areas today. This particular unit was on display in Vancouver, B.C., Canada at it’s 1986 World Expo. Very sound wheels as is the whole unit. Priced @ $15,000.00. Call Al @ 206-227-6673

[near horse]

Wow! Wow! I am truly humbled Erik. That is an outstanding job you’ve done and inspiring as well. Many of us dream but have a hard time bringing it to fruition. You have done both. Also, is Idaho on your route?

Seriously, your biggest concern might be that you won’t be able to haul enough of your product in your wagon because you will certainly be popular and have a good supply of customers. When is your first scheduled sales trip?

[near horse]

Hi Biovol,

I hopped over to this thread from a recent link you posted. Maybe this isn’t the point, but there are lots of “nose ring/peg” examples. There are the weaning rings (calf cant suck), camel nose pegs, water buffalo …. It seems to me that nose piercing would only be a temporarily painful, like castration, tail docking, ear tagging …. even humans use(d) nose septum piercing as adornment.

That said, people can find ways to abuse an animal with any restraint and control system. It’s more an effect of how it’s used. IMHO

Ixy – if I recall, the camel nose pegs are also removed when not needed. That seems like a good way to go.

[near horse]

yah, I read that BP is taking all the cull cows in the region and trying to use a hydraulic ram to compress them while adding massive amounts of heat – sort of a make your own dinosaur oil w/ no waiting. (I’m just being stupid – cause that’s about all I can do about it). BTW – My answer to plugging the leak is bundle up a bunch of those financial guys that screwed the economy and left us with the bill (think Madoff) coat ’em with tar and shove ’em headfirst into the pipe. Then dump the concrete on. 2 birds w/ one stone!

[near horse]

Hey Mitch,

What I meant by an amalgam of power generation was similar to the concept of local food production. The huge power companies/brokers that purchase cheap power from all over the country and resell it wherever needs to stop. There are huge losses in the process. So locally produced power should be supported for local/regional use. Hopefully something like that would stop the Polan Springs-type stuff from happening.

Also – who came up w/ the idea of carbon neutrality? That’s like the cholesterol-free banana! No sh-t. Cholesterol is an animal product not plant. So with regard to carbon, unless we’re doing some type of nuclear stuff (like neutron activation), we’re not creating carbon. Changing it’s form perhaps (as in CO2) but not making more of it (carbon). So then most E generation (should actually say conversion since we don’t make that either) is carbon neutral. There’s carbon in fuels and the gases they release during combustion as well as carbon in my horses feed (and their tissues) that comes out the back end as a turd or is released upon death. Carbon neutral.

Also, renewable and sustainable are not interchangeable terms. We can eventually harvest a renewable resource into oblivion by unsustainable practices. Timber is a great example. It is renewable because it can be replanted or regrown etc. The sustainability part comes in how we manage the renewable resource (and ourselves for that matter!).

I’m now decending from my soapbox. Sorry.

[near horse]

My 2 cents – I think a problem in the “alt E” arena is proximity of the end users. I agree w/ Scott regarding local use and local jobs in biomass E production it’s just that a big question is how are the major consumers of E not near places of easy or available power/heat generation going to get power? Those are the places that will drive policy decisions, unfortunately. So we either produce it locally and transmit it inefficiently over londg distances or haul the material(s) long distances to get closer to the end users.

It seems to me that the long range answer is some sort of amalgam of power generation sources, based on local/regional resources.

[near horse]

Right now, if I’m not mistaken, there’s gov’t $$$ for providing biomass to E plants – lots of comercial logging guys here are making additional bucks from hauling out the slash or contracting it to the E company to haul.

[near horse]

Horns also provide a nice place to perch for tired eagles!:)

[near horse]

Hey Erik,

There’s some good pics, descriptions and explanations on safety in Steve Bower’s book “Farming w/ Horses”.

[near horse]

Hi Erik,

Your wagon looks great! I would like to know how you’re planning the roof. Curved “rafters” w/ ply over?

[Author]

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