[Tim Harrigan]

You are right Andy, in many ways you just can’t beat a willow branch. Low hanging so they are easy to get and replace, nice and flexible, cut it short for a single, leave it longer for a pair. The simplicity is pure oxen.

@Kevin Cunningham 33343 wrote:

…Certainly in a perfect world I would always have my training plan in place…..adhere to the fixed goals…..work to accomplish the goal…..end on a good note. But often …….many variable are not fixed. I am tired…..wind isn’t right….the stars are not aligned…..the training is not going the way it should….I have to buckle down and stay focused….. not let my emotions or my mind get away……I have to control my anger or frustration….I have seen glimmers of this concept that I find so incredibly transformative….

Kevin, yes, it is good to have a plan with goals, that is what we need and are trained to do in a farming operation. But flexibility and the ability to bend, like a willow branch, become all more important when you are working with, and particularly when training, a team of three. If you get angry or frustrated (we all do) I just encourage you to step down for a minute and ask yourself ‘which member of the team am I really angry and frustrated with? And… why?’

Training a pair of steers is easy compared to training your mind.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Countymouse 33326 wrote:

….. I suppose the quietest times are when the boys are pulling a medium to med-light load and are asked to go instraight lines and do simple 90 degree haws for several minutes. They get in a comfort zone with these types of movements they know well and are easy for them. Rule breaking sometimes (but doesn’t always) happens when they are asked to break this ruitine….Carried too far, though, they get over tired and start acting up again…. One thing that tend to do cause these little situations to flare up is if I over correct…

Andy, you are starting to understand the context within which they start to act poorly, so use that to your advantage. If you know that they are getting physically or mentally tired keep it simple and end on a good experience. Don’t push them past the place where they start to rebel. Up to it maybe, but not beyond. Help them develop mental resilience. If they are in the process of learning or refining a new skill, make sure they have the mechanics down before you expect precision. If you start to see that they are starting to ramp up their excitement level, just put the whip away. They can not learn when they are in an excited frame of mind. They have to be calm and attentive to learn. Sometimes a new skill can be a mess one day and be greatly improved the next just by revisiting it with a calm state of mind.

So the whip or goad is really just an extension of your arm which is an extension of your own state of mind. Obviously, I would use a goad or whip very differently with a new team than I would with Will and Abe, particularly with an older team like yours that I can see is interested in assessing my driving skills or intentions. But if you want your animals to be calm and focused then you should also be calm and focused.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Countymouse 33316 wrote:

… Right now, I can see spurts of the quiet that I expect to be the future norm, but they are still punctuated by periods of “rule breaking.” … 🙂

Andy, just for your own reflection, think of the broader context of the ‘quiet’ and the ‘rule breaking’. Is the quiet when you are most focused and attentive to their behavior? Are you maybe not quite so attentive when the rule breaking flairs up? I always found it helpful to think of their behavior within the context of the bigger picture and the signals that I intentionally or unintentionally gave.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Countymouse 33316 wrote:

. I suppose it that is too harsh I will use a feather duster. Just kidding 🙂

Andy, when you get to where you want to be with these guys, a feather duster will be just fine. Not kidding

[Tim Harrigan]

Andy, if they are testing your resolve with the whoa command you might want to have part of your daily sessions be a “whoa” boot camp. Make them do it 30 times in a row. They are going to be testing you right along, any team worth their salt will. Not only with ‘whoa’, but with just about everything. Try a few different approaches to demonstrate your intention, maybe not always with the goad. With horses you have that constant physical contact and communication. With oxen you have to demonstrate the contact and communication in other ways. If you find yourself having to discipline them too much or too severely
“What we have here is a failure to communicate…”
That is a team issue, not necessarily the ox’s fault alone. In fact, it is probably not solely the ox’s fault. But you can’t speed the process of developing that understanding and clear and consistent guidelines are the best way to get there.

Mark, is your team simply drifting into you or is the off ox pushing the nigh ox over because he is quicker? If they are just drifting over then you can use a goad with a bit of a point on it, hold it perpendicular to the ground next to the nigh ox’s shoulder and hold your line as they start to drift. The nigh ox will not care for pushing the point of the goad into his shoulder and he will drift back where he belongs. If your off ox is causing the problem by being to fast then you work on that problem, but if the nigh ox wants to hold a straight line he can communicate that to the off ox.

We have had the drifting discussion on this site in the past, if you search the oxen threads you can probably find it.

[Tim Harrigan]

I know you have to develop a system that works but my opinion is that you should get away from hitting them in the face or head as soon as possible. Will knows, and Abe also knew, that if I every hit them in the face that they had committed a major infraction. It was very rare and I did not have to hit very hard. If you work their face a lot that just gets to be part of the process for them.

[Tim Harrigan]

I am generally by the point of the shoulder as well. If I want to touch the off ox on the knees I just put the whip in my left hand and sort of lunge forward and bend my knees to get a little lower and reach around in front of the nigh ox. You can do it in one motion and the off ox does not really see it coming, which is good. That is one reason why I suggested that you might want the faster one in the nigh position. It is easy then to tap the nigh on the knees or nose if you prefer, and easy to reach back and tap the off ox on the butt to pick him up. When is it the other way around it is more difficult to touch either of them where you would like to, at least is it for me.

[Tim Harrigan]

Andy, in some ways I think it depends on how you use it so you may have to just try several and see what works best. I have noticed that some folks seem to target the teams head quite a bit. That is not my style and if someone does do that I would not recommend a goad with much of a lash, great way to put out an eye. Also, I have seen some folks like to hit the ground a lot in front of the team. Also not my style but for that I would suggest a goad that is inexpensive and easily replaceable. I have a short, about 30 inch twisted hickory goad with a lash that I like for working single, with a team I liked a longer whip, 5 ft or so that was just a nylon braided thing that I got from NASCO.

[Tim Harrigan]

Andy, I would make an effort to keep them even, but don’t worry about it too much if they are continuing to make a good effort.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Thecowboysgirl 33238 wrote:

Wheels or not?…current pretend harness…this cart falls into the light and noisy category….would be one of the last things I would attempt, I think.

Good choice.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Countymouse 33219 wrote:

… All except for my off ox is too fast again. Is evening out the team a common problem?

Not sure how common it is but it is probably one of the reasons some folks will start with 3-4 calves and then end up with the two that work best together. I know my Will and Abe had different natural gaits, and I think I discussed this with Vicki one time about one of her teams as well. Abe was the dominant one in the pasture because he was bigger but Will was quicker—quicker step and quicker mind. In the yoke Will always wanted to be six inches ahead of Abe. I always worked at evening them up by tapping Will on the knees and Abe (off) on the butt and telling him to step up. It worked out OK, but their natural gait was always dominant if I did not stay after them. It was most obvious when they were fresh and Will wanted to move out, not so much when they were tired.

With oxen we really have less options to even them up, it seems, than with horses. We have no physical restraint with oxen, horses can be bucked back. So we ask them to resist their natural tendencies and that takes a lot of effort on their part.

You learn to work with it. When they were starting a load I would call on Abe first to get him started, Will would be right into the yoke and they would start pretty even. If I called on Will first, Abe would be too far behind for an even start.

Like most things it tends to get a little more complicated over time. Because Will was a little smarter and quicker I would usually call on him to be responsive when I was riding on the sled or boat, or directing from the back end of a 16 ft log, so he kind of ended up pushing and pulling on Abe a bit to clue him in. In the last few years I noticed that they would haul out a bit, not bad, mostly when Will wanted to move faster than Abe. I think Will just started thinking it was natural to drag Abe around a bit and Abe decided it was easier to resist than put the scoot on and pick it up. It was never a big problem, most folks would probalby not even notice, but is shows that one thing can lead to another over time.

You might find it easier if your nigh ox is the faster of the two, might be a little easier to back him off.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Baystatetom 33214 wrote:

….I have been using sort of a short stoneboat, a bunch of 4×4 s about 4 feet wide and four feet long with a angle cut on the front held together with threaded rods. It seemed to make a huge difference in the snow but lesser on bare ground. At least it keeps the buts from digging in. ~Tom

Flat bottomed, full contact stoneboat would probably be better on bare ground, particularly if it is soft. Less rutting, soil compression and tillage.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Does’ Leap 33211 wrote:

… your top logs do not necessarily need to rest at the junction of the two below them, kind of like a pyramid? George

George, you are confusing me. Where else would they go? Seems like that would be the most stable place.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Carl Russell 33183 wrote:

…Before long we will have access to quite an inventory of excellent examples of horse-logging from all over the world.Carl

Ox logging too!:o

[Tim Harrigan]

Plowing and spring tillage season is near so if you are thinking of putting your team to work this thread on conditioning draft animals for such work should be helpful. There was some nice discussion here.

[Author]

Posts