[CharlyBonifaz]

>>Plus oxen are like potato chips you can;t just have one!<<
how true!

[CharlyBonifaz]

I castrate them early, very – at a week to a month old
they never know they miss anything;
I would castrate them, depending on what I want; the later the more Bull-like the animal – statue and behaviour – the earlier, the larger the animal (supposedly 😉 )
the urinary tract itself won’t run into any problems, no scientific proof for any problems; the connecting tissue however between prepuce and penis will not break down when castrated early, thus preventing extention of the latter

[CharlyBonifaz]

it will only work if both of you can trust each other
if you have second thoughts, he will be quick to pick that up on your body language …

[CharlyBonifaz]

I admired the beautiful animals, very colourful bunch …

[CharlyBonifaz]

“I might go ahead and try to get a pair of younger steer for working. I just hate to give up.”

Would be my way, learnt the hard way; always thought I could handle the animal; in the end it took a different team to show me how much easier working is with cattle, when you don’t always have to guard your back. That was when I finally decided it was not worth all the trouble …

[CharlyBonifaz]

but does it have an equal ability to brake or hold a heary load back on an incline as a North American style pole and britching?

http://tarnsjogarveri.com/wip/horse_old/downloads/standard_for_arbetsselar_hs.pdf
this link is for a swedish working harness; scrolling down to page 5 will show the britchen; I think it is a very reliable system …

[CharlyBonifaz]

what a great thread! thanks for all the ideas, stories, inspirations, …
I want to add just one thing because it helped me tremendously in situations like that: a camera filming the action!
I can watch the video over and over in a calm environment, I can detect things that I couldn’t while I was involved in the situation, I can control if parts of the harness under working conditions function as I envision it when I put it on the horse, I can see minor reactions, intentions too short for a busy eye by repeating the movie, and by taking the position of an extern observer I can also discuss (and improve) my own moves better.

[CharlyBonifaz]

it works perfectly well and even if you don’t plan to leave them together as team, the young one will learn a lot with less effort; I had a baby calf running along with Mom working; by the time I started to train the youngster seriously she had already understood all my verbal commands. In France I have seen yokes for 3 oxen: the young one, having to learn, was yoked in the middle, at both sides experienced oldtimers that showed and moved him along. Takes a lot of stress out of training 😉

[CharlyBonifaz]

thanks for sharing; I especially liked the part about quietness

[CharlyBonifaz]

thumbs up, thanks for sharing!

[CharlyBonifaz]

Food Inc.
has been out there for a while, not sure if you have a link to this film on the forum

at least as much as about Monsanto I#m worried about the fact, that there are only 4 major companies running the “food”-show

[CharlyBonifaz]

still laughing … thanks for the story, I bet it wasn’t funny while running after them

[CharlyBonifaz]

would the Amish/Mennonite be making the hardware from scratch?

[CharlyBonifaz]

3 things come to my mind instantly:
how was he castrated,
does he get any grain and
are you sure the harness fits him well enough?

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by CharlyBonifaz.

[CharlyBonifaz]

big help! Thank you …

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