[dlskidmore]

@near horse 18804 wrote:

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).

Not really that far fetched. http://cleantech.com/news/2076/tyson-syntroleum-to-build-biodiesel-plant
http://news.cnet.com/Tyson,-ConocoPhillips-link-up-for-biodiesel/2100-11392_3-6176812.html

[dlskidmore]

@near horse 18791 wrote:

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!).

Egad! Words mean things? 🙂

The catchphrases that go around tend to get further and further off from the actual meaning of the words in them. I’m glad you’ve pointed it out.

The thing is, all carbon sources are “renewable”, but coal, oil and gas have a several million years longer cycle than the sources commonly labeled as renewable.

If you were really bent on reducing atmospheric CO2, the only way to do that is to bind up more carbon in the ground than we’re pumping out, but I don’t see anyone anytime soon advocating packing defunct mines full of sawdust.

[dlskidmore]

I’ve read about these ridges before, but the claim where I was reading said that they were the result of early use of single-sided plows. Plowing with a single sided plow in the same ovals each year created the ridges over time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridge_and_furrow

[dlskidmore]

Here’s a manual, for sale at a reasonable price.

[dlskidmore]

How does the possibility of red maple leaf poisoning affect the usefulness of horses in logging in a maple forest? Should this be avoided entirely?

[dlskidmore]

@jac 18703 wrote:

What is skijoring ???..

Skiing behind a draft animal. Invented with horses, also done with sled dogs. The sled dogs also have a summer version of the sport called bikejor (biking behind draft dogs) or Dogscooter (riding a kickbike/kick scooter behind draft dogs). My Great Dane and I do a little bikejor.

[dlskidmore]

Here’s the horse boot that is made in custom sizes:

http://www.horsemocs.com/

[dlskidmore]

I think one of the vendors made them custom sizes, I’ll post the link if I find it again.

[dlskidmore]

Any opinions on the various boots for the transition period, or for working in tough conditions with a barefoot horse?

Like these: http://www.easycareinc.com/

[dlskidmore]

I don’t know so much about oxen, but with dogs we retrain each skill in multiple contexts. New environments, new timing, new equipment, new people, any of these factors can throw an animal off kilter. It takes multiple different types of exposure to make the skill generic, and able to hold up under unusual/stressful circumstances.

[dlskidmore]

On the saving electricity claim, a new AC unit might be more efficient than an old freezer unit, but if comparing two new units, the efficiency ratings should be very easy to find out and do a straight comparison on. But as well as looking at the power efficiency of how many watts of power do you use to move one watt of heat, also you want the power cycle to obtain the desired temp to fall well within the manufacture’s expected range to keep that unit working a long time without service.

[dlskidmore]

AC units are more powerful than most fridge/freezer units, as they are designed to cool a much larger, less insulated space, but they are not tuned for the type of work required for a freezer. They will be terribly inefficient unless you know enough about those systems to pick exactly the right size one and tune it properly.

When buying a walk-in cooler, you’re also buying all the insulation and the properly sealing door, which is as essential to the operation of a fridge/freezer as the heat pump. Those need to be planned out even more carefully (although overbuilding will pay off in the end, unlike getting a too-powerful heat pump). A really well insulated, properly sealed box could run off ice instead of a heat pump.

[dlskidmore]

What about something that unfolds off the side of the trailer? An awning and a couple side panels?

[dlskidmore]

I’ll don’t yet have a local sheep contact, I have spent a lot of time talking with dairy farmers. I’ll keep looking.

I have read quite a bit about livestock guardian donkeys, and they will definitely not fit in my plans. They tend to have trouble telling the difference between the wild wolf and the family dog. I will never be able to work the dogs near the sheep with a donkey guarding them.

I’ve heard that cows can serve a similar purpose as donkeys in livestock guarding, but are not as fierce and can become acclimated to dogs. I don’t plan to include either right now, but a local sheep contact would be helpful in determining how much risk that would put my flock in during the lambing season. We don’t have much for large predators here, but fox are an issue.

The primary goal of horse-compatible instruments is not having to buy into the three point hitch system. It opens up not just the horse option, but just about any pull force of sufficient strength. I have no commitment to transfer to horse power later, but I like versatility and options.

[dlskidmore]

We have small push reel mowers that can be handled by an individual human, and really wide ones for two-horse teams. Is there something in the middle for small draft animals?

Maybe something like this with no seat and a slightly wider mower. (My large self is hard enough to pull over rough ground without powering a ground-driven mechanism too.)

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