[J-L]

Hi Pebbles and welcome here.

Your QH team will do an awful lot. On this ranch in Wyoming we often used what we had and most of my saddle horses have been thrown in a hitch some where feeding cattle and other jobs. Quarter horses are a viable work animal, don’t let anyone fool you.
One of the best feed teams I ever worked was a Paint/QH gelding and a black mule. The pair together weighed about 2300-2500 pounds. Very honest on the feed grounds and plenty stout with a ton of hay at a time on a bobsled.
I work some bigger animals for some jobs but agree with Dave that good small team can be nice. If you need more power just add another animal until you have enough.

[J-L]

Thanks Geoff.

My problem is that there isn’t enough left of any of the swathboards to make a pattern. The steel ones I use with my New Holland tractor mowers worked just fine and lasted forever. Wish I had one of them back. If I keep an eye out there might be one on a derelict mower.

[J-L]

I’m sure a wood one is fine. Not much around here but Lodgepole pine though.

[J-L]

Thanks guys. I’ve looked on line at a few places with no luck. Our local parts house isn’t worth a crap unless it’s for something new (and actually not worth a damn for that either). I’m going to give a call to Norm Macknair and see if they can get them.

[J-L]

Hey Geoff (or anyone who attended), I’d like to hear what the mowers were going for this year. Particularly rebuilt and painted, field ready.

[J-L]

Hope you have a good time Geoff. I can’t leave because of calving season. Not a good time to have this event for me. When my kids are bigger they’ll be able to take the reins for a few days.
We had the ‘norwester’ here too. Just a couple inches of snow so far.
Keep us posted on what you see and if you fit them tongues in your little car please get pictures.

[J-L]

Sad news for sure. It is the nature of this work unfortunately.
I can’t count the many wrecks I’ve had horse back in rough country chasing cattle. Froze feed grounds roping sick calves, badger holes, bulls on the fight, bucking horses, etc., etc.
So far only dislocated both shoulders (one twice), some broken ribs and a broken ankle, a few concussions, lots of rope burns. Nothing too permanent (my wife would argue with the head trauma’s though).
I have a good friend who lost his dad when he was bucked off a rank horse on to a fence post. Same thing, good cowboy. Another friend got tangled in his rope with a calf on the end while riding a colt and roping at a branding (Lingodog13’s neighbor). He lost one eye and was darn lucky just to live.
We are all in a dangerous place one time or another when working with livestock and horses, you have to be careful and love to do it in spite of everything.
I’ll bet that cowboy would not trade his lifestyle and was likely doing what he loved when he cashed in his chips. Too bad it couldn’t have happened later in life. Sounds like he had lots of living left to do.

[J-L]

That was a neat read Geoff. Those guys were sure innovative in their day. Interesting.

[J-L]

Well, thanks for your time and effort. It surely did pay off in a good place to read. I visit here quite a lot and appreciate (as many do) the opportunity to learn from our diverse members.
I’m sure Geoff will do a fine job.

[J-L]

Hey Mike, can you email some pictures of that rig to me? If you can shoot me an email with them, Lost Farmer and I are looking at making a round bale unroller too.

[J-L]

We still see lot’s of tie hack cabins and other things around here too. You’re right, they lived a rough life. Lot’s of them were Swedes.
We camp in the summer by a place called the Splas Dam. They used it to pool up water and flush the ties down country toward the rail roads. My dad was still finding ties stuck in the creek banks when he was a young man.
Lingodog13 on here found a lot of pictures at the county library pertaining to the local tie hacks. Very neat stuff. It’d be nice if she posted some.

[J-L]

Neat video Scott. No chubby guys working that job. Those men would work most modern men to death. Liked their horses too.

[J-L]

Very interesting video and I really enjoyed it even if I couldn’t understand a word.
I’m sure those folks know where not to plow in regards to the rocks and they probably have those patches picked clear of rock.
Amazing to me how good of a job they did with that wooden plow and six oxen.
Thanks for putting that up.

[J-L]

Wow, looks very stout. Ought to work great. I agree with you on moving your evener ahead some.
Nice job.

[J-L]

Pretty pictures John. Very nice team too. It is certainly a good scene to look on for us in Wyoming as we are still in winter mode too. Riding in the protected parts of the ranch the snow is rubbing on my stirrups. 6* this morning and yesterday. High of 21* yesterday. Your country side is very pretty and green.
I suppose there aren’t many riding implements over there and even fewer Pioneer plows. That KV bottom looks like it does a great job in sod.
Your furrow looks awfully good. Good job.

[Author]

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