[Rod]

I kind of dropped the project as my wife took the Donkeys over for riding and I acquired a team of ponies. I still think there is a place where Donkeys are just the right animal to use.

[Rod]

@Howie 4217 wrote:

The britchen is purely for convience. But once you have used one you won’t be with out one. The drawing is pretty acturate, it is my grand daughter and her single Ayrshire.

HI Howie

Do you use the britchen to keep the yoke from turning as well as to hold loads back?

[Rod]

Tillers international has a booklet on making neck yokes which has a plan for a single yoke. I made one from the plan out of basswood (6″ ) and bought the bow from Clark Bending 1895 Tr 152, Baltic Ohio 43804. Tillers is at http://www.tillersinternational.org/index.html
The britchen is for holding a load back as in going down a grade with a wheeled vehicle in back. If the load is not likely to skid or roll into the steer going down grade but needs to be dragged everywhere then you don’t need a britchen. As far as how much weight to put a small steer on I will leave that to the more experienced teamsters to answer.

[Rod]

I will be interested in what you come up with as I have a Dutch Belted steer calf which I plan to train and use as a single. I made a neck yoke for him to use until his horns grow out and then I like and am going to try a forehead yoke as has been discussed else where on this site.

This will require the britchen strap, shaft loop setup to pull a cart if I use one with him. Let us know what you come up with.

[Rod]

I agree that follow the money is a clue to determine motivation in may cases but just as or more important and a sometimes less subtle motivator is ideology.
Much of the science in our culture today is filtered through human ideologies some of which are held with a fervor equivalent to religion and depending on what that ideology is the science will often reflect one side or the other. Thats one reason why scientists are often formed up into two or more camps, looking at the same data but seeing the result differently.
That’s human nature and we all understand that is part of our imperfection but we do the best we can. The problem as I see it however is to bet the farm on what so far is anything but hard fact. Remember science in history has been wrong as much as it’s been right. It’s my opinion we need to temper our responses until we are sure we are on the right track because what we disturb may not be able to be reconstructed.
I agree we need to be good stewards of our planet and that so far we haven’t been doing a good job at that but I also see a world with a very fragile human culture, lots of people to feed, economies to maintain, issues of health and social stability with the potential for anarchy and social breakdown when the balance of things are disturbed too greatly. Often what we do in one area affects many other areas of life which at times is called the law of unintended consequences.
Sometimes I wonder if some of the proposed responses (taxing cow gas as an example) are confusing the trees for the forest. The human dilemma has to be considered a major priority because we affect everything else by what we do.

[Rod]

At the risk of being demonized I suggest some indepth research about the real cause of global warming. There are a lot of very respected scientists that believe it could it be sitting up in the sky beaming down on us daily, no more no less.

It would awful upsetting to millions of folks if the human effect on global warming turned out to be a well meaning but nevertheless political science especially if we take such drastic measures to counteract something that we are not significantly effecting in the first place.

Now I duck for cover.

[Rod]

Did you ever get the feeling that the idiots are in charge of the world and especially the EPA?

Anybody using one of the EPA designed and mandated gas cans yet. Must have been designed by an office bureaucrat living in a condo who never used one to even fill a lawn mower. It takes 10 minutes to put 5 gallons of Diesel into my Bobcat tank all the while holding the can at the right angle and at the same time pressing the spout down to release the air intake on the nozzle. Anouther good reason to use the horses.

[Rod]

Is everyone using shoes on all four feet or do some do the fronts only and what do you think about that.

[Rod]

I believe New England especially northern NE is wide open in many areas for large animal Vets to succeed. I think parts of NY State are in the same boat. A cattle breeder I know in eastern NY has to get a Vet to travel 3.5 hours to do a health certificate. I had a cattle customer from Maine that told me it was impossible for him to get a Vet to come out to his farm to treat his cows. His two alternates were to load the sick animal and drive two hours to the nearest Vet or call and work through the problem on the phone. Plenty of small animal Vets around here anyway, but not as many that want or are willing to do the hard and dangerous work with the larger animals. Fortunately we have two very good ones nearby but from what I have heard thats not the case generally. She might consider talking with the States Veterinary Departments who would be most knowledgeable about the needs in their States.

[Rod]

You may be intrested in this site http://www.sawmillexchange.com/ , all kinds of used mills.

[Rod]

I had a few woodmizers in the past until I decided like Jason that I really didn’t like sawing wood. The machines work fine and some like doing it but not me. They result in a lot of manual handling of wet and heavy boards with lots of debris and waste product to organize and keep in order.

[Rod]

Thank you, I have a real clear picture of it all now.

[Rod]

Hi Charly

Can I bother you to take a few measurements for publication here. I am interested as others might be of the length and width of the leather pad and the depth of the felt and anything else you might include so that the size can be determined. I assume this one you have is for a full grown ox?
I have a young steer calf which I plan to train as a single ox and really like this concept for the yoke, it seems so simple, easy to put on and a good and comfortable way for the animal to pull.

[Rod]

Do you know if it’s normally made as a one size fits all or are variouse sizes needed to fit the steer as the grow?

[Rod]

Do you know if one makes one size fits all or are a few diffrent sizes usually made to fit the steer as it grows?

[Author]

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