[Tim Harrigan]

Good stuff, Andy. It will be interesting to find out how close 12% is to what you measure. Keep up the good work.

[Tim Harrigan]

Carl Russell;18125 wrote:

… I still feel compelled to encourage you to push yourself and Reno past the smooth maneuver stage, and into the significant controlled effort stage of performing work.

Carl

Good point Carl, I think if Reno could keep a controlled line with 1500 lb on a sled or stoneboat that plow would not distract him from the task at hand.

[Tim Harrigan]

I like the accelerator. 😀

[Tim Harrigan]

If he acts like he wants to jump the furrow try following Erika’s lead and just plow about 3 inches deep. A plow can be a challenge for a single.

[Tim Harrigan]

Didn’t you write about a good plowing experience last weekend or so? Same plow? If Reno is jumping the furrow and quit on you I would suspect something not fitting quite well, maybe something is sore or painful, or maybe this soil plows a lot harder than what he is use to. A lot of rocks and shock loads to the collar? Sounds like you were both pretty frustrated. Tomorrow is another day.

[Tim Harrigan]

Here is a picture of one that works pretty good for us. Do you have trouble with it rolling over, or do you pull the GD out from under it? Sounds like either not wide enough or not long enough.

[Tim Harrigan]

Find out what rate of atrazine. It can have a long residual but it will depend on the rate. If you treat the five acres as one field with one horse it might get away from you. Think about breaking it up into maybe 5 pieces then think through the work schedule. Jason has a good suggestion for crimson clover, you can plant that soon and let it go until fall and get a good N kick from it. Other crops that would do well seeded in summer are millet, sorghum etc. but they will really jump if the conditions are right so be ready. Also, brassicas like oil seed radish and forage turnips can be planted in early August and will grow into December so that could extend your living cover and take some pressure off fall tillage if that is what you have in mind.

[Tim Harrigan]

highway;17980 wrote:

I assume once the corn and taters are up and showing, he would get the idea to stay between the rows. Maybe we will have to lead him a few times untill we get the hang of it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/108015252120457183879/OzzieCultivating?feat=directlink

Should work out fine as long as you use him on the planter. 😀

[Tim Harrigan]

I keep oxen but I would probably do with them as sanhestar described for the horses but I would send them out on a fairly full belly of hay.

[Tim Harrigan]

Looks good, don’t worry about the initial design too much, you will probably end up changing it after you work with it for a while anyway. It is the action that is important at this point. Nice idea.

[Tim Harrigan]

Jason, I stayed up and watched it last night and I was glad I did. Nice job, and Jagar showed nice control of the horses pulling ahead and backing without lines. Let us know when the next segments will be on.

[Tim Harrigan]

John, I am not sure what difference it would make where in the system a buffer was. It seems like the crosscutting issues are response rate and the range of response relative to the demands of the load. Those are the basic issues we have been puzzling over and the things that Andy wants to address in his work over the next few months. I hope we can develop some reasonable and defensible recommendations. Thanks for this information, I not heard of that before.

[Tim Harrigan]

I like that. I have been thinking along those lines for calf housing as well. Not too hard to block the wind from three sides or open it up a little more for full ventilation and a little shade. Just pull it away to load out the bedding or leave it there to decompose. Easy to hang a water bucket on the side where it will not spill, or hang a bottle feeder on the side.

[Tim Harrigan]

Wolfgang: Thanks for the videos and articles. The short chaining is an interesting way to take advantage of a high hitch angle and the power that is concentrated in the neck and shoulders of an ox team. I have not tried that method of skidding, you will notice that it requires a wide-span yoke so the team can straddle the log. There are clear advantages in keeping the log off the ground in front, cleaner log, less danger of hitting obstructions, etc. It would also require some training for the team to maneuver and turn the log in tight quarters, and the wide span could limit access in some wood lots. The advantage of a high hitch angle is that the team can carry some of the load in addition to pulling it. When they carry part of the load it reduces the part of the load they have to pull and the pulling draft is reduced.

When I have time I will do some calculations to estimate a theoretical draft with thay method, but in general I would guess the draft would be about the same as with a logging arch. The problem with that is that the arch is carrying the load, not the team, which eases the burden of the team. So the question is really efficient use of power. This is an interesting use of an ox team in that it really captures the front end power and that is the primary power plant in many ox breeds.

Have you seen this by Professor Inns in the UK?

http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0613t/w0613t0g.htm

It is an interesting approach to hitching a single donkey for tillage whereby they take advantage of a high hitch point by modifying the harness so a portion of the load is carried on the hind quarters and the angle of draft is shifted from the front to the back of the animal. There are figures and images associated with the highlighted text, one of the graphs shows reduction in tillage draft when using the high-lift harness compared to their traditional harness, probably a breast harness if I recall correctly.

You can also download a report of the use if the high-lift harness in Bolivia from this site

http://www.cigrjournal.org/index.php/Ejounral/article/view/458/0

reporting on work by Brian Sims who I believe is a colleague of Inns in the UK.

[Tim Harrigan]

Thanks for the explanation, Roscoe. Can you also explain what you see as the benefit of the draft buffer springs in the singletrees?. Would they be primarily for starting the load, smoothing out the pull in transport, shock absorbsion when hitting obstructions, or other benefits? Thanks.

[Author]

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