head yoke vs. neck yoke

[bivol]

hi!

i’ve been burning to start this discussion because i haven’t been able to find any objective information about comparance of these two designs :rolleyes:

actually, this is a controversy which goes way back in new england and nova scotia. this is not an attempt to “judge” or settle the matter, but to geather relevant information in one place…

most teamsters hold to their yoke styles, but for those just starting (or are willing to experiment) this should be helpful. and to broaden our cattle related culture and knowledge….

head yoke
i’m talking about all other kinds of head yokes BUT the nova scotian design, because of its short span use and complicated fitting). also, i’m talking about a wooden head yoke for two animals.
most head yokes are not made costumary for certain animals and can be fitted to any team.

good points
animals rigidly attached-more control over them
consists of a single piece of wood, and is easier to construct
no yoke gall and sores
animals can adjust their heads to push with maximum power
no need to monitor animals for constant fit of yoke to neck. they can lose or gain weight, but it doesn’t reflect the fit.

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/2754483235_94f8a3b1b4.jpg?v=0[/IMG]

bad points –
can’t move heads independently. animals need fly protection for eyes
need developed muscles
animals must have strong horns, although “strong” is a wide definition. most animals have suitable horns. holstein oxen can also use head yokes and pull with entire force.
must learn to hold their heads in most efficient position.
animals tire more quickly when pulling an unbalanced implement, like a two heeled cart. the cart must be well balanced as animals suffer when too much weight is put on their necks.

[IMG]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/127516873_13210083a6.jpg?v=0[/IMG]
here a nice shot of the back

[neck yoke]–

good points
animals can bear more weigt at the base of their neck than at the head and are more free in their movement.
can move their heads freely.
when plowing on sloped ground don’t have to have their heads tipped in the lay of land.

bad points
-efficiency is dependent on touching surface of the neck.
-it causes yoke gall, and i dare to say that it must fit more perfectly than the neck yoke.
-yoke can cause sores if animals put on too much weight.
–bows. they are most complicated to make, require a steamer and bender, and aditional wood. an entire new process. in case of steel bows, they must be forged or heated and bent….
it needs a bigger piece of wood to build a neck yoke than a head yoke for a same sized pair of animals.

question: does rattling of the cart or sled or plowing on rocky ground hurt their spine when plowing in head yoke?

annyway write down anything you can think of, good or bad, it helps the conversation.

[Carl Russell]

I have used both on the same pair of Holsteins, and I’d say you pretty well laid out the pros and cons.

I liked the head yoke because I could see how the animals could move together, and they seemed to relate to pushing with their foreheads. I never used a cart when I used the head yoke, but I can see how that may cause some discomfort for them. Flies, and standing in the woods in the summer waiting for me to hitch them seemed to cause them a great deal of frustration, due to the lack of free movement.

[IMG]http://www.draftanimalpower.com/photoplog/index.php?n=33[/IMG]

As far as the neck yoke, I used it for the most part because I had more access to them because of the regional convention. Although NS isn’t that far away, I had to travel there for guidance, and hardware, so my enthusiasm waned as time went by. I found as my cattle grew and I expected more from them in the woods, I think they traveled more freely in the neck yoke. Also I don’t think the Holsteins long neck was favorable for use with the head yoke, and they seemed to be able to apply more power in the neck yoke.
[IMG]http://www.draftanimalpower.com/photoplog/index.php?n=16[/IMG]

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Two photos showing the team with each type of yoke, Carl

[Gulo]

The other system to consider is the harness with adjustable hames over some system of pads. I made a set of the these out of laminated oak over two nested horse collar-pads (two each for each ox) for the water buffalo, and am convinced they are more comfortable than in the neck yoke. Literature reports that one ox in harness can do the work of two in yoke, with none of the discomfort associated with other systems.

Here’s a link – this site has further links:

http://www.prairieoxdrovers.com/collars.html

[bivol]

@Gulo 4063 wrote:

The other system to consider is the harness with adjustable hames over some system of pads. I made a set of the these out of laminated oak over two nested horse collar-pads (two each for each ox) for the water buffalo, and am convinced they are more comfortable than in the neck yoke. Literature reports that one ox in harness can do the work of two in yoke, with none of the discomfort associated with other systems.

Here’s a link – this site has further links:

http://www.prairieoxdrovers.com/collars.html

yes, i’m familiar with this system, but either yoke works sufficiently and can be more easily maintained. in the case of head yoke, also made more easily.

[bivol]

hi!

also, a thought on head yoke… does it cause frustration to oxen when they can’t move their head? for example you can’t let them stand an hour in the village…:(
that’s the only real drawback i can think of when comparing these two types. other drawbacks originate in choice of cattle.
i’d certainly use the head yoke on hilly ground rather than neck yoke.

working in head yoke have more natural body position than oxen in neck yoke… see below…

[IMG]http://www.flickr.com/photos/interchangeableparts/2811921312/sizes/l/[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlehman/356442884/sizes/l/[/IMG]

[Vicki]

One advantage of the neck yoke is that, as long as the animal has the proper neck size, it can be put into the yoke; so animals can be quickly switched off or paired up as necessary–a plus if an animal goes lame or dies, or on extended journeys like the great westward migration on the Oregon Trail, or for training a green animal alongside an experienced one.

In contrast, head yokes which have horn boxes need to be fit to the specific animal–no biggie for someone like my friend Bud, but it takes some time and tools, and needs to be modified as the horns grow; and the yoke is usually not reusable on different cattle. These require head pads and straps–usually leather but perhaps felt, but not readily available in the North American frontier, or in some parts of the world. Same with collar or pad systems.

So the context of the working of the cattle helps determine advantages or disadvantage. Anatotomy influences, too–humpless European cattle require something beyond a beam and skeins.

I contend that head yokes and neck yokes do not injure nor pain the cattle when they fit and are designed well. Design and fit are the crucial factors, not the style itself. It must work with cattle anatomy and physiology.

Competition in New England and the Maritime Provinces has spurred the development of very fine tuning in yoke fit, yoke design and yoke dynamics, in the same way that auto racing has resulted in high-performance engines and body designs.

Granted, some traditional yoking systems around the world are not very efficient or comfortable, and though less than ideal, they persist because it’s just the way it’s done.

Tillers International rural development projects have introduced improvements in yokes and hitching systems among people who depend on animal traction as a matter of life and death. I was priviledged to help in northern Uganda where we introduced a dropped hitch point and bows to their heritage of beam and skein style yokes. These modifications increased the efficiency and willingness of their small zebu cattle. We easily constructed bows from locally available plastic pipe, heated over an open fire, bent around a wood form, reinforced with wooden dowel. Introducing a vertical evener for multiple hitching greatly increased the possibilities of ox jobs there. The Tillers guys also designed and crafted donkey harness with locally available resources for a different camp in the region. You wouldn’t believe what they had been using.

A big advantage of Canadian head yokes is there anything more handsome than these stout cattle in their decorated head pads and bells

[bivol]

vicki said:[HTML] One advantage of the neck yoke is that, as long as the animal has the proper neck size, it can be put into the yoke; so animals can be quickly switched off or paired up as necessary–a plus if an animal goes lame or dies, or on extended journeys like the great westward migration on the Oregon Trail, or for training a green animal alongside an experienced one.

In contrast, head yokes which have horn boxes need to be fit to the specific animal–no biggie for someone like my friend Bud, but it takes some time and tools, and needs to be modified as the horns grow; and the yoke is usually not reusable on different cattle. These require head pads and straps–usually leather but perhaps felt, but not readily available in the North American frontier, or in some parts of the world. Same with collar or pad systems.
[/HTML]

i believe you are looking at the head yoke issue through the nova scotian eyes. please look at what i wrote in the first post on thread. i said all but nova scotian yoke:rolleyes:

nova scotian head make for, after my opinion, less than o,1% of the total number of head yokes in the world.
other specifically carved yokes include: in france, oxen are still, though in small number, used for show and sometimes for work. there, the majority of cattle are harnessed in head yoke,and of that small number only a fraction works in a specifically carved yoke. after my opinion 20 yoke of oxen is overestimated.
others include austria, or germany. the head yoke was banned there in the 20′, and is today a rarity to see. actually, i’ve seen only once a yoke that could be a specifically carved yoke. maybe 5 yoke.

ALL OTHER head yokes in the world are NOT specifically made for a single team. that means all oxen in peru, nicaragua, brazil, mexico, chile, and cuba,…
there the oxen are numerous, and used daily for tillage and transport.

and if you ask if it’s possible for oxen to work in a non-custom made yoke, just look at cuba. oxen are there the backbone of land tillage, and they do what it takes.
although they do everywhere.

the head yoke i meant was of either cuban or chilean design.
with cuban or chilean yoke various animals can be yoked together need be or for training the green one. only conditions are that the animals are aproximatelly the same size and have strong horns.

as for pads and straps, the material can vary. one can make a pad from many materials, for example from straw filled cloth or folded cloth, or palm leaves. as for straps, they can be of naylon, or rope. both work.

so, i don’t see any disadvantages to the head yoke in your reply.

[Vicki]

I have no experience nor observation of Cuban or Chilean head yokes so I have no opinion or comments on them. Sorry to annoy you to speak about Nova Scotia head yokes [ones that have horn boxes carved out I did say] and American neck yokes; that is all I can comment about.

My ramblings were exploring pros and cons of those styles and some of the relationship between history, context, and culture and any yoke systems–writing down “anything I could think of” assuming it would “help the conversation.” I do contend that context, type of work, culture, available material, and even animal breed can all influence which system is “better” or less advantageous in a specific situation.

I do not advocate one system over another. But there are pros and cons of each.

I would like someday to see the Cuban, Central American and South American yoking and oxen.

I am interested in what, if any, adaptations or adjustments are used with the Cuban/South American yokes to adjust angle of draft, like for a plow vs. for a cart. Or is this not an issue with head yokes?

[bivol]

yes i encouraged people to write everything they could and knew about. i forgot i wrote that. sorry!

personally i newer saw the nova scotian mechanism of adjustment of angle of draft, and honestly i didn’t understand it when it was explained.

but looking at various other head yoke designs, i noticed no other yoke has a system of control in the literal sence of work. it is the very design of the yoke that regulates the angle.

look at the pictures.

[IMG]http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-16721188.jpg?size=67&uid={D6D5DEEF-3B6A-45BC-9037-0BAEB03D93AB}[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.flickr.com/photos/72256560@N00/88390593/sizes/o/[/IMG]

the oxen regulate the line of draft themselves, as the yoke is “balanced”, the point of draft is level to the point of spine where the neck meets the skull.

i noticed that (maybe it’s obvious, but…) oxen pulling with a head yoke in optimal yoke design always keep their heads in 90 degrees to the chain or tongue.

[mother katherine]

Carl, How old were your steers when you tried the different yokes on them? Which had they grown up with and how long did it take them to change comfortably?
oxnun

[Carl Russell]

They were about three years old I think. They were in a 9″ bow yoke, and their horns were well developed. These steers were pretty well handled from the beginning so they were relatively easy to introduce to new things. I went to Nova Scotia, met a yoke maker, gave him the measurements, watched how to carve the horn pockets, came home, fit the yoke to them, and started working with them.

They were a bit uncomfortable with the new sensation of not being able to move their heads independently, but they took to moving weight very quickly…. a matter of hours. I found that they “related” to moving weight with their foreheads very easily. It seemed to be instinctual.

Once they grew out of it… the distance across the back of the poll, between the base of their horns gets bigger as they grow, and that it the determining factor in sizing the yoke to the animals…. I went back to using bow yokes. They are faster to put on, and easier to make… for me… and for the work I did with those steers I never felt that I needed the head yoke. I still have a blank that I never fit to them, and I am thinking that I will probably use it for the current team.

I think the main difference between them is cultural, although my Holsteins had typical long slender necks, which seemed to work against them moving heavy loads with the head yoke. I NS the cattle are all low to the ground and heavy beef crosses with thick shoulders and necks.

Carl

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