The Novice Ox Man

Getting better

2010-01-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

The lads are definitely getting better. Took them both right out around the lower field a couple of days back and the stop's and starts are definitely improving although Lark still does this nudging business when he's stopped for longer periods - although it's less frequently it's enough for me to wonder how to respond???
They went around the hens with a little interest, past the pigs which caused a little stalling, the only thing that really stopped Sparrow was a drain covered with a metal grill that cut across the whole width of the road. It must only be 6 inches wide with a shallow drain underneath but Sparrow just couldn't cross it - in the end I went back around a different way rather than trying to drag him across. I didn't bother going that way with Lark incase the same problem arose - maybe I'll put a little straw ontop next time to disguise it?

Lark and Sparrow - yikes what have I started!

2010-01-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

Got both lads out today, it went OK although I have to say that both Lark and Sparrow were quite reluctant at times, turning back towards me, running forward, stopping etc. Sparrow is definitely brighter and more feisty, Lark seems softer and a bit calmer. Did lots of stopping and starting. Stopped them every time they tried to run forward. Lark especially got fairly reasonable for a 2nd run at stopping and starting but the thing that I very quickly realised is;
a) I need to stop when I tell/show the calf to stop and hold that until I tell him to 'Giddup'
b) I need to be aware of potential 'scary things' along the route.

I wrote a question on the Rural Heritage draft animal forum yesterday http://www.ruralheritage.com/messageboard/frontporch/index1.htm

It went like this;

Starting out a team as calves

Posted by Ed Berger at 2010-01-18 17:56:02

Hi, I've got my calves nice and settled into a routine of bottlefeeding and being tied off for an hour or so per day One's 2 weeks, ones 3 weeks old). I'm now starting to walk them on a halter. My question is at what stage do I put them in the yoke? Do they need to lead perfectly on the halter AND know how to stop and start before I get them yoked or do I get them straight in the yoke together from the start and then train them to start and stop? Any help would be much appreciated as the art of training oxen is virtually none-existent here in England sadly.

Response by chris at 2010-01-19 06:28:38

we hardly use halters and we use a collar
as far as the yoke goes a good double snap between the collars works well for a year or so

Response by oxnun at 2010-01-19 06:38:30

Get them to lead reasonably as singles, and respond well to commands to start and stop - especially to STOP.
Then put them in a yoke and keep on.
Look on the website "Draft Animal Power". In the forum/threads about oxen and training, there is an English girl who signs herself "Ixy", as she keeps Ixworth chickens, among other things. She has oxen and would be a resource fairly nearby: at least in the same country. She has a website, but the details escape me at this moment.
Have fun.

Response by Zebu Rider at 2010-01-19 13:06:26

My feeling is there is no reason they cant learn to carry a yoke except they will outgrow any you come up
with very fast. You CAN try other things so simulate carrying stuff, not only on their necks but back. I
had a couple scuba weight belts arround here I have used in the past and have used jeans with legs tied
with a lil dirt in them.

You ARE using voice commands with your halter training, voice first then a tug and you can be using a stick
like fiberglass fence post as a que too.

With leading, its easy to use two leads and actually drive, which will give both of you a feeling you are accomplishing something. I am not sure which of you learn more, there is a operator skill to keep
calves from turning at you at first.

If you relly get them good you can try just pulling a chain arrount their neck.

What a great load of responses. The 'oxnun' tip led me to the Draft Animal Power website http://www.draftanimalpower.com/ and there I found this gem http://www.theoxfiles.moonfruit.com/ 'Ixy' - a lady who lives in East Yorkshire who trains cattle to work and gives courses! WOW! Just wrote to her and look forward to hear back. I hope I can get up there ASAP.

First steps....

2010-01-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

Got both of the boys out on the halter yesterday....the littler one who has come to be known as 'Lark' was quite easy to lead and stayed back with a little tap with the stick. He stopped and started and seemed quite a natural although he hasn't learned yet that he can't extract milk from me and tried to nudge me from time to time.
The bigger calf named 'Sparrow' was definitely more feisty and needed lots of focus to keep him from not pulling forwards all the time and trying to run out. By the 2nd lap of the circuit he was much better but didn't dare try a 3rd lap incase I overdid it, it being first time and all.

Will try again tomorrow a.m.

The first yoke beam.....attempt

2010-01-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

When my friend Ron looked at the piece of 4" x 4" Ash I had purchased for my first calf yoke he was less then complimentary. It had a big black knot in one end, some spalted nasty looking stuff and two checks, one that looked rather ominous AND to top it all, it was, according to Ron, wildly overpriced. I just hadn't bothered to look properly when I bought it. But as Ron pointed out, I'll be a bit wiser next time I go to buy wood. I guess I just trusted the fact that this wood merchants advertised themselves as Stourbridge's oldest - over 200 years - but as I found out that's no gaurantee of quality (although they can't have stayed in business for this long selling this sort of stuff!)
So I made some templates and marked the wood up. Then we drilled the bow holes using a spade bit held in a cordless drill with Ron eyeing up to keep things level - sort of. A couple of the holes went a bit off, although we drilled from both sides so the mistakes are inside but it's number 2 lesson in how not to do it! Ron helped me to make cuts up to the outline with a bow saw. Then the project kind of stalled due to teaching responsibilities until today when some blessed space was given by a snowy day that brought the outside world to halt!
So I removed all the excess wood and tidied it up with chisel, gouge and a surform which did a wonderful job of grating away the wood but it was quite slow, and for a large yoke would be too slow I imagine.
I then started shaping the neck seats with a combination of surform and spoke shave which seemed quite effective. But that big old split came back to haunt me because it's right in the middle of one of the neck seats and needs some work doing to make it good.
Well, let's see what tomorrow brings, if the road's stay icey I may get to do the other neck seat and treat that split and make the bows (I'm just using blue plastic pipe for this little one, like how those chaps on the 'Rural Heritage - making Ox yokes DVD' do it - http://www.ruralheritage.com/bookstore/catalog_group.cgi?subcategory=o ). Will post a picture when it's complete.
By the way, the calves are getting more used to the idea of being haltered. Have been tying them up for an hour after feeding and today they didn't seem to tug and fight much at all. When the snow melts I'll take them out and start walking them on the halter.

Haltering, slipping and sliding....

2010-01-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

Got the calves out today for the first time on a halter. The brown one tugged on the halter, I stood my ground until he came forward, he moved a little way forward and the rope went slack. He tried to move back and I waited until he came forward....and so we carried on. Eventually he started to get the idea that if he moved forward the halter wouldn't tighten - kind of! We even got a few feet outside but the ground was very slippey with the snow and he slipped around a lot so we came back in, he was obviously keen to get back. Michal tried to help encouraging him from behind a bit but I wasn't sure in hine sight if it was really necessary.
The other one was kind of the opposite; after an initial pulling on the halter he followed me outside with no worries about crossing new thresholds, but all the time buffetting me with his nose trying to extract milk from me! It might be sensible to do this after he's fed?? I guess they both only had 5 minutes on the halter today, but we left on a positive note with both of them I felt.
It all looked so clear in the book! Must divide the stable up properly so that they can be tied off.

Day 4 - bottlefeeding

2010-01-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

Getting the calves was a bit of a mission as the combination of snow and our nations lack of readiness for snow meant that I spent an hour trying to get to Stourton Farm in my little Skoda, a journey that normally takes me 5 minutes. The journey back with the 2 calves in the back of Roger's land rover (Roger is the farmer at Stourton) took 5 minutes. Land Rovers definitely beat Skoda's in snow! Sarah who works at the farm brought a churn of their mothers milk over later that day to ease the transition from mum to bottle. Now it's day 4, and the calves are readily bottle feeding. I've been gradually reducing the proportion of mum's milk to replacer, now they're just on replacer.
The brown and white one navel sucks the brown one after feeding (they remain nameless as you can tell). I guess he's trying to fulfil his natural suckling instinct but I've heard the 'suckee' can get an infected navel from this so I've put some sheep hurdles up to separate him from the 'sucker'. I'll have to get into tying them off after feeding to break this.
I've been draping the halter over them to get them used to the feel of it. Put them both one on today briefly at lunch time. They seemed relatively unbothered by it. Nothing compared to haltering a calf that's on its mother that's for sure.
So far so good!