The Organic Experimental Engine (oxen)
(Page 6 of 9)
May/June 1973
By John R. Scarlett
Oxen brake by raising their heads and holding the yoke against the backs of their horns. However, for going down steep grades with a heavy load, a wagon should have its own brake (or, in the case of an iron-tired vehicle, a drag shoe). Or the team can wear britchens, long leather tumplines that attach to the yoke on either side of each ox's head and pass around behind and below their rumps. These straps let the animals lean back hard to brace their legs without falling down.
RELATED CONTENT
Oxen are supposed to be better than horses at picking their way through the woods and over broken ground. I dont know. It's true that—unlike horses—they don't have a whippletree to hang them up on stumps or between trees if they're dragging logs . . . but they do have the yoke to contend with and that can prove too much for the animals to figure out. More than once we've seen John and Paul brought up short when they tried to walk on opposite sides of a small tree.
The Economics of Oxen
John and Paul are six years old and will continue to grow for another 12 to 24 months. Today a butcher would figure their cash value on the hoof at around 35¢ a pound, so—at a combined weight of 3,600 pounds—their redeemable cash value is $1,260. This is a little more than we paid for them. Even when the oxen near the end of their useful service to us ten or twelve years from now, they will still have a marketable meat value.
Here's what is has cost us to buy, maintain and equip the span of steers:
For most people $1,736 is a fortune. Now that we've spent the money, I know it is for us. All I can say is that the cost could be cut to almost nothing—depending on your desire and resourcefulness—if you're willing to raise and break a team yourself.
If you do, try to get calves born close together, preferably from cows bred by the same bull (as with our oxen) or—if you're lucky enough—identical twins, in order to increase the chance that the mature animals will be the same size. Calves can be harnessed at three weeks (with a small yoke, of course). After that it's a matter of time and patience, practicing one command for a long time and then going on to another.
A second alternative to buying a broken team is to use only one ox, providing he's strong enough to do what you want him to do. A steer working alone uses a single yoke, but a horse collar turned upside down does as well, we're told.
If a single ox is still too much power, you could try a cow. It's been done . . . in one old photograph we saw, a farmer had the family's milk supplier hitched up to a wagon.
SHOES
Oxen need to be shod only if you're planning to use them on ice or hard-surfaced roads. If you're used to seeing only horseshoes, an ox's footwear looks pretty peculiar . . . because he has cloven hoofs, the steer wears eight of the gadgets (two on each foot). To put them on you need a sling mounted on heavy timbers with which to raise the beast entirely clear of the ground.
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