Sustainable Logging with Draft Animals

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Logging with draft animals even has the blessing of Audubon magazine, which recently featured an article on mule logger Bob Taber of Mountain View, Missouri. Says Bob of mechanical skidders, "They ride all over the little stuff three and four inches thick, and that's our future timber. Why, log skidders will ride down trees big as a stovepipe. I wouldn't trade a pair of mules for a skidder:"

The Audubon article went on to cite a test at the University of Idaho Experimental Forest, where a tract was logged with both a tractor and horses; 91% of the damage to standing trees was caused by the tractor. Says retired U.S. Forest Service researcher and Montana horse logger James Lotan: "It is not just something quaint that makes interesting photos. It is the coming thing because it is the environmental way."

Besides all that, draft animals can be smarter than their handlers. I once watched our neighbor's logging horse have a hard time negotiating the route its owner had chosen. In disgust the fellow threw down his driving lines, whereupon the horse chose a different route and easily brought the log to the deck on his own. Try doing that with a balky mechanical skidder.

Resources:

Draft Horse & Mule Association of America, Phill Farrell, Executive Secretary Route 1, Box 98, Lovington, IL 61937.
Horse Loggers International Newsletter, Greg Caudell, Editor, Star Route, Keller, WA 99140.
North American Horse & Mule Loggers Association, A. Glen French, Jr., Acting President, 8307 Salmon River Highway, Otis, OR 97368.
Rural Heritage, 281 Dean Ridge Lane, Gainesboro, TN 38562
Tillers International, Richard Roosenberg, Director, 5239 South 24th Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49002.

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