Don't Knock the Ox

The International Ox Pull, highlight of the Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, annual fair, is a holdover from the pioneer past when oxen cleared the land and tilled the soil. These beasts of burden have lost none of their pulling power, as demonstrated when they drag tons of weight loaded on sleds (the winner pulls up to 6 tons!). Competing teams come from various parts of the Maritimes and the Northeastern United States.  National Film Board of Canada

 You won't be disappointed! Shoeing oxen, making yokes and cowbells, shaping ox horns, farming with oxen, and the competitive ox pulling tradition of Nova Scotia --- circa 1970. Such a bunch of characters crowded into just 13 minutes and 6 seconds is quite amazing. Includes some impressive teams --- Herefords, Hereford crossbreds, Ayrshires and others.

I Think I Saw a Reindeer

Xavia, a Hereford Heifer is being Prepared for Training as a Riding Cow
Photo used with permission of Samthesteerrider; Copyright Law applies.

This is a screen capture from a video just posted by Samantha, known better on her YouTube channel as Samthesteerrider and on the Riding Steers Forum as sam-e jo. You can watch her fun Christmas video here: Marry Christmas from Huckle Bery Hobby Farm :).  Samantha previously had a riding steer named Ferdy.

Horned Hereford cattle have long been favored in Nova Scotia for use as oxen. (Nova Scotians typically use head-yokes which require sturdy horns.) The breed originated in England. They are thought of in this country as a beef breed with most now being bred as polled animals (without horns). For oxen they are a popular breed to cross with the dairy breeds of Ayrshire, Holstein, or Shorthorn; these crosses carry the best draft animal characteristics of both breeds. Learn more about Herefords and other cattle breeds at this excellent web site: Oklahoma State University

Sleek Single Hereford Ox Pulling Oxcart in Nova Scotia c.1910

postcard

Making Ox Shoes and Shoeing the Ox

Making Nails and Ox Shoes in Sweden, 1923

Spik- och oxskosmide 1923

Se hantverksmässig framställning av spik i smedja i Lerbäcks socken och av oxskor i Karintorps by utanför Askersund.

This is a phenomenal video filmed in 1923 in a small hamlet near Askersund, Sweden. It shows two highly skilled blacksmiths working in tandem to manufacture nails and ox shoes on a small scale.

Shoeing an Ox in Seattle, 1906

The most common method of shoeing an ox makes use of a heavy restraint called a shoeing stock. Shoeing stocks vary in size depending on the size of the oxen to be shod. Shoeing stocks usually have belly bands to support the ox while he is being shod, and provide a method to hold each foot up individually, one at a time, to be worked on. Shoes are required for oxen who wear their feet down too fast in the rigors of their work. Shoes are also used to provide extra traction on snow and ice or for pulling extremely heavy loads.

Oxen who are not worked heavily may never need to be shod.

Frost on the Brow of the Ox

The official temperature was -26 degrees F (-32.2 degrees C). Scout the Ox was happy to be in the barn out of the wind, in a well bedded pen (He's free to choose sleeping inside or outside; the gate is always open unless the night's weather is expected to be severe --- in which case closing it helps to break the wind.)

Scout the Ox has just had his morning feeding of about three pounds of an all-stock ground grain mix. Some of the grain stuck to his nose. He gets a second feeding of about three pounds in the evening. I feed his hay outside to help keep his pen clean of manure. I'd rather he not be inside unless he's sleeping, eating his grain in the wee hours of the morning, or drinking his water.

 

Harry the Dog is peeking under the fence from his bed while Scout the Ox  washes down his breakfast with a fresh bucket of water. I carry Scout and Harry's water in the blue buckets of which I have two. I exchange the buckets twice a day. The one in the barn is sitting inside a discarded rubber tire and has bedding stuffed around it to slow freezing of the water.

 

I bring the second bucket in the house so it can thaw out before I refill it. This prevents banging on frozen buckets and breaking them. One of our house cats, Squeak, likes to play in the frozen buckets.

Van Gogh's Ox Gets X-ray and CT Scan

Van Gogh's famous painting The Ox Cart had its paint digitally peeled at the Oregon Health and Science University Hospital on Monday, December 13, 2010. After hanging on the wall of a Roseburg, Oregon home for many years the painting was donated to the Portland Art Museum. The X-ray and CT scans are part of an international research project into the details of Van Gough's artwork. The painting is valued in the millions of dollars.

Source: Oregon Health and Science University Hospital

OHSU covered the expense of making the images of The Ox Cart. The data gathered will be shared with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

 Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch Post Impressionist painter perhaps better known for his painting Cart with Red and White Ox which hangs in the Kroller-Muller Museum in the  Netherlands.

Oxen Team in Training

Oxen Being Trained to Work Together

Photo caption was created by bitzi and posted on bitzidoodles.blogspot. Bitzi is my sister, and she introduced me to the concept of blogging back in February of this year; she is a Graphic Artist and does digital doodlings on her blog.

1850's Farm and Town at Living History Farms

The two photos were taken August 13th, 2005 at the Living History Farm near Des Moines, Iowa by photographer Virtual Farm Boy. He wrote,"Oxen are regular cattle who go to special school for four years to learn to become oxen." The photos were shared on flickr.com and can be viewed here along with copyright information. Living History Farms has a website here. Living history museums and events have helped to keep the tradition of oxen alive in this country.

Scout the Ox Pulls Hay Feeder Using a Tumble-Bug Drag Scraper

Ox in Yoke Pulling Hayfeeder With Tumble-Bug Slipscraper

I built a hay feeder for our sheep some years ago. It is constructed of recycled lumber and is quite heavy. I decided to move it up by the fence-line to experiment with using it to feed Scout the Ox. I hitched him up and he gave a good effort to break it loose, but fell to his knees. I tried cutting the load (having him pull at a slight angle) but he still couldn't get it moving. The front-end just dug into the snow and turned it into a snow-plow. Our next tactic was to go and get the tumble-bug (dirt scraper) that I bought at a farm auction last summer.

An Amish farmer at the auction had found it in the tall weeds behind a barn. He drug it out hoping to buy it. It was without handles but otherwise in descent shape. Having been the last item to be auctioned off, there were only the two of us left to bid on it; the rest of the crowd had fanned out to claim their stuff. I felt kind-of bad when I won it for only $15 --- I thought the Amish man would be willing to pay more than that. In any event, I was happy to get it home because I thought I could use it to scrape up gopher mounds in the pasture, and to haul the loose dirt to wherever I needed it.

Earlier in the summer, I had drug home a pair of mahogany organ legs, from a discarded organ at the recycling center. I was thinking, "I really shouldn't drag home any more junk, but I might need these someday."

I may now have the only tumble-bug scraper in the world with mahogany handles trimmed in brass!

Scout was too young to pull the tumble-bug this year, so I used it behind the lawn tractor and it worked satisfactory. It should work much better when I can use it behind Scout the Ox, so that I can be on the ground to operate the handles.

The feed bunk width fits inside the tumble-bug; I pushed it under the feeder and chained it in. It brought the front up, and over the snow; Scout was able to pull it singlehandedly, like a champion team of oxen at an weight pulling contest!

We've been using the hay feeder several weeks now and I'd say it's working pretty well.

Antique Ad for a

Tumble-bug, aka Drag Scraper or Slipscraper

Starting at $10.60 each

Watch a Team of Oxen at Work Pulling a Slipscraper

Tillers International 2006

Tillers International is a 501(c)3 IRS non-profit organization for international rural development, specializing in farming with oxen. Based in Scotts, Michigan, USA at Cook's Mill Learning Center, Tillers offers classes in farming techniques, draft animal power, blacksmithing and metal work, timber framing, woodworking, cheesemaking, and many other farming and artisanal skills. Tillers International can be contacted at http://www.tillersinternational.org/ 

Storybrookeripples: Ox and Dog Blog and it's author are not affiliated with Tillers International.

Scout the Ox Meets Grandbaby

When our Grandbaby came for a visit Scout the Ox was polite about meeting her, but quite taken with the toys on her car-seat! Maybe I should string some toys on a wire in the barn for Scout to play with.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!: Ox in Winter

Scout the Ox Begins His Second Winter --- With a Smile

The blaze orange ribbon was for safety during hunting season.



Winter for Scout the Ox Means Cozy Nights in the Barn

[Editor's note: Don't tape your ox's horns!  In several weeks time the tape began to deform Scout's rapidly growing horn and was discernible for a long time after.]

Ox in Training: Hauling Firewood

On a November day when the sky was grey, like the side of a fish, I chunked up a fallen Box Elder tree. After checking out the chainsaw with his usual curiosity, Scout the Ox grazed nearby while Harry the Dog hunted mice in the tall grass.

 We went back for the wagon and Scout the Ox stood patiently while I loaded the two-wheel garden cart that I had converted into a four-wheel wagon by adding the forecart attatchment (see How To Convert a Garden Cart into a Small Wagon to Pull With a Single Ox ).

Scout the Ox pulled the load without difficulty; the cart was a little top-heavy and we did tip it over one time, but otherwise it worked great. I lead him with my lead-stick (see Broomhandle Ox Training Aid)  because the trail to the woodpile meanders around numerous obstacles, and the like.

The dump function worked well. When we'd get a load to the woodpile I'd trip the dump and have Scout the Ox move the cart ahead. I came back to split and stack the firewood later.

Hoof Trimming on Yearling Steer: Ox in Training

 

Before Trimming Hooves, the Medial Claws Rocked Back and Curled In

I posted the following on Riding Steers Forum on October 25th, 2010:

"I brought Scout onto the concrete Saturday and was soo-o discouraged with his front hooves. I was able to get the lateral claws trimmed to stand up pretty good, but the medial claws are so rocked back that all the weight they bear is on the heel. He showed this tendency very young.

This is not uncommon in dairy cattle (I trimmed cattle hooves full time for a couple of years), but, the main reason I bought my calf from the dairy I did, was that they never had hoof problems --- always good solid feet!

Sometimes you can do everything right and still get bad results."

 

Five Days After Hoof Trimming the Hooves Stand Up Straight 

I'm very pleased with the results of the trimming. Scout is standing up normal now.

Before anyone attempts trimming cattle hooves, I highly recommend study, and hands on training (Practicing on hooves salvaged from a butcher shop is in order). It would be easy to cripple an ox by making trimming mistakes.

Scout the Ox had overgrown hooves at an unusually young age. To see before and after photos of that click Hoof Trimming Calf.

Bennett Buggy, Hoover Wagon: Ox Tows Disabled Lawn Tractor

Towing my lawn tractor back to the shop for repairs reminded me of the Bennett Buggy and the Hoover Wagon of The Great Depression. Folks who had purchased automobiles in the good years before the economic downturn now found that they either couldn't afford gasoline or it wasn't available --- a number of automobiles had their engines removed and were hitched to oxen or horses to provide transportation.

Ox Team pulls 1933 Bennett Buggy, Crescent Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada

http://www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/03617

Bennett Buggy Pulled by an Ox and Horse Teamed Together. Saskatchewan, Canada

http://musee.societehisto.com/bennett_buggies_et_anderson_carts_n384_t343.html 

The Bennett Buggy was named after Prime Minister of Canada, Richard Bennett, and the Hoover Wagon was named after the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover. Both served during The Great Depression of the 1930's. I have not found a photo of a Hoover Wagon; does anyone have one?

Demonstration of Chinese Masters Painting Oxen (牛)

If you like art and oxen, this is an interesting video of two skilled Chinese artists at work. Watch the ox appear before your eyes.

牛

World's Slowest Riding-Steer

骑马黄牛
(riding ox)

張僧繇《十八宿神形圖卷 》 ﹝局部﹞，南梁

The Chinese Tortoise is believed to be the worlds slowest riding-steer (ox). It's slow and steady gait has earned it a reputation for being very dependable transportation.

To learn more about riding-steers join the discussion at http://ridingsteers.freeforums.org/index.php

How to Write "Cow" or "Ox" in Chinese

牛
Click here for video.



Oxherd Riding on Ox and Playing Flute
Guo Xu, artist
[Chinese, 1456-1526]
Ink on paper

黄牛

Worlds Largest Oxen in 1930

Worlds Largest Oxen: Mt. Katahdin and Granger

Combined weight 9800 pounds (avg. 4900 pounds each)
Mr. A.S. Rand, breeder
 Stetson, Maine
Photo taken August 24, 1930

Monk's Ox Was Plenty Large

Monk with Single Ox and Cart

The monks at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley used oxen to work on their 530 acres of land in the town of Cumberland R.I. The monks were of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance founded in 1098. After a fire destroyed their abbey in Nova Scotia in 1892 they migrated to R.I. around 1900. I wonder if they brought their oxen with them, as oxen were frequently used in Nova Scotia.

Stone was quarried from the monastary property, by the monks, to erect buildings. Oxen moved materials from place to place and helped with the farming by plowing the fields; hooded monks could be seen laboring in the fields along with the oxen.

They also sold items in their gift shop; I expect that may be the source of the postcards from which this photo of the ox originated. In 1950 much of the monastery was again destroyed by fire. The Cumberland public library now occupies the site of the previous Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley.

Our Faithful Ox: Abby of Our Lady of the Valley, Lonsdale, R.I.

(post cards)

The Durham Ox: How Big Was He?

The calf that became known as the Durham Ox was born in North-East England in 1796. Selective breeding for desirable traits was coming into vogue and beef tallow was in demand; extremely fat cattle were celebrated.

Being a large specimen with desirable characteristics of what would become the Shorthorn breed, the Durham Ox was toured around England riding in a special wagon pulled by four horses. I find nothing on record to suggest he was ever used as a draft animal. Estimates of his weight ran as high as 270 stone (1,715 kilograms or 3,781 pounds).

He dislocated a hip in 1807 while unloading from his wagon. When the hip failed to heal, and the ox was slaughtered (two-months later), he had apparently lost some condition; his carcass weighed in at only 189 stone (1,200 kilograms or 2,646 pounds); still quite a large animal.

The Durham Ox had become so popular that he became the subject of several famous turn-of-the-century paintings, and several English inns and pubs are named after him.

http://www.warwickshire-pubs.co.uk/detail.asp?PubId=20

A Durham Ox Dinner Platter

(blue transferware)

How Big Will a Holstien Riding Steer (or Oxen) Get? Pretty Big!

This is Bovine Beauty's Holstein, steer calf --- Fuzz.

And this is Bovine Beauty with Fuzz at an intermediate date.

As you can see in this more recent photo, at 2.5 years Fuzz has become a substantial riding steer. He is now taller than his trainer.

Bovine Beauty and her steer Fuzz are good at traffic control --- they stop it!

According to Oxen: A Teamster's Guide,  Holstein steers will average 2,500 pounds (1,135 kg.) mature weight. They grow rapidly and are a docile breed.

 To learn more about the use of riding steers, or to join in the riding steers discussion, please visit the Riding Steers Forum. The forum is friendly, free, and open to anyone with an interest in riding steers (bulls, or cows).  Auf Deutsch: reitkuh 

(Bovine Beauty is the screen name for this individual, on the Riding Steers Forum. The above four photos are copyrighted and used here with the copyright owner's permission. Copyright Law applies.)