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Oxen logging

Started by Wes, December 01, 2003, 06:58:01 PM

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Wes

Does anyone log with oxen? Ive been thinking about training a team to give it a try.I would like to hear any thoughts,advice or comments.thanks Wes.

etat

I don't know not one thing about oxen.  But I can hook you up with a couple of brahma bulls, 16 month old, and just right for trainin!  I would pay money to see you hook a yoke to em!!!!!!
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

Wes

cktate,
Send,em up and we,ll have a go at it! :o
Just kidding I think that sounds like more of a challenge than Im up to. I was thinking more in the line of a couple of holstean calves for starters.But thanks for the offer.
Wes.

Woodhog

They have a lot of oxen around here...

They start them very young and use a head yoke on them..

They are more under control in the woods than horses as they
are very slow moving and docile if properly trained...
When you are finished with them you can eat them....much better taste than an old skidder tire....

At the local ag fair there are usually over 100 teams of oxen
from Maine and nova Scotia...

The Mainers use a neck yoke and here they use a head yoke, I think the head yoke has proven a better rig  over the years...
You dont have much gear to bust up, a few leather straps to put the yoke on the horns with, and a pole running down between the beasts to hook on the load...and an OX whip to crack over there heads when you pull on the yoke to get them to move a big load....
No hydraulic hoses/engine fumes/wheel chains/ diesel fuel/
busted trannies/ smashed cab windows, broken axles/
punched tires/dead batteries/etc etc etc...

Just very low productivity with almost no costs, a little hay and shortfeed and a bucket of water...

They use all breeds, Holstein/Hereford/ etc but the Red and Whites are the favorites by far....

Worst job is to put shoes on them as they have to be put in a sling affair....

So GEE  HAW,   Bright and Lion  away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://novascotia.cbc.ca/tv/landandsea/oxen/

Its not hard to tell I am over-tired from cutting logs all day...

dail_h

   Wes,
   There is a lady at yhe Southeast Old Threshers every year with brown swiss oxen. This year she had a yoke that pulled with their horns,that may be the head yoke you guys mentioned,but the neat thing about these was they were trained to follow on command. To prove this ,she had different people walk them around on the grounds. I'de love to have a yoke of oxen,but don't have time or space right now.
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Bro. Noble

Reminds me of the story they tell about a local character who has been gone many years.  His name was Sedger Russel.  One time Sedger was hard up for money and decided to sell his calf for some pocket money.  He got to thinking that if he broke the calf to work he could get a little more for it. He had an old neck yoke but only one calf so he yoked himself with the calf.  Of course the calf got spooked and took off ending up in a pile all tangled up with Sedger.  His buddies who were taking this all in with delight came running to his rescue.  When they started to unyoke him Sedger stopped them.  He told them "take the blasted yoke off that *DanG calf----Sedger'll stand" :D
milking and logging and sawing and milking

Keltic

As Woodhog stated the solid exhaust units are still pretty widely used in Nova Scotia, just saw an interesting half hour program about them the other day, a local show called Land and Sea. Looked like fun, once you had them trained that is.

Wes

This all sounds very interesting,the more I learn about oxen the more I want to try it.
Thanks for the link,now I have to think about headyoke vs neakyoke this is the first Ive heard of a head yoke.I would like to make one myself if I can find some plans.
The story was also very entertaining.
Thanks again all.
Wes

Stan

If you are really interested do a search on Rural Heritage. The magazine is the site you want.  :)
I may have been born on a turnip truck, but I didn't just fall off.

Wes

Stan,
Yeah I checked that one first, It's a real good one.
Wes

crtreedude

Hi All,

This oxen thread caught my attention.  You see, I have a tree plantation in Costa Rica and we are seriously considering using oxen instead of a bulldozer to retrieve trees.  The oxen will not tear things up as much I am told.  They are a lot slower but I personally like the idea.

The yoke for oxen in Costa Rica is made of mangrove wood since it is hard but elastic.  The yoke is tied onto their horns.  I just joined the forum and it looks really interesting.  I hope to be asking some questions but for now I am trying to catchup on a lot of the great information that is already published.  You see, I need to buy a saw mill in the next year or two and am just getting started researching.  :P

Fred
So, how did I end up here anyway?

Jeff

Quote I hope to be asking some questions...

Fred, I hope your prepaired to answer some too!

COSTA RICA?!!  :o8)


What sort of trees are you growing?
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Fla._Deadheader

Costa Rica ???  I go there. Where ya located, near the Osa???  Couldn't find Monterey on the map. What Province are ya located in ???

  Have Sawmill, will travel ??? ::) ;D ;D :D :D :D :D
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Tom

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Fred.

If he's growing banana trees, maybe he won't have to fuel the oxen from imported fuel. ::)

I'm sure curious to see pictures of a modern working ox team. :P :)

crtreedude

Hi All,

The trees we planted this year are teak, mahagony, Spanish cedar, sura and pilon.  (About 4,200).  However, my forestry engineer told me that I need to harvest about 200 trees that are spread across the plantation. 8)

When I get my sawmill I just might take someone one up on a trip to Costa Rica to work with me and my crew and show us how it's done.  By the way, have you ever dealt with a bole that is 80 to 90 feet tall?   ;D

If you are interested in what we are doing, we have a website at www.fincaleola.com - more just a site that is focused on reforestation.  There is a discription of the trees there as well as a TON of pictures under the Costa Rica link.  

Nope, not growing bananas, actual the oxen just eat the grass, they really do not need anything else so I am told.  In fact, the horses only eat the grass and I used to think that horses required oats or something.  Must be better grass than normal.  We will be growing plantains, bananas, oranges, mangoes tangerines, limes, etc for our own use and the use of the workers.  Many of these are already growing on the plantation wild.

I'll see if I can track down a picture of a working oxen, I think I saw one somewhere.


So, how did I end up here anyway?

crtreedude

As far as our location - Find Arenal Volcano, due North on Route 4 is Monterrey.  We are a little further north near the town of San Miguel - you will need a good map to find THAT!  We are on the head waters of Rio Cano Ciego.

So you interested in sawing up some logs that are more than 80 feet long?!

Fred
So, how did I end up here anyway?

Fla._Deadheader

Ola, Como Esta. No problema, Senor !!!!!!  ;D :D :D :D
  Went to yer website. Nicely done. Found you were in Alahuela. Only direction I haven't gone. Been to Nicoya, and almost to Nicaragua. Been to the Osa Peninsula and nearly went to Limon. Might have ended up in a shootout with Squatters, so, my friend asked me to NOT go.  ::)Didn't want me to get hurt. ::) ;D
  I have a good friend in San Jose, actually San Pedro. Been down there 5 times. We go gold prospecting. Found some nice stuff, but, can't report on that ::) ::) ;D

  Nearly bought a gold mine site, that had several million $$ worth of invisible gold tailings. Got slickered out of the deal, friend was too slow getting his butt up to the site, and someone else bought it??? >:( :o

  Would love to get together when I go down at the end of March. Used to do Hardwood logging and sawing with a stationary Circle mill, in Arkansas.

  Have a homebuilt Wood mizer type bandmill now. Can saw up to 20' with the extension. Ya got any idea how heavy a 80' 1 X 4 would be  ;D ;D :D :D :D

  Native wood in Costa Rica is BEAUTIFUL.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Wes

 crtreedude,
 Welcome,I've also been to Costa Rica,I'ts a beautiful place.
I spent two months there building bridges with the army in '85' I dont remeber the name of the nearest village but it was near Puerto Quepos.
 If your interested in exporting hardwoods you could try contacting my frends at cocobolo inc. cocoboloinc.com they are americans from panama. Good people, tell them wes sent you.
 Someday I would like to visit again
ps. is that volcano the one near San Jose? been to the top of that one.
     Wes

crtreedude

Volcano Arenal is located north of San Jose about 90 kilometers.  Look for the largest lake in Costa Rica, it is near there or look for La Fortuna.

You wouldn't go up Arenal, it is active, as in lava, hot rocks, that sort of thing. It has been doing it for about 30 years.  Nothing particularly dangerous so they say but very neat.  Also, the hot springs are absolute great.  Nothing like soaking in a hot spring after working on the plantations.  I know it's hard, but someone has to do it... :D

We currently live in NJ, but are planning on making the move sometime in the next 6 months.

So, prospecting for Gold eh?  Sounds like fun.  Yeah, you are right, an 80 foot long piece of teak would be very heavy - especially if you were cutting beams.  

I'll look up your friends at cocobolo inc.  Thanks for the recommendation.  My first real harvest / thinings occur in about 6 years but I do have more than 200 trees to do something with.  Also I am think of starting a sawing business as well since the normal method is to just take the trunk leaving a tremedous amount of good wood.  Much of the remainder would make very good wood if it was sawed up but because of the difficulty of hauling wood out they don't bother with it.  I could probably get the leavings for free just for cleaning them up.

Yep, your right, tropical hardwoods are beautiful - and very expensive.  

Fred
So, how did I end up here anyway?

Wes

 crtreedude,
 Where in NJ are you? Im at the north west tip near high point in wantage.
 We took a bus ride from San Jose to the top of the volcano where you could stand at the rim and look down into the bubbling crater.The round trip took all day.
Wes

crtreedude

Hi Wes,

Down in Bridgewater.  I been hiking up and around High Point, that is a beautiful area.  I'd love to get together sometime and see your saw mill.  

The Vocano you saw was probably Poas.  I have not had the time to see that one yet.  In fact, so far I have seen only a little of San Jose and a Lot of around Arenal.  My wife and I have been staying really busy with the plantation.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

Scott

 I saw that show Woodhog and Keltic were talking about. It was really interesting. I'd like to get a copy of it to have around. I don't think i've ever seen the whole thing.

etat

Well I've seen the yokes, but I didn't know there were shoes for em.  

     Oxen Shoes
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

Keltic

They still make shoes and actually shoe the oxen at the New Ross Farm Museum in Nova Scotia. They have to suspend the beasts from the roof cuz unlike a horse an ox can't stand on 3 legs, neat to see! Fred :) :)

Scott

 I've been there a few times, we used to vacation down that way. All i really remember was the backsmith shop and a real old tractor they had there.

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