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Everybody needs a mule

Started by WV Sawmiller, March 06, 2017, 11:21:58 AM

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WV Sawmiller

   For our 20th wedding anniversary I bought my wife a pet mule. I guess he is a pony mule as he is only about 600 lbs. The most mules I ever saw was in Lailabella in northern Ethiopia at a local market.

   Blackjack is about 24 y/o now although at times he still acts like a colt. He does not like men but is fine with women and girls. He will reluctantly go in his stall every morning for his brunch of sweet feed. Mules are smarter than horses. You can put all the feed out you want, the mule will eat till he is full then stop while a horse will eat it all and founder himself. Every day when I open the stall and let Blackjack out he will run past and kick up his heels as if to say "I got away from you!". He usually likes to go roll in the dust after that. One of these days I will catch him getting up when he is sitting on his butt with his front feet in front of him like a cartoon mule.


 


 
   Many years ago I had a custom made set of harness made for Blackjack thinking I would put him to work. My son and I quickly found we were putting more effort into him than we were getting out so now I am happy if I can just hear him bray once in a while. I once shot a deer and hooked him to Blackjack. He got nervous, ran in circles dragging the deer till he tied me around a dead dogwood and snapped it off. Then he took off running with the deer bouncing behind him. I thought I was going to have to shoot the mule to get my deer back but he finally stopped and I got it back. Haven't tried that again. I did get a man with a team of big mules to drag some big poplar logs out last June and posted that. They were lots bigger and smarter than mine - maybe not. I've been feeding him nearly 20 years now and he still hasn't put in full days work.

   Everybody should own a mule and maybe a few goats to learn a lot about patience if nothing else.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Raider Bill

We had a mule show up a couple years ago out of nowhere. Nobody knew where she came from. When she first showed up she was gaunt, about hairless and pretty rough looking. We assume she escaped from someone that wasn't taking care of her.
Hung out in the area for most of a year then disappeared. Used to clean out my deer feeders. Looked show quality after awhile of grazing.
Scared the crap out of me a couple time when I was in the woods and there it was just a few feet away starring at me. Them things are big!


 
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

WV Sawmiller

Raider,

   She sure looks pretty in the picture. Ours used to chase the goats and cows and bit the tails off a couple of new born calves. Might have trampled a couple of newborn kid goats. We got a German exchange student who used to ride him so we bought a big half Belgian/half walking horse so she could ride with her friends. I never knew mules we so social. He has not been a problem since. He spends all his time with the horse and if they get separated the mule runs the fence braying and such till he finds the horse. If the horse dies first I'll have to buy something else to keep him company I guess.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

gspren

  For about 20 years we had a donkey and a bunch of goats and for 5-6 years we also had some pigs. When we retired from our regular jobs and wanted to travel we got totally out of livestock but there were some good and bad experiences.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

Magicman

I live 45 miles from my property so the only "farm animals" there are strays.  There are no fences, so they can come and go at will.  I am very seldom bothered with strays.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

sandhills

Lynn, I can haul you some down if you want 'em  ;)

Magicman

Thanks, but no thanks.  In the past I have had some very bad experiences with stray horses & cattle.   :-\
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

GAB

The title says Everybody needs a mule.
I do not desire to have one in my life.
If need be, because nobody wants it, I have a 12, a 30-06 and a backhoe.
Gerald
W-M LT40HDD34, SLR, JD 420, JD 950w/loader and Woods backhoe, V3507 Fransguard winch, Cordwood Saw, 18' flat bed trailer, and other toys.

WV Sawmiller

GAB,

   Basic sportsman etiquette dictates you never shoot something you aren't going to eat so I assume you are just reminding us you have a backhoe for heavy lifting required in the skinning and butchering process. I understand mountain men and Indians preferred mule meat over beef.

   I still remember in an old Outdoor Life reading where a guy hunting in Arizona came across a city slicker dragging out a dead wild burro he had shot and was proud of his "Mule deer". The writer said he even helped him drag it to his car and said he always wondered how it tasted.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

sandhills

WV that's funny, my old woods teacher in high school said when he was a kid working at a filling station how some out of state hunters stopped in talking about how great the quail hunting was in the area and popped the trunk to show the bounty.  He said I didn't have the heart to tell them they had a trunk full of meadow larks, our state bird  :D.

Kbeitz

When a lot of people go Deer hunting .... They have no idea....



 



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

WV Sawmiller

Sandy,

   Yeah - I remember a tale about a guy poaching quail before season. It was legal in his state to take his dogs out early for toughening. He hid the quail in his hubcaps. Everything was going good till he got stopped by the game warden on the way out. He was cool and everything was going real good till his dog jumped out and pointed the wheel.

    My grandfather, after a lifetime of gator and plume hunting, became one of the early game wardens in Fla (He knew all the illegal hunters as he'd hunted with them all his life) and he said he came across a guy with a bunch of songbirds in his hubcaps which was highly illegal and a very unpleasant experience for dead-eye Dick.

Kbeitz,

   I agree. We used them like that around the bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have a young neighbor friend I once asked if he wanted to ride my horse or mule and he said "I don't ride anything with a mind of his own."
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

chevytaHOE5674

My wife has two horses in with all the cows, people always ask if we use them to work the cattle and what not. I always tell them I like my transportation to start/stop/turn when I tell it to, not when it feels like it. ha

Brian_Weekley

Agree.  I'd rather have a mule over a horse any day--they are smart and beautiful animals.  When we lived in PA, we used to go to a harvest festival in Shafferstown where they had an informal horse pull.  Inevitably, there were a few draft mule teams that would compete.  They could never pull as much as the big draft horses, but we always rooted for the mules! 


e aho laula

WV Sawmiller

Brian,

   Are you sure they "couldn't" pull more than the big draft horses or are you sure the just "wouldn't" pull more? The mules I had last summer would look at every log they passed and you could see in their eyes they were thinking about it. I bet the mules figured "Yep, we pull a ton today he'll want us to pull 2 tons next time." As we said before - Mules are smarter than horses.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Roxie

Now we're talking my favorite animal.  I've owned two, and have the smile lines to prove it. 

Here's a picture of my first love, who after every brushing applied a heavy layer of dust to his back. 



 

Say when

WV Sawmiller

Roxie,

   That's Blackjack to a T. He gets fat and shiny and slick looking in the summer but he every time he is clean he wants to go roll in the dust. If its muddy outside and I leave the gate open to the barn he loves to get in the center drive through where it is always dry and he will roll in the dust there.

    I have a young Amish farrier I have to go get every few months to trim his hooves which grow fast. I have never had to trim the horse's hooves. They wear evenly and naturally.

    When I get him in the stall Blackjack keeps his butt pointed at me as if he is ready to kick. He never has kicked and is pretty good during his manicure but his stance looks like a normal defensive maneuver.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

DelawhereJoe

It now looks like everyone should have a mule to protect there live stock.
WD-40, DUCT TAPE, 024, 026, 362c-m, 041, homelite xl, JD 2510

Kbeitz

Everyone should have a mule to protect there live stock.
Everyone should have a goat to eat the brush.
Everyone should have a guinea to guard your property.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

red

A few years ago when Texas had a drought many people just abanded Donkeys .  I believe someone started a charity and many were sent to Hawaii.
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

sandhills

The salebarn I work at is having an exotic animal sale next month, I told the boss the help DOES NOT go with the barn!  Well as it turns out the guy doing it happens to be my first cousins stepson so guess where I'll be that day  ::).  So anybody in need of a mule, donkey, zebra (or 2), camel, emu, chicken, etc. etc. just shoot me a pm and I'll take care of it for you  :D.  I told him the other day if he really expects me to be a chicken wrangler he had to help haul our calves to town and he did, so....

WV Sawmiller

   Take my name out of the hat for the camel. I have worked around both the Arabian (one-hump) while working in various parts of the MidEast and the Asian (2 hump) versions while working in Mongolia and while both are amazing in how much they can carry and get fat where a billy goat would starve, they are still one of the world's most obnoxious animals.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

PC-Urban-Sawyer

Here in Panama City, Florida we had a lady killed by a camel several years ago. She had a small farm which she operated as a animal rescue operation for all kinds of animals, including various exotics. She "rescued" a camel which apparently came from a carnival. She was standing beside the beast when it laid down and fell on her, crushing her while her husband stood there helpless...


sandhills

Trust me, after surviving yesterdays sale I'm not to worried about a camel killing me  ;), that is sad though no matter what the animal is.  The guy doing this is still trying to figure out the legalities on selling it, not sure he'll be able to, I hope he can't.

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