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  • From: Bitbybit <bitbybit AT eoni.com>
  • To: market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Farming with horses
  • Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 07:21:38 -0700


As a horse trainer for 13 years, I had to throw in my 2 cents worth.
Horses are only as efficient as their teamster. Handling them is a skill
that takes much longer than learning to drive a tractor. I'm sure the
same is true of oxen and I hate to see that skill disappear too.
Where I live there are people who use horses for logging(one woman in
the written up in th Capital Press was making $160,000 a year doing low
enviornmental selective logging with horses by herself!!!), pulling non
PTO balers, feeding cattle in winter(they have 4 hoof drive), as just a
few examples. They can also be used for riding and parades for farm
promotion if they have the right disposition for it.
I have Morgan horses which are a light breed, but very versatile and
while it takes a larger # of horses to match the power of a draft, they
have a lot of uses and don't have the shelly feet of a lot of draft
breeds.
Lastly, horses or oxen are not for everyone. They can be very dangerous
in the wrong hands and if they don't deeply appeal to you-don't bother
because it is too much work to learn. That is the down side. The up side
is tractors don't nicker when they see you in the morning or share
satisfaction in a job well done. They also don't reproduce worth a
darn:)




  • Farming with horses, Bitbybit, 05/11/2000

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