training a sigle ox?

[ivy]

this website is really informative. i love reading all the threads here.

i live with my boyfriend on his family's dairy farm (200 holsteins). i would like to train an ox. i was thinking i would just train one since there is really not lots of work for the animal to do (unless the price of diesel keeps going up ... but how do you hook an ox up to a pto anyway?) i have a 1/2 acer garden and we tap 150 trees in the spring, so maybe he could help with those things. are oxen sometimes trained singly? is there a reason (besides for strength) that oxen are trained in teams?

[Rod]

I am not one to advise in this area as my experiences with an oxen team was not very successful and I am sure their are others here who can give you sound advise. But I found this blog site a while back about Albert the single ox which makes for some good reading. Here is the link http://my-first-ox.livejournal.com/.

[Crabapple Farm]

Yes, Oxen are sometimes trained singly. Hopefully Howard Van Ord will check in soon, as he is a big proponent of working single oxen.
Other than strength, the advantages to a team of oxen, as I see them, are a) a team yoke is actually a simpler set up than a single yoke, though heavier. No britchen, traces, or singletree to deal with. and b) it can be easier to keep a team on task because one can't wander off without the other, whereas a single ox can more easily act on notions he comes up with on his own that you didn't tell him.
Neither are major issues, if a single is what you want.
-Tevis

[Howie]

If you do not need the extra power then you would be foolish not to just train a single. A single is much better than a pair in a lot of ways. If you give a heifer or a steer a chance to be your best buddy they will do anything for you that they are capable of. Both of my Devons are trained single so when in a team they are both listening to me.

[ivy]

thanks for all the replies!

howie mentioned training a hefier, which was something else i had been thinking about. that way she could still be milked when not doing forest or field work. are working dairy cows ever dehorned? i read that the horns keep the yoke on the animal when backing up (http://www.prairieoxdrovers.com/moreinfo.html). she would have to be with the cows in the barn and the pasture. they are all dehorned. i wonder if it would be dangerous for the other cows, since they wouldn't have their own horns to fight back with when establishing the pecking order. i would hate to have my friend goring the rest of the herd.

could anyone comment on this? also, any words of wisdom for working with horned cattle in general?

[Crabapple Farm]

If you're just going to work her single, there's no real reason not to dehorn a working heifer. In my fairly limited experience a single yoke, without a britchen, tends to slide up on the neck and flip over when it's not under a load, so I would always use a britchen when working a single. Once there's a britchen there, you don't need horns to hold the yoke back.
One thing you'll have to watch out for with working a milk cow, which may be obvious, is that you don't ask too much of her. Milking takes a lot of energy, pregnancy takes a lot of energy, and if you ask her to work on top of that, well, you better feed her well or she'll waste away. And old dual or triple purpose breed (durham or devon, say) will take to it better than a skin-bones-and-bag jersey or holstein, because they tend to carry a little more condition.

[Howie]

It is easyer to work a single witha bitchen so they have no need for their horns.
P.S. All cattle should have horns. God would not have given them if it were not so.

[ivy]

This conversation has been so helpful. I think I will keep one of the next bull calves we have. I don't want to be stressing out a good heifer for what, frankly, is my own amusement at this point. I will keep the horns on him as well, even if they are not "necessary" with a britchen.

I am not really in a position to tell anyone, even my boyfriend, to dehorn or not dehorn his or her cattle. But by the same stroke, couldn't one say: if god had intended animals to be worked, they wouldn't have to be trained?

[Anne]

Hallo everyone!
I´m from Switzerland and I´m also training heifers.
In Germany the working cow was the common draft animal for small farmers, because no extra food was needed. There were once 2,5 Million working cows in Germany... Now may be 20?
I think a good reason to start with a heifer is the following: If your training is not effective, she can still live her life as a normal milking cow. And if you are successful, you can still decide, if she should get a calf or not.
Anne

[Carl Russell]

Originally Posted by ivy

..... if god had intended animals to be worked, they wouldn't have to be trained?

Animals are intended to work. Their lives are all about work. They are physically powerful and adept at maneuvering through inconsistent terrain. They are ambitious, responding to their needs to protect themselves and travel while carrying heavy loads (a belly full of food, a calf, their large frame).

When working animals we do not train them to do anything that they are not capable of doing already, in fact we work with their natural tendencies. What we do train them for, is the communication system, the signals and expected responses, Come-up, Gee, Haw, Whoa, Back, that we integrate into any situation to our pleasing. With this communication we can get them to do the work we want them to do for us.
Carl