Kalona Winter Work Horse Sale

Got up at 4:45am. yesterday drove from Fulton co. Illinois to S.E.Iowa over snow covered roads, picked up 6 Amish freinds then drove to the horse sale in Kalona . The Draft colts sold high $2000 to $3800 each Good Teams started at $4000 to $8000 we left at 4:00pm so they could get home to milk on the way home we stopped for ice cream dropped them off at 6:00pm then headed back to Fulton co. got home at 9:00pm What a great bunch of guys to hang out with,we go every year it's really a cool sale to see. I have 3 Teams already so I bought a bag of popcorn and watched the show

Do you work your teams regular or in shows? My Dad loved the work horses, he never drove a tractor a total of 12 hours in his life, he was a stockman and left the fieldwork to my Uncle and us kids.

I work them on the farm schucking corn, spreading manure,plowing, discing,and on the corn binder, then send them to Amish freinds that are short on horsepower, to keep them in shape. when my Teams come back home they are glad to see me and do anything I ask them too each horse has it's own personality I only keep the quiet good workers, the high strung ones that run off leave my farm and don't come back

My Grandad would always hook up the team first before useing his WC Allis.

He always said that when he said "Whoa" the team of horses would stop,the AC wouldnt. LOL

Interesting post. Gotta say, though, that it's no wonder tractors took over. At $4-8k for a team, that would buy a decent small used tractor that you only have to feed (fuel) when it's actually working. :lol:

Actually, I wouldn't mind having a draft horse. It'd be nice to see a few pix of yours posted.

First paying job I ever had (Mid 50') was driving a team putting up hay. Most of my job was pulling the overshot stacker. Team names were Pat & Dolly, a gray team. Had another team (Bay team)named Prince and Barney. No pictures. Granddad sold the bay team to a ranch about 75 miles away. They broke out that night and was back home in three day.

I'm planning on Waverly in mid March. It's fun to watch the Amish show off their stuff at those sales.

Here is a couple pics of my Boys. Had two teams but loaned on out for awhile.

The last is the Draft Horse Show at the National Western in Denver last year. Bob

(quoted from post at 11:12:23 02/04/15)
Interesting post. Gotta say, though, that it's no wonder tractors took over. At $4-8k for a team, that would buy a decent small used tractor that you only have to feed (fuel) when it's actually working. :lol:

Actually, I wouldn't mind having a draft horse. It'd be nice to see a few pix of yours posted.

Click to expand...

It's not for everyone. But consider that those are probably real nice teams. A "farm" team of grade (not purebred) horses is going to go quite a bit less in many places. Also consider that a tractor cannot reproduce, cannot heal itself with time, never comes over and rests her head on your shoulder looking for some attention, never turns and looks at you and says, (with his expression) "Are you sure this is a good idea boss?" A tractor doesn't crap out fertilizer and you never have to go looking for a non-existent part for a horse. A horse is never going to compact the ground like a tractor, is never going to spin a rut into the ground, can fit between trees in the woods and can step over rocks, ledges and logs that you'd have to go around or cut out with a tractor. The list goes on and on.

Like I said, it's not for everyone. There are definite advantages for those with the personality to work with draft animals. No fuel to buy- they live off pasture and home grown feed and a lot less of it than people think, they don't catch fire, they're QUIET. It's all in what you want to do. If a horse ever gets born with hydraulics, a 3 pt and a way to hitch up a loader......I'd be first in line.