- Thread starter swindave
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Moonlite37
Well-known Member
I saw Oxen used to log in Honduras and saw them used in Brazil to pull carts delivering goods from the port t0 the stores. The animals got a lot of beating and cussing
Kelly in tx
Member
Rural Heritage magazine has several articles each year about oxen.
It also contains contact info for people using oxen.
RFD tv may also have info, I dunno
Lots of mules are used for riding, pulling wagons on wagon trains and farming.
Again Rural Heritage and RFD tv for info.
Another magazine is Mules and More.
kelly
P.S. I'm prejudiced against mules altho I respect them. I'm a draft horse person.
It also contains contact info for people using oxen.
RFD tv may also have info, I dunno
Lots of mules are used for riding, pulling wagons on wagon trains and farming.
Again Rural Heritage and RFD tv for info.
Another magazine is Mules and More.
kelly
P.S. I'm prejudiced against mules altho I respect them. I'm a draft horse person.
Crookedwrench
Member
I am a 72 year old retired veterinarian. Had lots of contact with mules, but never worked any. My favorite photo of my father was taken in 1937 with him driving an ox team in the logging woods of western KY. Mules and horses seem to know when they are going to be asked to pull, and they tend to jump at the trace chains to get the load moving. Oxen with cloven hooves due much better in the bottomlands mud. Mules and horses back and turn with more agility than the oxen. The ox yoke is a pretty crude piece of equipment. Harness for the horse and mule is a bit more forgiving. The art of rolling log after log up on a log wagon using chains and skid poles is fascinating to watch. The oxen take the load up very steady and slow.
To earn my rite of passage as a green veterinarian my senior colleague sent me out on a farm call to administer deworming medication via a nasogastric tube to 21 unbroken 3-5 year old mules. They were herded into a barn and the mule skinners lassoed them from a loft. Eventually they had a rope halter applied and the rope end ran thru the slots of a corn crib. Wranglers announced, Ready Doc! Passing a 6 long 1/2 diameter nasogastric tube into the stomach was accomplished in twenty of the mules. Prearranged deal was $6/head including the medicine. 1975. I have not forgotten that day nor the 21st mule. Don
To earn my rite of passage as a green veterinarian my senior colleague sent me out on a farm call to administer deworming medication via a nasogastric tube to 21 unbroken 3-5 year old mules. They were herded into a barn and the mule skinners lassoed them from a loft. Eventually they had a rope halter applied and the rope end ran thru the slots of a corn crib. Wranglers announced, Ready Doc! Passing a 6 long 1/2 diameter nasogastric tube into the stomach was accomplished in twenty of the mules. Prearranged deal was $6/head including the medicine. 1975. I have not forgotten that day nor the 21st mule. Don
Tgrasher
Well-known Member
- Location
- South Southern illinois
BIL rides Nellie around here and takes her elk hunting in Colorado mountains. This is the view across the lane from my house, four mules and a horse.
fastfarmall
Well-known Member
All i know is that a mule with never step on a tobacco plant, where a horse will, and i was told that, I never drove a team !!
A few years ago I heard the story of a cousin. He was a Norwegian homesteader in N.Dakota, but couldn't make a go of it. So in about 1914, he decided to go for a job on the Panama Canal. This was about 1914, I'd guess. Anyway, he met a fellow on the train to Chicago and when he found out he'd farmed with oxen, he offered him a job on a sugar cane plantation on Martinique. He was to be in charge of their oxen which were used for hauling sugar cane to the mill. He stayed there the rest of his life, and his son after him who I met when he was in his 70's after he had retired to Minnesota. I suppose he's gone now. The sugar cane business is gone, too, but they still make rum. A lot of income now comes from tourism. The old buildings and whatever are still standing. Martinique is a little piece of France, with a pretty rough history.
My distant cousin had a tough choice to make, but he lucked out. If he had gone to Panama, he might have died from the fever.
Martinique
My distant cousin had a tough choice to make, but he lucked out. If he had gone to Panama, he might have died from the fever.
Martinique
Doc, when I was 11 and 12 years old, I helped take care of a neurosurgeons registered quarter horses. I recall pretty vividly the vet, Doctor Raun, pumping that medicine out of a small plastic pail down the tube in their noses. All the horses were very tame and handle able so no stories there. But when castrating, I recall the dogs fighting over the goodies as Doc flung them away. lol thanks for posting crookedwrench........gobble
I was told that also by a good friend but about corn when cultivating. He owned mules for fun by the time I knew him but he had farmed with them when he was young. He also told me a mule pulls with 4 legs while a horse pulls with 2. And a horse would eat until he was sick if he could where a mule just ate until full. Again I can't verify any of this, it's just what I was told.
He had a covered wagon he'd pull with a mule team in parades. This was late 90s. I rode along once. I remember when it was time to get moving he'd just call out Fred...Barney.. and off we'd go.
He had a covered wagon he'd pull with a mule team in parades. This was late 90s. I rode along once. I remember when it was time to get moving he'd just call out Fred...Barney.. and off we'd go.
Hoenes
Member
A few years ago, a guy had a couple of Oxen / Hereford cross breeds on display at a festival in St. Charles, Mo. Wooden yoke and all. I thought he said that they went around 2500# each. They were big boys, at least 2000. Glad they were docile, women and kids all around. I always wondered what would happen if they got spooked.
Twenty mule teams were used to pull massive loads of borax from a borax mine out across Death Valley on a trip of 165 miles to a railroad spur where the borax could be off loaded onto a train. This happened from about 1882- 1890. Why they used mules instead of horses , not sure, think they take the heat better than a horse and are better pullers. Also think a mule will eat less than a horse pulling same load. In pictures of these wagon trains there is always a water wagon as last vehicle in the train. Have heard that folks who traverse in mountainous terrain much prefer mules because they are more sure footed on mountain trails.
sandcastle1
Member
I have two mules here on the farm and several horses and ponies. The big mule is a Percheron cross gelding, he goes around 1800 pounds. Great ride as long as you are experienced. He has done okay herding cattle and will go anywhere that he is asked, not at all spooky.
coonie minnie
Well-known Member
In 2018 we took the kids on spring break to Grand Canyon and Zion park. At Zion, we rode horses... except me, I got a mule named Fancy. The trail guide pulled me aside and said, Look at it this way- you can go home and tell people you rode some fancy A$$ in Utah.
Donald Lehman
Well-known Member
Mules are not as spooky as horses from the few folks I know who worked with mules. They also tell me mules will not work themselves to death like a horse will. When they get played out, they stop and refuse to move. A lady from Salmon Idaho I talked to years ago told me mules are more surefooted in rough terrain. Never owned a mule so this is second hand info.
FarrviewSouth
Member
AS a director with the American Milking Devon Association and a breeder/raiser of Devon Oxen,
I want to add the the Northeast has many involved with oxen. The 4H Working Steer program is
very active and I would point you to the books by Drew Conroy and/or the 4H manual for educational information
Also you might want to do a search for the Backyard Green Video series They are working with our association to highlight
our Breed including oxen
I want to add the the Northeast has many involved with oxen. The 4H Working Steer program is
very active and I would point you to the books by Drew Conroy and/or the 4H manual for educational information
Also you might want to do a search for the Backyard Green Video series They are working with our association to highlight
our Breed including oxen
farmallsandcoops
Member
Have a mule and now just one horse, and can say that yes they are smarter than a horse. Took him less than 24 hrs to figure out the solar fencer had gone out. They have a longer lifespan than a horse - upwards of 40 years. They also mature a bit later than a horse. Ours (Garth) was 6 when we got him and still quite the pill. Friend that foaled him said, Wait til he's about 10. His brain will click and he will 'get it.' He did. Same friend used two ways to describe difference between a horse and a mule. You can ask a horse to do something, and he will. You asked a mule to do something, he will but wants to know why. Also, if a horse is a chess game, a mule is a Rubik's cube.
They will also pick their human. Ours chose me. I do ride him and yes they are very sure footed. He will step in the same spot in the lot going from point A to point B within inches each time. If a mule trusts you, they will go anywhere you ask. They used mules to take cannons to battle in the Civil War. BUt mules would not take them to the front lines. Refused. They will not put themselves in a place that they do not believe is safe which is why they get a reputation for being stubborn. Have to approach them differently than a horse... sometimes it takes a little more to get their attention. But having one, I always want to have one now. One of the coolest animals I have ever been around. Ours just loves attention. He will stop eating when you groom him. Never seen a horse do that!
They will also pick their human. Ours chose me. I do ride him and yes they are very sure footed. He will step in the same spot in the lot going from point A to point B within inches each time. If a mule trusts you, they will go anywhere you ask. They used mules to take cannons to battle in the Civil War. BUt mules would not take them to the front lines. Refused. They will not put themselves in a place that they do not believe is safe which is why they get a reputation for being stubborn. Have to approach them differently than a horse... sometimes it takes a little more to get their attention. But having one, I always want to have one now. One of the coolest animals I have ever been around. Ours just loves attention. He will stop eating when you groom him. Never seen a horse do that!
There are lots of people still using and working oxen, mules and draft horses. There are many, many, many times their number who have never worked any animal that will give you all sorts of information that is based on what they heard 40 years ago or while down at the local tavern. You Tube has people actually working animals and they can lead you to local's doing the same. Start there. Magazines like Rural Heritage, Small Farmers Journal and a couple others are in the business of selling the idea of animal power. Lotta new age crap in both, but there's some decent info in them.
My farm was logged off in the late 1800s. Probably between 1880 and 1890. Oxen were used exclusively to pull huge white pine logs. I still have the site of the well which supplied them with water. Two old bachelor brothers living next door used to tell stories about the oxen. They said that up until about 1910 the biggest change they had ever seen was the change over from oxen to horses. Never had mules. One of those brothers, by the way, became a certificated pilot and owned his own airplane for many years. They both drove fine cars. Buick, LaSalle, Hudson and owned fine Case and Farmall tractors. Also owned an Allis Chalmers combine. They went from oxen into the jet age without a problem.
In 1967 a twenty mule hitch went by our school house in Lane South Dakota. I was in the second grade and they let us out of the class room and we all went out to the road and watched them . The mule skinner was Gene DeHaven from Wessington South Dakota. He was on his way to Montreal for the Worlds Fair. The year before that I believe he trucked the mules to Death Valley and drove them to Pierre South Dakota I think. I believe someone wrote a book about it.
showcrop
Well-known Member
Sometime around the year 2000 our daughter was in school at Morgantown WV. We went to visit her around Easter. She took us to a "mule event" that was put on by a local organization. They had some displays and some competitions for both visitors and for the teamsters. The most memorable was a slalom event where they pulled a large log through poles laid out across a fairly steep side hillside. they had to of course avoid knocking poles over and went for fastest time. They had to be careful not to allow the log to get rolling when they turned around the upper side of the flag poles, so they tried to come around quick and then take it real easy going down between poles. Then a young Amish fellow from Ohio came up to the start line. He started his team off at a canter and never gave the log enough time to start rolling as he jumped over the log from side to side and turned his team up and down and left and right. His time was about a third of that of the second fastest.
buickanddeere
Well-known Member
Heavy draft horses around here . Mules were rare even during the peak of of the era . The early settlers had a few oxen in the area when the trees were being cleared from the 1830s-1880s
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