Greetings. Just recently I lost one of my ox team. I am now left with a single ox and I am looking for plans for a single yoke on line. Even a picture of one would be great. Any help is appreciated. You can see my team at www.tymewyse.com/singingfalls. Just hit the "oxen" button down the left border.

I am also attempting to drill another well. I am looking for a small capstan for my three horse briggs and straton.

oxman

-- oxman (singingfalls@tymewyse.com), November 22, 2001

Answers

oxman

You can use a horse collar by turning it upside down.

-- G.D.Brady (rr1653@dragonbbs.com), November 22, 2001.

Wow oxman.........awesome website. I am so sorry to hear of your loss. How is the remaining "partner" doing?? Has it been a difficult adjustment for him?? Each year we talk of starting a team and get overwhelmed that perhaps we would mess it up. Have thought of going to Kalamazoo to Tiller's International for the experience of it. I think they have a website and maybe they have a picture of a single yoke. Hope you find what you are looking for.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 22, 2001.

Thanks for the replies. The other ox is doing OK but not as good as before. We raised these guys from "day olds" so he still misses his partner. I thought of using a horse collar but I have seen and prefer to use a wooden single yoke. I've seen them before somewhere and it's more the style of thing I'm used to around here. Something I can make myself. This was my first team and I must say, don’t be afraid to start one. We've had them for 7 years and they do so much work, willingly and with only a little tlc. These guys were really my friends. They'd show up wherever I was to "give me a hand" (generally by defecating on my tools). They were very forgiving as I trained them and we got past my mistakes and theirs without much damage. They really got huge! Bright weighs over 2200 lbs and Tears was even larger. I think if I get another pair it will be a cross breed with a smaller animal (i.e. Holstein/shorthorn etc) or a pair of Shorthorns. I’d really like a pair of Devons or Scottish Highlanders. For sure something with a less spirited demeanor. Perhaps a Holstein/Brown Swiss cross would be ideal. Some PETA folks might disagree but if there was a creature God made that was fit for the burden of working on a homestead it is the OX. You just about got me talked into training another pair! :-)

-- oxman (singingfalls@tymewyse.com), November 23, 2001.

We would lov to train a team someday when we have just a little more time. I would like to see some round these parts. Do you think there would be a market for started teams?

-- Sherrie R. Clifton (Bryrpatch35@aol.com), November 24, 2001.

It all depends on the part of the country you are from. Out here in the West Coast there doesn't seem to be much of a market at all. Folks are more into draft horses. Now up in the Great NE, there are teams everywhere being baught and sold all the time. The county and state fairs back there have regular competitive events every year. Many of the 4h and ffa back there have training etc. The Midwest has a few teams and the momentum is picking up. I know this sounds a little cold but one of the reasons I went the ox route was the fact that if it didn't work out I could always turn it into burger. (I don't eat horse) We have been homesteading for 25 years or better and I must say that training the team was one of my most rewarding experiences.

-- oxman (singingfalls@tymewyse.com), November 24, 2001.

I currently work at Howell Living History Farm in Titusville, New Jersey. I work with our team every day and have had a great time driving Bud and Jake who are Holstein-Milking Devon crosses. They were raised and trained as a 4-H team in New Hampshire. If people are nervous about training a team for their first try with oxen I think buying a 4-H team is definitely the way to go and there are a lot of good teams for sale every year at the end of the fair season every fall. Thats what I plan to do when I can afford to house my own team. As far as single yokes go, Tillers makes single yokes for sale. We own a ten inch tillers yoke. In my opinion it is way to top heavy but will work OK. We are making some ourselves right now because the boys just graduated to eleven inch necks so our single yokes won't fit come cultivating time. We've made plans for an eleven inch single yoke and you are welcome to it if you'd like. Anyhow, good luck.

-- Tim Springston (springston77@yahoo.com), February 02, 2002.

Thanks for the response Tim. I am very interested in the plans. So far I have had no trouble at all training the steers and if I wasn't such a dang buddy with Bright I'd start a new set. Meantime I've got to have a pattern for a single yoke (and soon! I'm low on firewood :- ) I have the formula for a double yoke and have made all of my yokes successfully but I can't seem to find the simple formula for a single. What formula did you use to create your eleven inch yoke? I may have to improvise. Unlike you I don’t use my oxen everyday. Only when there’s some stout work to do like fencing or skidding logs. I haven’t used them for farming yet at all but hope to this year. oxman

-- oxman (singingfalls@tymewyse.com), February 03, 2002.