The Republican journal., 1903-12-17
OX.TEAMS ON FARMS.
The Old and the Present Methods of Driv-
ing Oxen for Work and for Be ef.

49, - w
While l like horse team for doing
nearly all farm work believe the time
has come when more oxen could be
kept on New England farms with profit
to the owners. The advent of the
moving machine probably did more to
change the fashion from oxen to horses
on the farm than any other one thing.
The sulky plow, suppose, is also man
aged more easily for the driver behind
horses than with ordinary trained oxen,
though the latter are sometimes so wen
"broken'' that they behave as well
drawing such implements as will Or
dinary horse teams.
| once knew farmer who never kept
horse but did all his farm work with
oxen, even in the cultivating OF his
corntields. By training both oxen TO
work in single yoke he would work one
in the forenoon and the other the rest
of the day. In this way he claimed that
the two would do more work in day
than horse would be able to do. He
would lay as straight furrow with
oxen, either as pair or single, as one
could with the steadiest pair of horses.
! The only drawback to his method of
doing his team work was that when he
had got pair we'll trained and used to
his work and ways, he dlSliked to
change them for a new pair, and he
sometimes kept a yoke of oxen till they
were dozen years old. They were not
then so easily fattened, nor were they
quite as salable as would be younger
animals.
But oxen are being trained these
! days to drive with lines, and even by
the common method it is wonderful
how well they can be controlled by
trainers who understand teaching AMI
mails. The great drawback to the use
of horses for farm work is the cost OF
replacing them when worn out. They
are also more subject to disease anG
lameness than are oxen, and when no
longer fit to work their bodies are of no
money value, while oxen are increasing
in value as long as they increase in
! weight from growth or condition OF
fatness.
Since the decline in beef making on
the free pasturage of the government
lands the prospect brightens for the
eastern farmer owning good pasturage
lands OF easily worked soil for growing
forage crops. If one likes dairy work
and will perfect himself in the best
methods ! presume COWS will pay bet
ter in milk or butter and cheese than
will steers grown especially tor beef,
but a pair of young oxen can do a large
amount of work on farm, provided
they are well cared for, and not over
worked, without injuring them IN the
least as beef producers. Mr.. T. f. Fiske
of New Hampshire, whose name is ia
miliar to Farmer readers, has, III years
past fed a great many working oxen
for beef, often selling at fancy prices
during the holiday season, and he long
ago learned that he could keep his cat
tie in better health and have them gain
faster when worked moderately than
if allowed to be entirely idle. Exercise
is needed by all animals in order to
have good health, and especially is this
true during the growing period. Grow
ing animals also pay better for the food
consumed than do those that have
reached maturity. For this reason
there is more profit to be derived from
oxen if they are sold for beef at com
paratively early age.
1t used to be the custom with many
farmers to sell yoke of oxen every
year and have a pair of steers coming
on to take their place. When beef
brings paying price the work done by
oxen on a farm may really cost the
owner but very little Ok yokes cost
much less than horse harnesses. \
good yoke may last a mans lifetime
and with very little cost for repairs.
Farmers used to claim that 1t cost less
to feed an OK than a horse because the
latter must have gram. | would make
no such claim, for | believe 1t VIII
pay to feed some grain to cattle every
4 l,nl Cd pat1 n G
much as do cows or any other animal.
Farm animals generally are fed much
better now than they were in our
grandfather's day. Then grain was al
most never fed to neat stock till few
weeks before killing for beef. | have
known farmers to feed their cattle IN
winter nothing but the poorest kind OF
swamp hay, the straw OF gram, and
corn stover that stood in the field till
the corn was dry enough to husk and
put in the bin. Were | to keep cattle
in that way now | should expect to be
called on by an agent of the society
with long name.
| can recall more than one farmer
who had to call in neighbors i'll spring
to help him lift COWS on to their feet,
they being too feeble to get up alone.
"Hornaii'' was common disease in
those days. but we seldom near OF IL
now, nor of tail sickness" which was
equally common among poorly fed AMI
mails. / think most farm animals.
} If they could know the history of the
race, would feel glad that they were
} born in modern times since farmers
have learned of better ways of treating
the animals under their care: Well
used horses or oxen are as willing to
work as are their owners and they are
J as much the better for the exercise OF
their muscles. Calves are easier TO
train than are young colts, and farm
boy is less likely to lose his head with
! a pair of steers than with a colt that is
threatening to develop a speedy gait.
There ought to be oxen on some OF ouI
farms.-A. W. Cheever in New Eng
land Farmer.
Maine Dairymen's Meeting.