horse farming article
Jul. 27th, 2005 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonI don't know how many people reading this would have any interest in these kinds of things, but I'll burn the electrons anyway. Also, the magagine/website mentioned in the article is a good resource for small-scale farming and agriculture (though I'll admit, the title makes me think of Oompa-Loompas in denim overalls...): Small Farmer's Journal.
(EDIT: another good online/print journal: RURAL HERITAGE, a bimonthly journal in support of small farmers and loggers who use draft horse, mule and ox power. In print since 1976, online since 1997.
Horse-drawn logging and landscape teams do more business than they can handle in many areas now, because unlike mechanized log skidders, tractors, etc, they don't compress and tear up the ground -- a good horse team can go into a landscaped or wooded area and selectively take out a handful of trees without doing any damage to the surrounding trees and ground, something heavy machinery can't do. And as they point out in the article below, animals eat stuff you can grow yourself, poop fertilizer, self-heal (within limits), and automatically produce more of themselves regularly. Heavy machinery eats increasingly expensive diesel fuel and poops soot, waste oil, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. I won't be getting rid of my tractor/backhoe anytime soon, but it's an intriguing idea.
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Horse-and-Plow Farming Making a Comeback
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 22, 3:23 AM ET
To some, the thought of a farmer patiently working the field behind a horse and plow might evoke pangs of nostalgia for the early days of agriculture. But in
fact, the practice is making a comeback. Ol' Dobbin hasn't run the tractors out of the fields yet. But increasingly, small farmers are finding
horse-powered agriculture a workable alternative to mechanization.
Lynn Miller, whose quarterly "Small Farmer's Journal" tracks horse-farming, estimates about 400,000 people depend in some measure on animal power for farming,
logging and other livelihoods. He says the number is on the rise.
Many are Amish farmers in Iowa and Pennsylvania who shun mechanization, but some are farmers who have turned to horses because of the bottom line, citing soaring
fuel prices and the ability of the animals to produce their own replacements. They also say the animals are better for the soil and can be used in wet weather when a tractor often
cannot.
Miller, who farms with horses on his own ranch, said the practice began spreading beyond Amish communities about 20 years ago. "When I started 31 years ago there were no companies
making equipment for animal-powered agriculture," he said in his office in this central Oregon town. "Fifteen years ago I could count them. Today I have no idea how many there are."
Miller estimated that 60 percent to 70 percent of those who try horse-and-plow farming stay with it. "It takes a certain personality," he said. "It's a craft, not a science."
Miller said a farmer with horses can earn triple or more the earnings per acre than one farmed by agribusiness. Ron VanGrunsven farms about 50 acres with horses near
Council, Idaho, and has used horses for years there and in Oregon's Willamette Valley.
"They're more economical," he said. "They raise their own replacements, you can train them yourself and raise their feed." A mare can produce a foal every year or so, and Miller
says that, if properly trained, one can bring about $2,000 after two years. A plow horse usually lasts 16 or 18 years, Miller said. He said he looks after his stable of nine
carefully and veterinarian bills rarely total $200 a year.
VanGrunsven said a two-horse team and a farmer can plow about an acre and a half a day if the ground is right and that an acre usually produces more than enough hay to feed a horse for a year.
"Most of my equipment is not new," said VanGrunsven. "It is from the 1930s or earlier. It has been repaired and cleaned up. ... The older things were designed so
they could be fixed if they broke. When newer things break, they have to be replaced."
Horse farming was common until the end of World War II, when the government and manufacturers starte promoting mechanization to soak up the surplus industrial capacity, Miller said.
Horses could often be used as down payments for tractors, he said, "and they went to the glue factories by the hundreds of thousands."
(EDIT: another good online/print journal: RURAL HERITAGE, a bimonthly journal in support of small farmers and loggers who use draft horse, mule and ox power. In print since 1976, online since 1997.
Horse-drawn logging and landscape teams do more business than they can handle in many areas now, because unlike mechanized log skidders, tractors, etc, they don't compress and tear up the ground -- a good horse team can go into a landscaped or wooded area and selectively take out a handful of trees without doing any damage to the surrounding trees and ground, something heavy machinery can't do. And as they point out in the article below, animals eat stuff you can grow yourself, poop fertilizer, self-heal (within limits), and automatically produce more of themselves regularly. Heavy machinery eats increasingly expensive diesel fuel and poops soot, waste oil, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. I won't be getting rid of my tractor/backhoe anytime soon, but it's an intriguing idea.
-------
Horse-and-Plow Farming Making a Comeback
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 22, 3:23 AM ET
To some, the thought of a farmer patiently working the field behind a horse and plow might evoke pangs of nostalgia for the early days of agriculture. But in
fact, the practice is making a comeback. Ol' Dobbin hasn't run the tractors out of the fields yet. But increasingly, small farmers are finding
horse-powered agriculture a workable alternative to mechanization.
Lynn Miller, whose quarterly "Small Farmer's Journal" tracks horse-farming, estimates about 400,000 people depend in some measure on animal power for farming,
logging and other livelihoods. He says the number is on the rise.
Many are Amish farmers in Iowa and Pennsylvania who shun mechanization, but some are farmers who have turned to horses because of the bottom line, citing soaring
fuel prices and the ability of the animals to produce their own replacements. They also say the animals are better for the soil and can be used in wet weather when a tractor often
cannot.
Miller, who farms with horses on his own ranch, said the practice began spreading beyond Amish communities about 20 years ago. "When I started 31 years ago there were no companies
making equipment for animal-powered agriculture," he said in his office in this central Oregon town. "Fifteen years ago I could count them. Today I have no idea how many there are."
Miller estimated that 60 percent to 70 percent of those who try horse-and-plow farming stay with it. "It takes a certain personality," he said. "It's a craft, not a science."
Miller said a farmer with horses can earn triple or more the earnings per acre than one farmed by agribusiness. Ron VanGrunsven farms about 50 acres with horses near
Council, Idaho, and has used horses for years there and in Oregon's Willamette Valley.
"They're more economical," he said. "They raise their own replacements, you can train them yourself and raise their feed." A mare can produce a foal every year or so, and Miller
says that, if properly trained, one can bring about $2,000 after two years. A plow horse usually lasts 16 or 18 years, Miller said. He said he looks after his stable of nine
carefully and veterinarian bills rarely total $200 a year.
VanGrunsven said a two-horse team and a farmer can plow about an acre and a half a day if the ground is right and that an acre usually produces more than enough hay to feed a horse for a year.
"Most of my equipment is not new," said VanGrunsven. "It is from the 1930s or earlier. It has been repaired and cleaned up. ... The older things were designed so
they could be fixed if they broke. When newer things break, they have to be replaced."
Horse farming was common until the end of World War II, when the government and manufacturers starte promoting mechanization to soak up the surplus industrial capacity, Miller said.
Horses could often be used as down payments for tractors, he said, "and they went to the glue factories by the hundreds of thousands."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-27 02:33 pm (UTC)From an environmental point of view, yay, but I'm not volunteering. ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-27 02:50 pm (UTC)He also said that mules were even smarter, could handle hard work in the heat better than horses. Whether one wants a horse or a mule depends on where one lives.
Horse and plough farming
Date: 2005-07-27 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-27 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-27 03:49 pm (UTC)So far, I've been lucky -- the only real damage I've done with the tractor was taking off a corner of the rain gutters on the garage while doing some snow clearing this past winter. That thing is scary-strong.
Up here, we're probably more concerned about cold-hardy than heat-tolerence, but if I were further south, I'd definitely be considering mule or burro for brains, hybrid vigor and ability to handle heat.
Re: Horse and plough farming
Date: 2005-07-27 03:50 pm (UTC)Tractors, smallfarming, and stuff
Date: 2005-07-27 07:09 pm (UTC)When thinking about post-oil community survival, I think vegetable-oils and deisel. I have not done all the research, but I would think that tractors can be used to produce a health surplus of their own fuel, which will be very useful. Just read on the news that a Korean car-maker is testing a model SUV down here that will run on used fry oil.
For web sites, it may be NZ specific, but good information does pass by. www.lifestyleblock.co.nz.
Stephen in NZ
Re: Tractors, smallfarming, and stuff
Date: 2005-07-27 09:39 pm (UTC)Ah-yup -- we're hilly here, too which is why I got the heaviest tractor with the absolute widest wheel base I could find in my price range, with filled R4 tires, and even there, I'm careful and always wear my seatbelt and keep the ROPS (rollover protection bar) up. I know they make specialty European tractors designed for vineyards and such, which are supposed to handle big slopes gracefully, but they're too rich for my blood.
The ATVs are big out here, too, alternating seasonally with snowmobiles for popularity. My partner gets to deal with brain-damaged head-injured kids and teens every week from accidents on these monstrosities. My son is not getting one. Ever. Period.
Bio-diesel is okay, but not a silver bullet. A study just came out indicating that the energy input that goes into biodiesel (fertilizer, diesel for the farm machinery, cost of production and transportation, etc) actually exceeds the energy you get out of it. Now the equation might be different if you're talking about something other than factory-farm production of the inputs, and some more suitable crop, like palm oil (the study was looking at soybeans), and it can probably help. Up here, one problem of biodiesel is that you can't use too much of it percentage-wise mixed with regular diesel before you start to run into freezing problems in cold weather. Once my tractor's out of warranty, though, I may well convert it, if it makes sense at the time.
Thanks for the site link -- looks like some very good info in there!
Re: Tractors, smallfarming, and stuff
Date: 2005-07-28 07:47 pm (UTC)Tam pointed me at your LJ a few weeks ago, and I have been quietly lurking since.
Vineyard tractors can have the problem of very narrow wheel bases (1.2-1.4 meters) to fit down the rows. So they can do well straight up and down hills, but will roll sideways more easily. At least, that was my impression.
Bio-deisel is easier here in NZ where freezing temperatures are quite uncommon outside of the southern high-country. NZ also has the advanatge of much longer growing seasons. :)
I am of the growing opinion that we must move towards farming practices where the only thing you put on the land is lime. Most of thhe other fertilizers are either mined from finite sources (superphosphate), or are quite energy-intensive to make (urea). Lime, coming from limestone, is about as close to an "infinite" mineral resource as you are going to get. It's amazing what liming can do, get the soil pH right and the micro-flora take off, and start radically improving the quality of the soil.
They have found down here that adding nitrogen (a common practice, especially on intensive dairy farms) actually inhibits the fixation of nitrogen by clover and other legumes. Removal of artifical fertilizers may cut the productivity of land a bit, but it increases the sustainability hugely!
The quad bike is a ubiquitous farm tool out here. Due to the relaitve market sizes, the designs that come down here are dictated by the big market (the US). In the last year or two the popularity of the new "farm carts" has been increasing (John Deere Gator, Kawasaki Mule, etc). Those look like a good bet- much safer, and also much more utility. If the budget ever allows, we might get one.
Drop me an email. stephen@suncrow.com
Stephen in NZ
Re: Tractors, smallfarming, and stuff
Date: 2005-07-28 11:02 pm (UTC)And we're looking towards sustainable growing as well-- figuring how to grow without commercial fertilizers and such is an excellent plan. We're still in the first 3-year phase here of working on the buildings, renovating, ripping out walls, replacing the oil furnace with a wood burner, etc. Haven't done much with growing yet other than C's small basic herbal, vegie and ornamental gardening, and a bit of stuff in the greenhouse. But I'm putting in some larger raised beds either this Fall or early next Spring, and I think we're probably about 3 years out from starting in with livestock.
Funny, it sounds like we've ended up doing some very similar things half-way across the globe from one another. It's great to get back in touch! Please give Tam a hug and smooch for me, and I'll look forward to chatting more on email. In the meantime, tons of pics of our place, my wee orange beastie (tractor), family, etc, are at http://www.mythosphere.com