Idea on life without a tractor

[the funny farm6]

We haul RB the same way. But the way they drop is the way they stay- the horses eat them the same...


FAST!


I have to haul a lot of 5 gal buckets of water to different parts of the farm. Plus square bales of hay, and unload 50 lb feed sacks. I have one of the heavy duty wagons, it will hold like 800 pounds of weight. They have them at farm and home and menards. It has big wheels that you air up like a car. I wouldn't be able to get nearly as much done by myself without it.

See, I would love to have something like that! Our barn has small nooks and crannies (sp?) so I barely get a wheelbarrow through it at times. One of the stalls used to be the milking station and we have big concrete troughs in the way and the isle is very narrow so I am having a hard time carrying squares through there also. Can't wait to have a barn add on with a large central isle.

If you watch the sales at the farm stores and menards sometimes you can get a very good deal on those wagons!

I have a weight pull harness that belonged to our old pitbull. I wonder if I could train the new pup to pull the wagon? Hmmmm

 

[Avalon1984]

I hate putting out RBs w/out a tractor! The tractor ran out of gas today and my guys needed my last RB. (I have no square bales out at the farm right now.) So that meant I had to roll the dumb thing across the field by myself, then lift up the RB feeder by myself, roll it into place and put it back down.

Arrg, don't you just hate that? I don't have a RB feeder yet, I am using straps to hold it together. worked until this morning

As much as I hated putting the money out for the feeder, I had to. Otherwise, Licorice will pull it out, and poop and pee in it. Then of course, the horses won't eat it!

Funny you should mention this, Avalons registered name is Licrice and she too does that. Most of my other girls leave it mostly alone. I am always OCD when it comes to my foals, yearlings, pregnant mares, old mares, pretty much everything I have on the property and I have this nightmare that the big draft girls are going to step into teh feeder and get hurt.

 

[Avalon1984]

We haul RB the same way. But the way they drop is the way they stay- the horses eat them the same...


FAST!


I have to haul a lot of 5 gal buckets of water to different parts of the farm. Plus square bales of hay, and unload 50 lb feed sacks. I have one of the heavy duty wagons, it will hold like 800 pounds of weight. They have them at farm and home and menards. It has big wheels that you air up like a car. I wouldn't be able to get nearly as much done by myself without it.

See, I would love to have something like that! Our barn has small nooks and crannies (sp?) so I barely get a wheelbarrow through it at times. One of the stalls used to be the milking station and we have big concrete troughs in the way and the isle is very narrow so I am having a hard time carrying squares through there also. Can't wait to have a barn add on with a large central isle.

If you watch the sales at the farm stores and menards sometimes you can get a very good deal on those wagons!

I have a weight pull harness that belonged to our old pitbull. I wonder if I could train the new pup to pull the wagon? Hmmmm

I will haev to do this! I just came form the Clydesdale sale and they had auctions on all kinds of stuff. We came in too late for most of it but it was VERY dangerous. My husband took my wallet to make sure I wouldn't go all crazy.

 

[pinkfox]

it is similar to training a horse to pull a cart id assume, though some methodology depends on if your training the dog to simply walk and pull a cart along side you, or if you wnat to train the dog to pull a sulki with you riding...
pulling walking along side is easiest you simply need to teach the dog good leash maners (or offleash maners) first, then get them used to aharness (weight pull harnesses work fine with some mod when its time to hook up the cart) and then start them pulling something, generlaly pulling a small log first and working up to a larger item like a little wagon.

dogs were the draft anmals of choice in many areas due to the cost of feeding a horse compared to a dog...

with dozer hes still an unfocused puppy at this point (7mth old bully x mastif) so were currently working on leash manners when distracted, hes GREAT on leash when its just me and him and he can focus, but introduce a person or an animal and the focus goes haywire. once hes got some control over himself we'll work up to pack, then harnes and cart and mabe, oe day...ones hes completly mentally matured id like to try a sulki with him. hes big enough, but that wont be untill at least the 2 yr mark as he wont be pulling any serious weight untill hes comepltly done growing.

 

[Avalon1984]

it is similar to training a horse to pull a cart id assume, though some methodology depends on if your training the dog to simply walk and pull a cart along side you, or if you wnat to train the dog to pull a sulki with you riding...
pulling walking along side is easiest you simply need to teach the dog good leash maners (or offleash maners) first, then get them used to aharness (weight pull harnesses work fine with some mod when its time to hook up the cart) and then start them pulling something, generlaly pulling a small log first and working up to a larger item like a little wagon.

dogs were the draft anmals of choice in many areas due to the cost of feeding a horse compared to a dog...

with dozer hes still an unfocused puppy at this point (7mth old bully x mastif) so were currently working on leash manners when distracted, hes GREAT on leash when its just me and him and he can focus, but introduce a person or an animal and the focus goes haywire. once hes got some control over himself we'll work up to pack, then harnes and cart and mabe, oe day...ones hes completly mentally matured id like to try a sulki with him. hes big enough, but that wont be untill at least the 2 yr mark as he wont be pulling any serious weight untill hes comepltly done growing.

How interesting! Yes, the maturity is always such a big deal, even with the drafts. Many people start to drive their drafts when they are only 2 years old. I guess I am too much old school for that. I teach mine to ride before I drive them to preserve their gaits. When doing it the other way around, the trot gets really hard to sit. Just in case your doggie gets big enough to ride How old does a dog need to be in order to pull a small sized wagon?

 

[pinkfox]

depends on the breed, generally a small wagon with no additional weight can be pulled about 4 months before theire "full grown" weight can be added once their growth plates finnihs up...
so that realy depends on breed, a GSD or a lab is full grown by about a year and a half old...a great pry is still growing at almost 3 yrs old.
for dozer given his breed mix he should be finnished at about 2 yrs so ill probably start him on an empty wagon at about 20 months...

dont know if its the same for horses, but the general rule with dogs is NO "forced" excersize untill their finnished growing...so a chihuhaua is full grown at about 8 months where as an english mastif is still growing untill about 3yrs of age.

and like horses they can pull a suprising amoutn of weight
theres a little chinese crested, Toby, who does sanctioned weight pull (yeah not a typical breed for the event) and he frequently pulls over 50 times his body weight. now obviously thats SHORT distance, but with the right equptment, these guys have some serious pulling power...and Dozer could be anything between 75-100lbs full grown lol.

any breed can pull a cart though, assuming its the right equiptment, i see hearding breeds (gsd, collie, ausie, borders ect) used alot...
and a frien does sulki riding with her rotties!
from what im reading though for sulkis its USUALLY done under voice command like you would with mushing.
with dozer however i may have to rig up some kind of halter for stearing lol

 

[Denim Deb]

Arrg, don't you just hate that? I don't have a RB feeder yet, I am using straps to hold it together. worked until this morning

As much as I hated putting the money out for the feeder, I had to. Otherwise, Licorice will pull it out, and poop and pee in it. Then of course, the horses won't eat it!

Funny you should mention this, Avalons registered name is Licrice and she too does that. Most of my other girls leave it mostly alone. I am always OCD when it comes to my foals, yearlings, pregnant mares, old mares, pretty much everything I have on the property and I have this nightmare that the big draft girls are going to step into teh feeder and get hurt.

B4 I got the fencing all done, I got to the farm one day and found a draft cross in my field! He had managed to get inside the RB feeder and couldn't figure out how to get out. Got there another day and he had managed to get it up on it's side. He can't get in now.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Can't really think of anything off the top of my head right now, but if anyone has an issue with something, post it up and I bet I'll be able to come up with a solution or two. This is how I was raised...my grandfather could move/do ANYTHING without the assistance of another. He even taught me how to move a mountain! Obviously not by doing it, but by explaining a few ways it could be done, never underestimate the power of water in its various physical states and the force it exerts when changing from one state to another.

 

[Avalon1984]

So I came up with a new handy technique to work my bee hives without a bee suit. It is on backorder I have a veil but that doesn't protect the rest of my body. So last week I found out that waders I used for fishing work great when checking on the bees, so I put those on, then put a carrharrt jacket over them, then put on my veil, and voila, no bee stings. I would hope the bees would have a hard time getting through the material of the waders.

 

[Avalon1984]

As much as I hated putting the money out for the feeder, I had to. Otherwise, Licorice will pull it out, and poop and pee in it. Then of course, the horses won't eat it!

Funny you should mention this, Avalons registered name is Licrice and she too does that. Most of my other girls leave it mostly alone. I am always OCD when it comes to my foals, yearlings, pregnant mares, old mares, pretty much everything I have on the property and I have this nightmare that the big draft girls are going to step into teh feeder and get hurt.

B4 I got the fencing all done, I got to the farm one day and found a draft cross in my field! He had managed to get inside the RB feeder and couldn't figure out how to get out. Got there another day and he had managed to get it up on it's side. He can't get in now.

See, I told you there is something very terrifying about how drafts get themselves into messes. I saw a draft once mangle a cattle gate. Looked like a candrywrapper by the time she was done.