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OSV Documents - Well Trained to the Yoke: Working Oxen on the Village's Historical Farms

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Title Well Trained to the Yoke: Working Oxen on the Village's Historical Farms  
Author Andrew Baker
Date 1989
Type Papers and Articles: Visitor Article


Well Trained

TO THE YOKE



Oxen do much of the hard work on our 19th-century farm

BY ANDY BAKER


Bright and Broad, full-blooded milking Devon cattle, shortly after birth. Wearing a light yoke and led by a rope halter, they learned to walk together as a team.

"Stout, able oxen are everywhere used for all the purposes of husbandry," wrote traveller, William Strickland as he passed through East Springfield, Massachusetts in 1794. Coming from England, where horses were more widely used, Strickland was impressed by the extensive use of oxen in Massachusetts. For late 18th-century New England farmers oxen were the primary draught animal, and they remained so for most of the 19th century. Travellers accounts, tax and census records, inventories, descriptions of cattle shows, and present day ox teaming practices all point to the pervasiveness of oxen in New England agriculture.

In the early 19th century there were between 100 to 200 ox teams in most Worcester County towns. The typical farmer of that time, with 75 to 150 acres of land usually owned one team of oxen. Prosperous, large scale farmers sometimes had two or three teams. Individuals with limited acreage generally rented the use of a team from neighboring farmers as the occasional heavy work required. So, too, we use the ox as the beast of burden for farming operations at the Freeman, Towne, Fenno and Bixby barnyards and fields.

Visitors, who are familiar with modern ox team contests which measure their pulling strength, often ask how much weight our teams can pull. At Old Sturbridge Village that is not important. To us, the question is how well the oxen do 19th-century farm work. Can they plough an acre in a day with enough skill to pull evenly in a straight line? Can they haul a load of hay and back it into the barn, if necessary? Can they maneuver logs in the woods around stumps and trees? For 19th-century farmers those were the crucial questions.

Ox contests were added to cattle shows early in the 19th century for the purpose of judging the skill of the farmer and his team. Interpreter Jochen Welsch, who has studied the development of ox pulling matches, has learned that initially the "trials" emphasized skill more than strength. The most popular contest was the plowing match which measured the skill of the team, the skill of the driver and ploughman and the capabilities of the plough, or "the best work in the shortest time." The "trial of working oxen" usually consisted of maneuvering a cart loaded with a predetermined weight of stone up and down an inclined slope. Only occasionally did these contests include pulling stones on a drag. Even then, it was not to measure brute strength but rather ability to handle that type of load.

Training oxen in 19th-century farm skills requires much time and patience. If started shortly after birth, bull calves are trained relatively easily. Sometime during their first year the calves are castrated, after which they are known as working steers. Not until they reach maturity at four years of age are they considered oxen.

The average 19th-century farmer generally relied upon his own cows to provide potential oxen. With four to six cows bred each year, bull calves were easily obtained. The common cattle were a 'mongrel' type, a mixture of blood lines imported in the 17th and 18th centuries. Consequently, many different colors and combinations of colors were visible in New England barn yards: red, brown, yellow, white, black, white-faced, line-backed, and brindle. Red cattle predominated in most New England herds, and farmers generally preferred that strain for oxen. At OSV our goal is to recreate the appearance of 19th-century cattle. We use the red, middle-horned Devon as a base stock, but mix it up with other breeds. Our oxen, therefore, look like the "native" red cattle that appeared on most New England farms throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

Over the past two years, visitors have watched our youngest Devon steers, Bright and Broad, learning their work. Born in 1986 and named after the first team born and raised at the Freeman farm, Bright and Broad will be ready next year to assume the work at the Freeman farm now done by our older team, Jake and Josh. (This team was described in detail in the Summer 1982 issue of the Old Sturbridge Visitor.) They will join Red and Zeph, who work at the Towne farm, in undertaking the annual cycle of agricultural activities at the Village. Both teams appeared on the PBS "Reading Rainbow" segment of The Oxcart Man filmed at the Village in 1984.

Shortly after they are born the calves must learn to be confident with people. Initially we lead them around


Broad and Bright respond to vocal commands, as they pull a fence post attached to a chain.

the Village on separate rope halters and talk to them by name. By the time the calves are three weeks old they are ready for a light training yoke. As the team grows they will be fitted to larger and stronger yokes.

The calves are gradually taught a series of voice commands. To stop, they learn to respond to "whoa" and a tug on each rope. "Come up" means to go forward, taught with a push or tap on their rumps. "Haw" means to go left and "gee" to go right. It takes weeks of patient training for them to learn to respond to commands without prompting.

Young teams at the Village must adjust to a varied environment. They must become accustomed to crowds and the attention of visitors. They learn to tolerate the sounds of their hooves as they cross through the covered bridge or rushing water as they pass over the mill races. They even become familiar with 20th-century anachronisms like cars which they meet "behind the scenes" and their reflections in the large windows of the Visitor Center.

In preparation for field work they must learn to walk across grassy fields with their heads up, without stopping to graze while they are in the yoke. In later years, this natural inclination to graze can create hazardous situations for those working around them, particularly while plowing or haying.

The young teams are gradually introduced to work and additional commands. Initially the work is token, like dragging a pole to simulate the "tongue" or shaft of a cart, or a chain to accustom them to the clanking sounds and weight of the iron links. Then a fence post is attached to the chain to teach them to put their backs into a pull, instead of merely walking faster. The oxen practice this for several months, along with new commands in order to straighten them up for an even pull. They learn "up step" and "back step" and to move their rumps to the commands of "put in" and "put out."

By the time the team is six months old the farmer no longer needs a rope to reinforce the commands. By then the steers are able to walk "freestyle" controlled only by voice and stick, although they are still too young to fully work. Training continues with the addition of more commands and heavier weight until by the time they are two they are able to pull the oxcart and begin light work. At three years of age, as Bright and Broad will become this summer, they can start to do more of the work around the farm, learning all of the seasonal tasks done by a 19th-century New England farm team.


Red and Zephaniah stand unattended and with their heads up having backed the wagon loaded with green feed before feeding time in the Towne barnyard.

As the farmer's year begins in the Spring visitors will see the oxen hauling manure to those fields in which corn, oats and potatoes will be planted. When the ground is sufficiently warm and dry the farmers use the oxen to pull the plough, and then the harrow, first to turn over and then smooth out the soil in preparation for planting. These are perhaps the hardest tasks for the oxen, for the work is constant and the resistance of the soil on the plough and harrow is great. Plowing requires skill on the part


Broadside advertising the Worcester Agricultural Society's 1828 Cattle Show and Ploughing Match lists the events and prizes. (Research Library collections 1966.254)

of both the team and the ox driver, for the oxen have to pull in a straight line with the "off" ox always walking in the previous furrow. If either ox pulls to the side, the plow will be drawn out of the furrow and the work will take longer to complete.

Aside from occasional hauling of wood and grain, oxen have relatively light work during June. In mid-summer the primary activity of the oxen is to haul hay, for their own fodder.

In the late Summer, the oxen repeat some springtime activities, plowing up and harrowing ground for winter rye. The oxen also assist in carting the harvest of corn, corn fodder, potatoes and apples. After the crops are in, the oxen again haul manure to spread on hay fields. At OSV, we adhere to the advice of 19th-century agriculturalists, ploughing again in the late Fall, when the oxen are in prime condition after grazing on green pastures all summer. Fall plowing makes Spring plowing easier and less taxing to a team in poor condition after a Winter diet of hay.

Winter is another busy time for the oxen. Our farmers spend December through February working in the woods, cutting logs for firewood, fencing and boards, which the oxen then haul out, and sled it over the snow and ice.

In New England, many farmers had their oxen shod with cleated shoes to provide traction on winter ice and snow. Thus, before tackling winter tasks, they took their teams to a blacksmith, fitted up with an ox sling or "brake." A sling is used to support a portion of the ox's weight, because oxen will not easily stand on three legs. Generally, farmers had shoes put on all four hooves in late November, December or early January.


In preparation for shoeing, the hoof is trimmed in front and the surface filed. The two-part shoes, sometimes requiring work on the forge to improve fit, are nailed into position on the foot. The sharp point or caulk at center provides traction for the ox on winter ice and snow. Only teams used for overland hauling tended to be shod year round.


The sling which stands beside the Blacksmith Shop is used when shoeing oxen because, unlike horses, they cannot stand well on three legs. The ox has been haltered and the sling is being raised to support the ox while he is shod.

Oxen have cloven or split hooves, so one team would need 16 ox shoes.

With over 150 teams of oxen in many towns, shoeing was one of the main sources of income for blacksmiths like Emerson Bixby of Barre. Account book studies of Bixby and other Worcester County blacksmiths also indicate that many farmers had the shoes reset on the front feet of their oxen every two or three months, reusing the shoes whenever possible. Throughout the year, a team of oxen might be seen outside the shop waiting to have their front shoes reset. In December the blacksmith's shop would have been a busy place as farmers brought their teams to be shod "all around." On a busy day Bixby might set as many as 48 shoes, or three teams.

Over the last year the OSV ox-shoeing program has been expanded under the efforts of Interpreters Bob Wilder and Tim Wolhueter. Therefore, similar activity will be occurring more frequently at our own Blacksmith shop. Thanks to Tim's skill at the forge our oxen now sport smithy-made shoes as did their 19th-century counterparts. Our ox sling is being rebuilt, and more of our staff will be trained in the skills of shoeing and making shoes.

The absence of horse contests in early 19th-century cattle shows, indicates the preference of most New England farmers for oxen for their heavy work. Though a horse was generally kept for transportation and some light work, oxen were considered the more economical draft animal for the diversified agricultural practices of most New England farmers. They were easy to acquire and easy to maintain. Cattle were considered easier to feed and less liable to disease and injury than horses. Perhaps as importantly, the oxen had value as beef after their working days had ended.

The simple wooden yoke of the oxen was considerably less expensive than horse harness. Made out of a wooden beam, two wooden bows, two iron clips, and an iron staple and ring, the yoke was much cheaper than the handstitched leather work necessary for the collar, tugs, and britching of a horse harness. At OSV we make our own yokes when we have time. Both Bob Wilder and Jochen Welsch have been working on yokes recently. They like to use elm if available, yellow birch, or maple for the beam of the yoke and hickory for the bows.

The disadvantage of oxen is their relative lack of speed. However, speed was not important to most New England farmers who had no machinery and little land to till. With most of their land in hay and pasture New England farmers continued to use oxen until the late 19th century. Only when implements such as the mowing machine, which could take advantage of the greater speed of the horse, were introduced in the mid to late 19th century, did the horse begin to replace the ox on New England farms.





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