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Reflections on the value of horse power

A farm researcher and writer some years ago said that it did not matter where you were farming or how big your farm was that if you wanted to be self sufficient in energy used on your farm you needed to devote one quarter of the land to energy.

A farm researcher and writer some years ago said that it did not matter where you were farming or how big your farm was that if you wanted to be self sufficient in energy used on your farm you needed to devote one quarter of the land to energy.

If you had 160 acres in the mid-west of the U.S, you would have needed to have 40 acres in hay and pasture to feed your horses or mules that powered your farm machinery. At that time you would need to have the same amount of land in crops to produce ethanol or bio diesel.

A great moment in my life was visiting a famous horse logger (someone who pulls logs out of the woods with horses) on Vancouver Island.

He said that his neighbour, a significant dairy farmer who was making a lot of money, was leaning over the fence watching him plow with horses at a rate of one and a half acres per day.

The modern dairyman could do seven times that in the same time.

The horse logger did specialty logging in sensitive areas and raised and sold his own hay and pulled a motor powered small square baler with his big team.

The horse logger looked at his neighbour and asked, “what do you do with all your spare time, then?”

Of course with a small place he could take time off, because he didn’t have so much land to farm and so many cows to milk.

So why aren’t more people using draft animals to do their work? Probably because it is too much work for the horseman. Even on holidays and weekends the horses have to be looked after. If the work is away from the home place, then someone has to be there to look after them.

Many ranches were built on hay and winter pasture that came from meadows that were far away from the home place. Often hay contractors would take the ranch owner’s horses or their own and make hay during the longer season, late summer and early fall.

These contractors (paid by the ton when hay was in the stack) would camp with their families and shoot a moose or deer to eat and to dry for winter. They would be there with the horses come rain or shine.

We are as a culture in a hurry and we feel we need to do more because we need more cash.

Money is needed for a lot of stuff of convenience and consumption. Also, getting to many services like health care and education costs money.

However, if you are using draft animals, you won’t need a pass at the local gym. Scratch exercise off the “to do list”! There is plenty of that feeding and caring for animals. Think of the back exercise one gets from trimming horses’ feet.

At one time we trimmed 30 or more horses, three times a year. That was when we were raising and training heavy horses for a good part of our living. If one was to train horses to work one had to work them.

At the end of a day one might have to take a 60 pound harness off four or more horses, pick their feet looking for little rocks which could lame them and groom the sweat out of their coats.

On our place as it developed, we felt we needed more production of hay and cattle to possibly make a modest profit after our development costs. We were not content just to enjoy ourselves at home after the season’s work.

Therein lies a bit of a problem. The simple life doesn’t always please. Unless of course you really believe that simpler is better and apply that to the technology that powers your farm or ranch.

More technology, however, does not necessarily mean more happiness, wealth or prosperity: or for that matter more sustainable living.

Many people and societies have shown that gainful employment and lifestyle can come from using draft animals as part of farming.

Not for everybody to be sure. For my part I hope I can teach grandchildren the joys of having animal partners to power the farm.

Get up early, feed the animals before your own breakfast, and water and feed them before you eat dinner and go to bed.

That is no different than greasing, fuelling, fixing and working more to pay for the machinery.