Current Enewsletter

Vol 15, Number 5, MAY 2025

Welcome to the Newsletter!

Dear Newsletter readers,
It’s a little ironic sitting down to write this welcome to a newsletter all about animal-powered field work while my bean field sits as yet unplowed a couple hundred yards away. I suspect I’m not the only one when I say we’ve had quite a rainy spring so far. Our clay soil has not really had a chance to dry out since mid-April.

So as of yet, I’m still dreaming of field work. Remembering sweaty days of tillage past, strategizing again about the best method for plowing our rocky soil, and trying to remind myself that somehow, every year, it does all get done, and roughly on time. I’ve just got a little extra time this year to muse on draft-powered field work: why we do it and how to do it best.

Several things about field work keep me coming back: the challenge, the satisfaction, and the efficiency. Right now on my farm, plowing is the greatest challenge. I plow my very rocky clay with a two-way sulky, which I have been thrown off before and likely will again. My older team, somewhat inexperienced with plowing, can’t seem to pull that plow slow, so I can’t keep the furrow straight, and we end up with a messy field. A recent Facebook discussion on the subject makes me wonder if I shouldn’t either A) Walk behind the plow for safety, or B) Take a stab at plowing my little half acre with my recently acquired one-horse walking plow. I do believe there must be an effective combination of technique and equipment for each plowing scenario and it’s my challenge to find it. But spring field work season always has me wondering if this ground should just be in perennial crops and forages.

The challenge I’d rather have is the feeling I remember from plowing sandy loam (with very much the same type of plow, not coincidentally) as an apprentice at Natural Roots CSA. It’s that same feeling I remember from basketball or softball: at the beginning of each pass or in the moment before a play begins, you have another chance. You give yourself that little pep talk. This time, I’m gonna give it everything I’ve got. Furrow horse is gonna stay in the furrow. I’m gonna keep that wheel tucked up against the land side of the furrow. My eyes are on the prize. I’m gonna drain that hoop shot.

The satisfaction of field work is, of course, that acknowledgment of a job well done (or at least done) and the release to tackle the next thing on your list. No fumes, no noise other than that of metal on soil and stone and the jingle of harness. From mineral spreaders to plows to planters to cultivators to bean pullers, there are so many tools you can use behind horses, oxen or mules in a crop field. This winter, I joined up with friends three separate times to work on our cultivators, mowers, and stoneboats.The results for me are a tuned-up mower and cultivator for which I only need to finish attaching tongues, and a rugged tailor-made locust stoneboat. I feel a special kind of contentment when I fix, adapt and use the right horse-drawn tool for the job.

Finally, of course, especially for those of us who started farming on a hand-scale, the efficiency of adding draft animals can’t be overstated. I still get a shiver of excitement looking at my freshly cultivated bean field and imagining how much work that would have been with a hoe. Hand-weeding is a fact of life for small scale farmers, but it can be an occasional moment down in the raised beds or it could be many hours a week in full sun of your open crop field. And I love a wheelbarrow as much as the next person, but when I can drag that heavy load of soil or awkward, cumbersome pile of stuff up the hill with a single horse that only took me five minutes to catch and harness, I am so happy. As Becky Frye notes in her article, it sure does beat doing it by hand. I wish all of you straight furrows, perfect weed killing at white-thread stage, or the successful version of whatever field work looks like for you this season.

Sincerely,
Maggie Smith
DAPNet Vice President, Communications Committee Chair

Have you had a chance to listen to the Draft Animal Power Podcast? Last year, we have published six different episodes with interviews of people working with draft animals in the USA and Germany! Find us on any podcast listening platform and subscribe to be the first to know of a new episode!

Listen Here

Field Work at Horsetail Herb Farm

Text and photos courtesy of Becky Frye

The phrase “field work” produces all kinds of images, memories and questions when mentioned to a small-scale farmer like me. I imagine sweating in the sun, hoe in hand while murdering small weeds left and right. I remember the perfectly timed cultivation that kept my Calendula from being overrun. I ask myself, as thousands of farmers have already asked, “how can I accomplish this more quickly?” The answer for me is horses.

My farm, Horsetail Herb Farm, is a wee 3 acres of certified Organic medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, garlic, and cut flowers. It’s seen several iterations as I moved from Maine to New York and leased different plots of land. For two seasons, I labored along using human power while working full time elsewhere. Finally, I found a more permanent home at Northland Sheep Farm in Marathon, whose farmers, Donn Hewes and Maryrose Livingston, kindly allow me to use their horses and some equipment for my farming venture. Adding horses to my farm was a game changer. I felt confident enough to plant more acreage, thinking that the efficiencies of using draft animals would make up the time it would take me alone.

This is how things look now, at the beginning of the fourth season in Marathon. Everything we do is accomplished using horses and a teamster or two. We open sod using a walking plow and two horses. The soil here is heavy, rocky, and in some spots 12” deep or less. Once the sod has died back, we disc using a two gang implement. Normally, we spread compost and disc again with a lighter disc to incorporate. Finally, bed shaping commences in one of two ways. If the crop to be planted is an annual, like Calendula, we make single row beds with my McCormick Deering straddle row cultivator. If the crop to be planted is a perennial that takes years to grow to size, we use the Horse-Powered Tractor to make 60” beds. The Horse-Powered Tractor is a versatile machine that Donn and Bill West fabricated and is essentially a steel frame with steerable wheels, and a 3 point hitch and tool bar, both of which can be raised and lowered with battery-powered hydraulics. The custom neck yoke and evener ensure that the horses walk far enough apart to avoid walking in the bed, a feature that does present a learning curve to the team who is accustomed to walking much closer together. Drop rings help. This machine takes two people to operate; one to drive the horses, and one to steer the wheels and operate the hydraulics. The resulting 60” bed uses space efficiently, while creating that coveted raised bed for our sometimes soggy soil.

Cultivation is another way that draft horses make my farm more efficient. My straddle-row cultivator is a versatile tool with shovels, knives, and discs that can be placed in any number of arrangements. It’s very fun to ride around on and zip through tasks, but the work is done more effectively (and less crop plants die) when driving slowly and steadily. While the McD is a blast to use, single horse cultivation of pathways is where we really shine. Our favorite implements are two old single horse cultivators; one with spikes and the other with shovels. We do use the I&J single horse cultivator with S tines, but it bounces around too much on our rocky ground to be effective.

The next step for “mechanizing” my farm is to begin using a sickle bar mower to harvest leaf crops like Lemon Balm. A 6’ bar cuts the 60” bed perfectly, turning what would be three hours of hand harvesting into 20 minutes and one pass with the mower. For this to work, I have to alter my bed layout so the horses have a place to walk without trampling the adjacent crop, a drawback to this system.

This description of my farm sounds great, but in real life it’s much messier. Yup, I’ve got beds of weeds I can’t cultivate with horses because the crops themselves are four feet tall. Yes, I still have to hoe in-row weeds and transplant by hand. But I can drag those flats of plants to the garden with a horse. I can move bales of mulch with a horse, and haul harvested roots to be washed. Sure beats doing it by hand.

On Plowing

Notes from members of our DAPNet discussion group on Facebook.

To view the full thread and others like it, click below:

Draft Animal Power Discussion Group

Erika Marczak
I have some plowing under my belt, I was fortunate to have a very skilled mentor, excellent horses, and some nice sandy loam (with lots of stones) to learn from. Having been bucked off a 2 way sulky plow twice, I like the animals to go slower, better yet I like them to stop on their own when they meet the resistance of a rock or root. Then you can assess the situation and have time to proceed safely. An excellent pair will stop animation by voice and creep one step at a time if you ask them. It’s nice when the conditions are such that they can walk out a little, like in the sugar bowl sand in the picture I posted of the mismatched greys (It had poured the day before and turned nicely being so wet) . Such soil is a safe place to start a new horse or 2, you are less likely to get bucked of a sulky or break a rib from the walking plow handles. As far as getting them slow, lots of practice and rewards of whoa when things are going just right. As soon as we return Noah’s Ark to him, we’ll practice driving down the road with the furrow horse off the pavement and the neigh on the pavement. It’s the closest thing to a furrow we have to practice with at the moment. I may be able to load a sled with some weight and practice slow and loaded. There is nothing like a real job to learn on, but if your animals aren’t fit or comfortable going slow, there are these things that you can do to better prepare them for that job.

Erika Marczak plowing with her Percheron pony for the first time. She was fortunate to have a sandy stone-free field to work in and to borrow a very accomplished Percheron gelding for the task.

Dugan Montjoy
Slower is better it comes with time The harder it is to pull the faster the horses want to walk. Walking plow is a good start. A plows point should be bent down towards the ground 3/8”-1/2” to keep it in the ground. These wear off in time. Most old plows that are sitting around are worn down and won’t plow without some adjustment

Phil Waterhouse
Slow is better. I prefer walking plows to sulky. If I am getting tired, so are my horses. If I hit something, I’d prefer not to be flying in the air with the plow. I need the exercise anyway. I had a sulky but I walked behind it. They are really uncomfortable to ride on. I have flown helicopters - tuning a walking plow for the soil and training a good team was the most difficult and rewarding experience I have ever had.
Oliver plows are the best. Wiard work great, just harder to find parts for. Always scour the point and moldboard so the soil comes off nicely. Look around for a plowing festival or “old fashion days”. Seek out someone that is willing to teach you. I had heavy clay soils so I was plowing shortly after it thawed. My best furrow mare loved to splash the water that collected in the furrow all over myself and her less than thrilled teammate.
Most importantly, check your equipment. Replace rotted or questionable wood. Replace rusted bolts. Your plow should look like it came from the factory. Check that the beam isn’t bent.
Sorry for the long post but I’d hate to see anyone hurt.

Phil Waterhouse with his team at a plowing festival in 2004.

2025 DAPChats

Recordings

Spring DAPChat series

Did you miss any of our spring DAPChats, or want to look back though them to refresh your memory? Check out our Youtube channel by clicking on the link above. It will take you to a playlist featuring all five DAPChats from this spring. Please consider subscribing to our channel if you enjoy the content and want to see more.

Sanborn Mills: Images from the Field

Some springtime scenes from Sanborn Mills Farm - photos courtesy of DAPNet board member Ray Ramsay.
Above, spreading lime.
Below, seeding corn and plowing cover crop.

Classifieds

Are you selling or in search of something draft-related? Harness, equipment, or even draft animals? Or maybe you’re offering a job position or apprenticeship?
Email your ad to dapnetinfo@gmail.com and we’ll put it in the next newsletter.

Misc. Horse Bits for Sale

From Erika Marczak:
Not all 6” bits are actually 6”, so I labeled them as I have measured them to be comfortable to a horse. Add $11 for flat rate shipping and handling per order.

A- Marked 5.5 but measures 5.75"

B- A hollow mouth eggbut so it’s a real light bit, it’s a tight 6"

C- it’s a 6” with a little extra room

D- Common full cheek in an uncommon size

E- Marked a 6”, but is much more like a 5.5”, soft slightly flexible mouth piece

F- big ol’ double jointed with a lozenge 6.5"

G- Myler comfort snaffle, ergonomic and doesn’t nutcracker, I think it was supposed to be a 5.75” but a 5.5” horse would fit it better with less chance of pinching the corners of its mouth.

I’m not making money with these prices, I’m loosing on the couple that I bought new and didn’t fit.

Reach out to Erika through the DAPNet Facebook Group.

Events

Have a draft animal related event you’d like share with the DAPNet community? Fill out our Events Submission Form and our volunteers will add your event to our website calendar!

Event Submission Form

For more details on the following events and others, visit our website.

May 30 - June 2nd - Maine Working Steer Weekend. Farmington Fair Grounds, Farmington, ME. Hosted by Franklin County 4H and FC 4H Working Steer Club.
June 7th - 8th - Draft Animal: Oxen Basics 2. Sanborn Mills Farm, Loudon, NH. Taught by Ray Ramsey and Tyler Allen. Cost: $280
June 15th - 19th - Oxen Basics, plus Yokemaking. Tillers International, Scotts, MI. Taught by Rob Collins. Cost: $675
June 19th - 22nd - Midwest Ox Drovers Association Gathering. Tillers International, Scotts, MI.
June 21st - Farm and Homestead Day. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Unity, ME.
July 4th - 5th - Horse Progress Days. Clare, MI.
July 25th - 27th - Small Scale Hay Making. Tillers International, Scotts. MI. Cost: $595

More Events

Welcome to the DAPMap
This month we are looking at our Breeders section of the map.

Doubletree Carriage Company & Leatherworks - Are you looking for someone to demonstrate draft horse harnessing or talk about the history of horse drawn transportation topics, give us a call. Also offering horse drawn wagon and sleigh rides. Groups, special events and historic sites welcome. You can contact them here.

Farmer Brown Plowshop- At Farmer Brown's Plow Shop, we not only supply the horse-drawn farming equipment you need, we also teach the skills. We believe that learning the trade properly ensures success in what ever your goal may be. Whether your a fledgling plow enthusiast or you've been plowing for years, we offer information for every ability level. Because we participate as active members of the horse-drawn plowing community, we can give you the steps to become involved yourself. Visit their website here.

Ridgewind Suffolk Farm, Healing Harvest Forest Foundation- Non Profit that promotes, educates and supports practitioners of "Restorative Forestry" based upon "worst first" single tree selection, surgically precise timber felling and the ultimate low impact overland extraction technique of modern animal powered methods. Been in existence since 1999, started with a Ford Foundation grant, ongoing, small but highly effective in creating support systems for "Biological Woodsmen" in forested communities world wide. Primarily work with Suffolk Punch horses personally , but all breeds and stock in the forests. We produce green certified "DRAFTWOOD" Forest Products through a community based third party certification system, shared freely world wide. This is a source differentiated product and approach to allowing the public to support the best forestry through their purchasing power. Contact for more information. www.draftwoodforestproducts.com

Troika Drafts & Harness Shop- Lessons and training for work, sport, and show: specializing in the family "Chore Horse". Onsite harness shop. In-season gardens and flower sales. Contact Horses and Wheels here.

Big Black Horse, LLC- We sell driving & draft horse tack including harness, bits, halters, etc. We are also Pioneer Equipment dealers. Contact them here.

Join our Map

Committee Updates

Events and Field Days Committee
Planning is underway for the 2025 Field Days at Sanborn Mills Farm, set for October 3–5. As the busy spring season unfolds, we’re gradually shaping the event schedule, organizing barn session demonstrations, and reaching out to teamsters to begin the selection process.

We recently enjoyed an engaging DAPChat with Ruth Burke focused on Draft Cattle—her knowledge and stories were a real highlight. If you weren’t able to join us live, the recording is now available on our YouTube channel. Be sure to take a look and explore more of our videos while you're there!

Education Committee
The education committee did not meet this month as our typical time slot fell on Mother’s Day. Given the busy time of year getting fields prepped, flocks sheared, and seeds sown we took a month off! Several of us will be together in person during the weekend of June 15th. Although that is the 3rd Sunday in June, we plan to meet together and virtually, to give us a chance to discuss our ideas in greater depth. We hope everyone is having an enjoyable and productive spring.

Communications Committee
Comm Comm has been up to all sorts of promotion, advertising, outreach and design these days. Our Maine contingent is making plans to attend MOFGA Homesteader Day in June with Pam Richenbach and some of her horses, so we’ll be rolling out our new “tabling kit” of promotional materials there. This kit will collapse into a flat rate mailing box and be sent around to anyone who’s willing to promote DAPNet at an event (that could be you! Just email margaretsmithlonglake@gmail.com if that is you). It will of course make an appearance at Field Days and will head back to ME for Common Ground Country Fair after that. We’re making printed flyers to try to turn out the local community for Field Days in NH this year and fine-tuning our advertisements and press releases for the event too. Check your mailboxes for FD Save the Date postcards soon! This work has been made possible by timely work from our wonderful graphic designer, who sent us a complete set of high-resolution logo and design elements for use in this kind of work. Another thing we’re working on is trialing Zulip, a free open-source app that we hope will streamline our asynchronous discussions behind the scenes.