2026 DAPFD Schedule and Pricing!

Friday, October 2nd: Intensive Workshops 8am-5pm

Join us for a full day workshop focused on a single topic. Our Friday Intensives are taught by teamster educators, offer hands on participation, and have smaller group sizes to give time for individual attention and questions.

  • Friday registration includes lunch and dinner.

  • There will be a potluck continental style breakfast in the Breeding Barn before the workshops begin. You can sign up to bring something here soon.

Friday Intensive Registration Fees:

  • Advocate Pass - $225

  • Patron Pass - $180

  • Friend Pass - $140

We are offering at par pricing for Canadians joining us at DAPFD this year.  Please email info@draftanimalpower.org to find out more.

This year there are 6 Intensive
Workshops to choose from.

Learn about them below:

Draft Horse Basics

  • Dave Gibaldi, Coordinator

    Participants will get a full day hands-on experience learning basic care, harnessing, and driving of equines.  The morning will focus on basic equine care, harness parts and types, how to harness and ground driving.  The afternoon will include more practice harnessing and how to hook/unhook and drive a variety of vehicles, as well as the possibility to try some more technical driving environments, like a basic obstacle course. 

    All topics covered will emphasize safety.  All ages from youth to adult are encouraged to sign up.  Any youth under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Farming with Draft Animals

  • David Fisher, Coordinator

    This hands-on workshop is designed for all skill levels and garden sizes, from backyard plots to full-scale CSAs. We’ll cover soil preparation, plowing, manure spreading, secondary tillage, bed forming, transplanting, cultivating, and harvesting, all with horses or oxen.

    Teamsters will demonstrate working with both single animals and teams, emphasizing safe practices and effective use of tools. You’ll also learn about efficient wash-pack setups, storage, marketing, and more with plenty of time for questions and observation throughout the day.

    Bring gloves and work shoes, we’ll be in the dirt with great animals and experienced teamsters.

Oxen Basics

  • Ari Auger, Coordinator

    Join us for a full day of ox and teamster training.  From selecting and training animals,  to grooming basics, yoking methods and yoke fit, as well as hitching and pulling implements with a chain or a tongue, there will be lots to do!  We will have young steers and adult animals to work with.  This is a great workshop for anyone curious about oxen, getting started with their own team, or who might need working cattle refresher.  Young people are welcome when accompanied by an adult.   

Starting Young Horses to Work

  • Donn Hewes, Coordinator

    Learn about starting horses to work and building a partnership with a working equine!

    We will use 4 different horses in different stages of training to demonstrate a progressive approach to starting a young horse to be harnessed, drive, and get hooked up and drag things as well as work on a cart with wheels. 

    This hands-on program will have students practicing specific leadership techniques that prepare horses (and humans) for harnessing and driving.  Throughout this program the highest attention is placed on safety and calmness of horses.  Calmness in training leads to calmness at work.

Forestry with Draft Animals 

  • Instructors: Daphné Courtès, Tom Jenkins, Chad Vogel
    Coordinator: John Smolinsky

    Join our team of live power loggers for a day in the woods focusing on methods for home woodlot management and small contracts.  We will cover chainsaw safety, tree selection, felling, limbing, lineless single horse twitching, skidding with one or two animals, landing management, scoot and trailer load loading, and forwarding logs. Our focus is on learning foundations and safety practices for working in the woods. The goal is to give participants the opportunity to see the basics and ask deep questions about the ways that DAPNet’s instructors make the simple component of timber harvest safe and efficient. This is a great opportunity to learn from professionals as well as to observe the regrowth of DAPNet’s 2019 forestry work.

Holistic Live-Power Business Planning

  • Maggie Smith, Coordinator

    Willie Gibson, Instructor

    "What is the Future of My Enterprise?" is an all-in engaging intensive designed for farms and businesses (existing or planned) that want to optimize quality of life, farm management/stewardship, and over-all resiliency.  This workshop will help you define your enterprise's future, or define your future enterprise.  We will focus on assessing where you are now and creating a plan for achieving holistic goals in the short and long term

    Instructor Willie Gibson is the owner of AGRI-Culture Services, LLC.  He is a Certified Crop Advisor Agronomist in the specialty of Soil Health & Regenerative-Organic Farming.  He worked for UVM as an extension agent and VT NOFA as a dairy and livestock advisor.

Saturday, October 3rd: Workshops, Demos, and Activities
beginning at 8am

Activities begin at 8am and include workshops, round-tables, and plenty of animals working in the woods, the fields, and around the farmstead.

After dinner, there will be a fundraising auction starting at 6pm and a barn dance at 8pm. The public is welcome to attend these evening activities.

  • Saturday registration includes lunch and dinner.

  • There will be a potluck continental style breakfast in the Breeding Barn before the workshops begin. You can sign up to bring something here soon.

If you will just be joining us for the evening’s festivities, registration isn’t necessary. You are welcome to purchase dinner here or bring your own picnic.

Saturday Registration Fees:

  • Advocate Pass - $125

  • Patron Pass - $90

  • Friend Pass - $70

  • Youth and Chaperone Pass - Free

We are offering at par pricing for Canadians joining us at DAPFD this year.  Please email info@draftanimalpower.org to find out more.

Open the drop-down menus to find out more about everything going on Saturday at DAPFD!

Workshops and Demonstrations

Activities

  • 10am-5pm Location TBD

    Vermont artisans Lucian Avery, Eli Barlow, and Prin van Gulden will be creating draft animal equipment using traditional techniques. Stop by to observe, discuss, and learn!

  • The Timber Framers Guild is bringning a barn to DAPFD!

    Try your hand at traditional timber framing by helping assemble a 1/4-scale English barn timber frame. This hands-on activity invites kids, families, and curious adults to explore how a timber frame fits together using posts, beams, braces, and wooden joinery.

    Come see how the pieces connect, help raise the frame, and learn a little about a building tradition that has shaped barns and communities for centuries. No experience needed—just bring your curiosity.

    A fun, interactive activity for builders of all ages.

  • Our vendors and exhibitors inside the Breeding Barn will include:

  • Auction begins at 6pm in the Breeding Barn:‍ Come ready to laugh and to bid on gently used tack, live power equipment, farming supplies, hand made goods, and more.  You can count on an impressive array of useful, beautiful, and unique items up for sale.  All proceeds go to supporting Field Days! 

    If you would like to donate something (clean and in generally good working order) to the auction, please let Erika Marczak know.  Bonus points for a promo picture. erikamarczak60@gmail.com

    If you would like to donate a large piece of equipment to the auction and it does not sell, you need to take it home with you as we cannot store unappreciated treasures. 

    Raffle: At the end of the auction the winning raffle ticket will be drawn for the beautiful mosaic table made by former DAPNet President Jen Judkins-Godin.

    Tickets are $5 or 5 for $20 and will be sold at the registration table. Be sure to stop at the table to say hi to Christa and buy the winning ticket.

    Click here for a few photos of the table in progress. Thank you, Jen!

  • From 8pm-10pm in the Breeding Barn.

    Join us in the for live music and contra dancing!

Schedule Coming Soon!

Sunday, October 4th: Community, Learning, and Fun 7:30am-1:00pm

Join us for teamster breakfast put on by the Green Mountain Draft Horse Association at 7:30 (payment by donation $10-$15 suggested) and the DAPNet Annual Meeting at 8am.

Afterwards there will be workshops and activities all morning. We wrap things up with our horses versus humans tug of war.

Everyone is welcome to help clean up and look forward to next year!

Sunday Registration Fees:

Sunday admission is FREE FOR EVERYONE thanks to our amazing fundraising team and generous donors. Join us for a day of community, learning, and fun!

Please register for Sunday so we can plan accordingly.

Open the drop-down menus to find out more about everything going on Sunday at DAPFD!

  • 7:30-8am - in the Breeding Barn

    Out friends at the Green Mountain Draft Horse Association prepare this most eagerly anticipated meal of DAPFD. All are welcome. Suggested donation $10-$15.

    You can sign up to bring an ingredient here soon!

  • 8am-9am - in the Breeding Barn

    Join us to find out what the DAPNet Board of Directors has been up to this year, what we are planning for next year, and to elect our 2026 Directors. There will be time for members to share thoughts as well!

  • 9:30-12 - in the Breeding Barn

    Repair Cafe with Natasha Klemek. Work together to clean, repair, and renew items. We have some items and tools but bring your own as well.

  • 9:30-12 - begins in front of the Breeding Barn

    Join teamsters and artisans Prin van Gulden and Lara Weise in a hands-on community art project! Learn how to make large and small felt pieces with the help of draft animals.

  • 9:30-12 - in front of the barn

    Whether you are an old timer or a green horn, demonstrate your skills and learn some new ones with friends at the obstacle course!

  • Click on workshop titles for full descriptions

  • Ongoing until noon

    The Timber Framers Guild is bringning a barn to DAPFD!

    Try your hand at traditional timber framing by helping assemble a 1/4-scale English barn timber frame. This hands-on activity invites kids, families, and curious adults to explore how a timber frame fits together using posts, beams, braces, and wooden joinery.

    Come see how the pieces connect, help raise the frame, and learn a little about a building tradition that has shaped barns and communities for centuries. No experience needed—just bring your curiosity.

    A fun, interactive activity for builders of all ages.

  • Item description
Schedule Coming Soon!

But wait! There’s more!

  • Free dry camping (no power or water hookups) is available from Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning.

  • There will be trained working draft dogs at Field Days. No participants are allowed to bring pet dogs to the event.

  • Lunch and dinner are included with all Friday and Saturday registrations. Friday and Saturday mornings there will be a continental style breakfast of donated foods available. You will be able to sign up to bring your favorite breakfast food here soon. Teamster Breakfast is offered by donation ($10-15 suggested) on Sunday morning.

  • If you would like to purchase additional meals, you can do so on the registration page. This link will take you there.

  • DAPFD tries hard to be a low waste event. Please bring your own cup or water bottle if you can!

  • Interested in volunteering at Field Days? Please contact Emily: volunteer@draftanimalpower.org

  • Still have questions? Email us at info@draftanimalpower.org or check out our FAQ!

Field Days FAQ

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