Economics of Draft Animal Power

This is the second video in a series where farmer and teamster Donn Hewes of Northland Sheep Dairy in Marathon, NY demonstrates how draft horses and mules are integrated into his farm operation. This video was filmed and edited by Peter Carroll of Peter Carroll Productions in Ithaca, NY and funded by the generous contributors to our Small Farm Videos Indiegogo campaign. This video resource is offered by the Cornell Small Farms Program.

[@joansmith3492]

Does this bring anyone else to tears? There is something so RIGHT about this.

[@rosebarnwell6016]

My deepest appreciation to you , sir, for sharing your views and experiences with us. It does seem to be a wonderful existence for all involved!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

[@kennydean4512]

What a great documentary, I have a great love for horses and the Farmers that use them, this is what our country was built on, whenever I am out and about and see a farmer utilizing horses I just have to stop and watch as I get so mesmerised by just sitting and watching.

[@moomoo3031]

I just drove thru OKlahoma wheatlands, miles of wheat in every direction...they used to have 40 horse hitches to harvest fields like that, I can't imagine the logistics of even getting all those horses hitched, much less driving them , it boggles the mind. But those huge tractors they use on miles of wheat, that must compact the soil...this video is lovely and I wish them all success.

[@dud3man6969]

We don’t know how fragile this modernity thing is. Our preindustrial skills must be preserved.

[@poniesgirl1]

Love this video! Perfect example of an old school practice that can be much more rewarding than the modern equivalent

[@brianphilbrook5262]

My farm is quite small I’ve been training goats to do my work don’t laugh they can do tons of work.

[@iloveamerica8541]

Are you joking?

[@jonmacdonald5345]

Brian Philbrook hey even Juan valdeeez harvested coffee beans with his trusty goat!

[@marleneclough3173]

Little goat carts used to be used in UK

[@ToonReel001]

@@iloveamerica8541 Allegedly goats are pretty versatile animals.

[@xitazinhomendes6303]

@@iloveamerica8541 p

[@shanelamell2229]

I do enjoy watching your posts, I just wish they were 10 min or longer. Thanks for sharing and have a nice safe day!!

[@Christian_Girl120]

I love draft horses. They are the biggest and sweetest doll babies. What you see is what you get with them. They are honest to a fault. They have beautiful eyes and you can see much within those eyes. They are wonderful animals. Beautiful animals. Thank you God for creating such beautiful creatures.

[@bombardier3qtrlbpsi]

scarce commodity fuel. will not happen in 100yrs. working with horses every day is a dream come true. wish i was born 120yrs ago. thanks for sharing

[@nitetrane98]

He hit it all right on the head at the very beginning. It's simply a matter of scale. There is a finite amount of land you can till in a day/week/planting season.

[@greglewis8041]

You don't have to wait on a service call from John Deere dealer because your tractor won't start because it's computer related and you the owner of the tractor can't fix it yourself.🤔👍

[@ThePrepperMom]

Enjoyed your video. Nice to see you working with horses.

[@TigerDude333]

6:08 AAHHHH!!!! Do not run a drill press holding the piece! Get a vice and use it. The fingers you save will be your own.

[@matthollycart]

Great videos. I would love to see more like these.

[@rohnny77]

You r making a great input in changing the world for the better. Thank you

[@con-can571]

Wonderful information. This is going to be the thing of the future.

[@suemcfarlane4199]

You don’t have to have a special draft breed to do some jobs I had a young thorobred that was too slow to race so I broke him to harnes and using a secondhand set of harness that I repaired and reconditioned the leather of then I used to pull a old gate around his own paddock to break up and spread the manure so the paddock was more evenly fertilised

[@grammajean1327]

I notice that you have several different breeds of animals. What breed are they? I see what might be a Suffolk Punch horse and Percheron. Do you prefer one breed over another? If so, why? I know that might be a hard question to answer because they are all superb workers. Do you have a stallion in your herd? I follow one channel that has a young Suffolk stud who is learning to do the job just like all the others. He is such a fine example of how versatile draft horses are.

[@itsallgood4093]

Really interesting and we'll done. Love those big horses!

[@user-bj3is9wc9r]

Молодцы какие! Я думала, что за границей фермеры используют только технику... У них же такие машины! Такой прогресс! А тут-лошади, как в средние века.

[@seller559]

Love it. I miss my Clyde.

[@gabriellechristine]

There will be a major shortage of diesel this year, so thank you so much!

[@suemcfarlane4199]

Vet bills are usually no more than a mechanics cost to do the repairs on a tractor that you can’t do if kept well there will be less vet need

[@suemcfarlane4199]

Horses also don’t compact the soil as much as a tractor may do

[@jonmacdonald5345]

sue mcfarlane Same thing can be said about my mother in law

[@mikekavanagh8952]

Excellent , Many Thanks.

[@paulmcguire3789]

A tractor can never be your freind.

[@zephal]

Some of my best friends are tractors!

[@ihsangulez4226]

An animal treated as a tractor can never be your friend.

[@terribrady3473]

@@ihsangulez4226 horses love to help, they want to please you. So then you find an activity that works for both of you. I am disabled and my horses offer up actions that help me get around and do chores.

[@ratherbwithhorses]

praying more people use horses . They need us

[@MsGroovalicious]

Fabulous videos! Go Washington State! My home!!!

[@jorgopitz4437]

Yes korrekt! Hi from Germany

[@gabriellechristine]

You also have all the maintenance on tractors though. So maybe worth the extra time in the field.

[@C.Hawkshaw]

If you did rotational grazing, managed grazing, could you get by with less pasture?

[@Joshuanamaste]

I would say most horses and mules are big and strong enough to carry and pull heavy loads. But there are certain horses and mules that can pull or carry certain weights.

[@gkseeton]

I've seen some lovely well trained draft horses go through kill pens.

[@ChrisWilhite]

Ann Seeton How do you see what horses are in a kill pen?

[@gkseeton]

Chris Wilhite some of the pens try to get their profit by offering horses that don’t deserve to ship by videos online. My best kid pony I bought from Thompson Horse lot. I’ll never part with this pony. He has taught my kids so much. I’ve no idea what happened that he ended up there but when the kids no longer ride him he will be my pet. He is the best $500 I ever spent!

[@lindacrowe7763]

I love them I Would really like a beautiful blue Belgium .Can anyone tall me how I could join a heavy horse Club

[@terribrady3473]

has a tractor ever protected you from a man trying to kill you? no. but my stallion did! Guy came in my horse pen yelling at me and chasing me and my stallion went right after him and pinned him in the corner snapping his mouth at him. One mouthful of his face would have killed him. Lenny had the guy begging for me to call him off...... Finally I calmly said "It's ok Lenny...." and the horse began to ease up....and the man ran out screaming like a little kid!

[@OTW-Ranch]

where do you get or how do you make the strings on the horses sides that appear to be for fly/bug protection? That looks like a very good concept. Thank you in advance.

[@barbarabrooks4747]

Some 19th century sources say that a mule costs 50% less to feed than a horse and the mule has 10 more active working years. Large donkeys are cheap to feed. A jack could be used to make mules and make money from stud service.

[@johncourtneidge]

Very nice, thank-you. Two points: have you compared use of oxen and horses? Secondly, I hope that true co-operators in north America start, or revert to, the hyphenated forms, 'co-operative', 'co-operation', etc. While abbreviation co-op is clearly used (since the unhyphenated form, 'coop', has a clearly different meaning the unhyphenated form 'cooperate' is often used in an implied power level of coercion. In the ICA Statement (see www.ica.coop - yes we were not successful in the nineties in having the hyphen included in the top-level domain name, hence dot-coop) the present form strongly emphasises the voluntary nature of true co-operation.

[@JavierBonillaC]

I'm an Economist and although I'd love for you to be right, you are not. There is oil for 50 more years and then alternative sources will take over. It's like saying that swimming to Europe will become more economical than flying there. I admire your passion and your love of animals.

[@JavierBonillaC]

Jim Barb yeah, they don’t learn anything and yet all of them with graduate studies get pay far more... unfair....

[@greenleafyman1028]

We shouldn't use all of that 50 years of oil or else we will be living in Mars with Aliens. People should use an old technologies that produce lesser carbon emission as possible while keep researching for new better productive and efficient tech that doesn't pollute.

[@Garidoes1]

really cool video. Which group did you get involved with in Washington state?

[@katebrady2002]

Do your horses get hard feed? they lookvery healthy but I was wondering

[@Dog.soldier1950]

Can you make a living with a “horse size “ farm? Also hi from Olympia, yes it’s still crazy land here

[@eadecamp]

This is great if it is more economical. Besides, you really can't pet a tractor.

[@joselnegrongonzalez3344]

BEAUTYFUL...AWESOME

[@cacatr4495]

Horses cost more than mules, and a good trained mule can cost anywhere between $5000 and $10,000, and horses are upwards of that. The speaker must have been out of touch with prices for decades, because it would be challenging to find a horse for $2000 or less, unless it is adopted.

[@littlepolarbears]

where do you buy draft horses in america?

[@Jake_Steiner]

At the sale barn.

[@joelspitzer4404]

How do u make money of it ?

[@agranetmedia2667]

I think a lot of his costs are on the low side. A 'few hundred dollars' for a new workhorse harness? Try 2 thousand or more.

[@leonardusdesignleonardusde3479]

Beats the monotonous noise of tractors!!

[@ponylovermadden4560]

These overworked, broken down drafts are landing at auctions by the dozens and selling for meat. Is this the end game for your economics? What do you do for your aged horses when they can no longer plow your fields and break their backs for you? Do you have a nice retirement pasture for them or is this not economical? Note my profile photo-she was a lucky one. Many get to go on a nice, long hot trip to Mexico.

[@gentlegiants1974]

Update from someone farming and logging with horses: since this was published, the prices he quotes are no longer realistic. Not at all accurate. Everything else is bang on, just not dollar values for infrastructure items, costs have gone up a lot in 10 years or more.

[@pingpongpulver6611]

Do you eat horse meat where you live?

[@gingercox6468]

I've found the harness to run to one thousand per.

[@greglewis8041]

Horses are a tangible asset. Tractor can't breed another tractor to have offspring for income.👍🤔

[@larryfisher5796]

I'll take a Span of Mules I've. Worked with horses and mules Mules

[@claytonburns3349]

Jesus saves

[@pablofranciscosamudiofranc3269]

Quiero una maquina como la de corpir

[@stephanieplatt6138]

Horses live up to 40 years old . please discuss the ethicacy of retiring a horse and the moral obligation of really retiring a horse in contrast to sending a horse to slaughter to be stabbed on the neck until they collapse then chains wrapped around thier hind legs lifting thier bodies off the ground and then thier throats cut while hanging upside down. That is the fate of retired work horses

[@suemcfarlane4199]

Green horses and green handlers are never a good mix

[@CowboyJeffSmith]

Green on green makes black and blue! Ouch!

[@SupercellMMA]

Everyone I know who spent a lot of time with horses was seriously injured by a horse with many other near injuries.

[@LevelOlive]

+Jaymon Hotz True of anyone who's spent a lot of time on a tractor seat too.

[@roadboss7057]

+junk Tractors don't have minds of their own and fears.

[@SpectrumSurvivalist]

Tractors also don't create fertilizer, in fact pollute the environment, we need to go back to the old way of doing things, and do things the right way.

[@terribrady3473]

@@SpectrumSurvivalist and you have to haul fuel for the tractors..and store it too. no thanks

[@oliviaskrobis9774]

Z

[@user-rt7oz7xi6u]

Xxd

[@daliusmartusevicius4671]

destroy all tractors

[@smithgraincattlesgc4940]

Dalius Martusevicius why so we can lose a 1/3 of our food producing land to produce the grain to feed all of the horses

[@TheSusaneneely]

So it is kind of like slavery...maybe you mentioned feed before..

[@terribrady3473]

horses love to have a purpose. They see what you want of them and they willingly do it. You have never been around horses. I am disabled and my horses will offer up ways to help me around and do the work. It is heartwarming to see them care so much about me. I had a seizure one winter night while out with them. We were going out the gate to dump manure. All of them could have run away but they stayed right with me...laying beside me on the cold ground. Treat your animals good and they are forever wanting to help. Beat them and starve them...they will try to escape or even injure you. It is your choice.

[@elias7748]

Pls no.

[@fshowjumping1827]

HORSES AREN'T MEANT TO PULL STUFF PEOPLE THINK IT'S OK BUT IT'S NOT HE IS TRYING TO MAKE THIS DISGUSTING BUSINESS SOUND OK IT'S DISGUSTING

[@terribrady3473]

@@smokeykit57 I doubt he has ever been around horses

[@sanniepstein4835]

Work is not torture.

[@elias7748]

What's your problem