Posted on 05/15/2011 7:01:59 AM PDT by bkopto
When farmers Danielle and Matt Boerson realised they could no longer afford to run their tractors, they took the bull by the horns - and ditched them for oxen.
Soaring petrol prices had become so high that the couple, who run an 80-acre farm near Madison, Wisconsin, were forced to get rid of their two tractors, hay baler, plough and rotavator.
So they took a course at the agricultural institute in traditional farming techniques.
'It gave me the confidence that, yes, I could do this', Danielle told the Times. 'It just required a lot of concentration and a firm voice.' Their instructor was former peace core volunteer Dick Roosenberg, 64, who learned the trade while working for the UN in West Africa. He took the skills he had honed back to Michigan and set up Tillers International.
At first the company was aimed at helping Third World farmers harvest in the cheapest way possible.
On the side, he also helped historically-themed villages. But his specialist knowledge is now enjoying a new wave of interest with farmers from Wisconsin to Alaska now joining his courses.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
If we really want simpler lives, we must reduce the government at all levels.
I would use it as a tagline, but mine, like the White House, is occupied...
“peace core “, not “peace corpse”?
They can’t afford tractor fuel because they are an “organic” farm...
More likely, they have chosen to use oxen to fit in with their organic and natural theme...
http://www.localharvest.org/boerson-farm-M21941
The fact is farming with animals is more time consuming but very profitable per acre. The huge corp farms will continue to be mechanized, nobody is saying that.
That’s the plan—we’ve been too successful as a nation. Time to tear it down and make it a 3rd world country. Just as intended. Even our president bows down to thugs and goons—time to be a serf too.
SCREW ‘EM!
‘It gave me the confidence that, yes, I could do this’,
But will he be able o live on the 80 acres. I think not. He will eat but you won’t. But his resources to purchase needed things he cannot grow will be meager.
“We are committed to organic and sustainable farming practices that heal the land, increase biodiversity, and produce amazingly delicious whole foods including vegetables, fruit, pastured pork, grass fed beef, eggs, and grain. Rich compost feeds the soil and cover crops restore life to the land that was for years abused. With any luck, the farm will soon be certified organic as well as the home to a team of draft horses to provide the power needed to work the land.”
This says horses...
http://www.boersonfarm.com/page12/page12.html
Forgot to add...and recently the UN went about wanting the world to sign a treaty agreeing animals, trees, dirt, etc, have the same rights and entitlements as humans. So I guess when you hook up that ox, it is really slavery.
The fuel cost at some point will decide if it is worth the extra time. The small farm will probably die and we will be at the mercy of the corp farm for good or for bad. They sell on the world market and as the dollar collapses the those oxen may look pretty good!
Never grew up on a farm did you, if you plow a field then you need to disc and drag and disc again when using animals, and then plant, with a tractor, depending on the crop you do it all in one, two or three times over the field.
Ooooh, I didn’t realize that. That’s actually not a good thing.
We have a rather large organic farmer near her (200 acres or so). No chemicals, and they have chicken houses on skids that they move around the farm to provide the fertilizer.
Last year, we had a lot of rain right after planting, so the weeds overtook the crops before they could even get the sprayers in the field.
The no-herbicide guy, ended up plowing under his entire crop of soybeans that was overrun by the weeds before he could get a cultivator in the field.
What about the backup alarms required by OSHA?
When I was a kid I walked to school. About a mile in the Wisconsin winters. High School was almost two miles.
The farmer who plowed with draft animals spent 0 dollars to prepare his field in direct costs. The tractor guy, How much?
The cost per acre is less? When one farmer could easily till and cultivate a section of land (640 acres) at just a few dollars per acre, and yield $160,000 of wheat at average yield and price of $5.
And a farmer using oxen would be heavily challenged to farm 80 acres, and earn a whopping $20,000. Well, then another 8 farms would have to spring up to handle what one farmer used to easily handle with one tractor.
You also did not consider the large land area it takes to support and feed the oxen. (or horses) You also eliminated the use of “chemicals” which includes high yield fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides which adds another 50% to the overall crop yield.
You are either incredibly naive, a hard core hippie Liberal, or vastly ignorant to make these claims on this thread.
***When farmers Danielle and Matt Boerson realised they could no longer afford to run their tractors, they took the bull by the horns - and ditched them for oxen.***
Why go this route with oxen? they need to be fed in non use hours.
Go with that great invention of 120 years ago! The STEAM DRIVEN TRACTOR! Of course you need to hire three men and a boy to keep it fed!
Dum basses with pie in the sky ideas..
Not talking about the corporate farm here, those will be mechanized forever.
Welcome to the 18th Century. There will be a newcomers breakfast in the Blue room at Eight.
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