Learn to be a team leader - oxen team that is
Leave the hustle and worries of the 21st century behind and step into the rhythm of life in the 1800s. Join instructors Chuck Bauer and Bob McCann from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 at Garfield Farm Museum for an Ox Driving Workshop.
Oxen were the driving force behind farming from the beginning of animal power until the mechanization of agriculture. The ox team was absolutely essential for the Illinois prairie farmer. Breaking new fields required a lot of power. Heavy draft horses were not being imported yet and riding horses did not have the strength to pull a plow through the heavy prairie grass roots. Oxen, mature cows or steers that have been trained to work, were readily available, easy to equip and cheap. A well-conditioned ox team could be expected to plow about an acre a day and could pull two-thirds of their own weight. Because working the prairie was so hard, it often took two to three or more teams working together to pull the plow. There were teamsters that made their living going from farm to farm breaking new fields.
By the 1850s, most of the prairie had been planted and new machines needed speed rather than strength to make them work. Horses were taking over the fieldwork. But many of the old farmers kept their ox teams on the farm up into the 1860s. It is hard to beat the steady pace and the calm disposition of an ox. To this day in other parts of the world, oxen are still vital for small-scale farming. Selective small-scale loggers in New England use oxen to lessen the environmental impact that machinery can cause.
The workshop will teach participants how to groom, yoke and drive both teams and single oxen. Instruction will also be given on the selection, feeding and training of calves.
The cost of the full-day workshop is $60. Lunch is included. Garfield Farm Museum is five miles west of Geneva off Route 38 on Garfield Road. Garfield Farm is a former historically intact 1840s prairie farmstead and teamster inn that is being restored as a working 1840s farm. To reserve your space, call (630) 584-8485 or e-mail at info@garfieldfarm.org. Spaces are limited.