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 ...
Beating John Deeres into plowshares.
He does have cost, the care and feeding of his animals, vets are not cheap. And sooner or later the cost of replacements and training.
Are there any battery-powered tractors on the market yet?
Not to hug a tree or anything, but a small farm would seem to be a perfect place to farm with an electric tractor, recharged with an array of solar panels.
That's what Illegals are for you big silly!
And I doubt anyone would starve from smaller yields, in THIS country anyway.
Oxen and horses and feed and seed ands vets and farriers and implements and harnesses and hitches and yokes are all free when you farm old-style?
Draft animals cut the costs of farming a lot, The question is can the draft farmer put in the time to plow as many acres as the tractor guy? That is up to the work ethic of the farmer and the price of fuel/weed killer.
Corporate farms (really just large family farms that are incorporated) are what feed us.
Over 90% of our food come from family farms, and as a result of their hard work and innovation Americans spend less than 10% of their income on food, a decrease of 30% since 1970 when it was over 13% of income.
Oxen and horses are an excellent way to produce specialty' foods for wealthy clientele, not a way to feed a country.
Slave sales are up too :-)
I looked it up a team of large mature oxen sells for about $5,000.00, dang.
Do you even have a clue what it costs to feed those Oxen the year around? Vet bills, etc,. Your “organic” approach will also cut crop yields in half. It will take at least 20 acres to produce pasture and feed for those Oxen, which will never be used as income to the farm.
More importantly, your “method” was how all farming was previously done. If it was as economical and effective as you claim, then it would still be exclusively used by all farmers.
Your continued argument is pointless as well as ignorant.
Like, a big hit back on the commune, dude! Ya know, man?
Dude, there is no way that solar batteries or panels could deliver the kind of raw, sustained power that it takes to break ground with a tractor. It’s an engineering impossibility.
I only wish I could have it so good. A sponge you say, why we are so destitute we can only afford to eat dirty dishwater sopped up with a used paper napkin we find in the gutter, after we sweep the Walmart parking lot when we awake every morning, 30 minutes before we are allowed to go to sleep in a shoe box on the side of the road.
We only wish we had it so good.
(Kudos to the Yorkshiremen)
It doesn't hurt to think about these things as the cost of fuel could become prohibitively expensive. At some price hitching the plow to old Nelly makes sense. I find the discussion worth having, since our energy policy is insane and getting crazier by the day.
When was the last time a John Deere tractor gave birth?
Not my spelling, just my cut-n-paste. Another decade and it will be pees koor.
Not surprising. Most Luddites/leftists view the agrarian lifestyle from a romanticized angle. They envision sitting on a split-rail fence watching the sun rise on the Grand Tetons and reflecting on the beauty of it all, while "someone else" makes sure they have safe water to drink, safe food on the table, and a warm bed to sleep in at night. When they have to do those things for themselves, they quickly get a reality check. It isn't fun anymore when you have to break your back from first to last light just to assure you have those things.
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