A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Oxen power returns to small farms.

Ramana very kindly sent me this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/dining/04oxen.html?pagewanted=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

I read a while back that small farms in England are going back to using horses & oxen instead of tractors. Now it seems that fuel prices have gone so high in America that it is less expensive to feed oxen than it is to run a tractor, so small farms in the US are also returning to oxen power.

5 comments:

Karl said...

To be honest, I think that we all may have to start getting back to the old ways of doing things, our dependance on technology will be our downfall I believe... I'm not saying back to primitive methods, but a more balanced method...

Karl.

http://ranger-pathfinder-notes.blogspot.com/

Ramana Rajgopaul said...

LL, I sent that link to you as you had posted those videos of the British small farms reverting to old ways. Unfortunately, I am unable to find a search box on your blog to refer to them. Perhaps you will remember.

Gorges Smythe said...

I haven't seen any noticable increase in animal power, but I HOPE to!

Martin said...

If oxen are making a comeback today, can mule teams be far behind?

Keith said...

Karl. Totally agree. In my opinion things got too big too fast. Many farmers over here with large farms have gone out of business & had to sell up. If we start thinking smaller, using some older less expensive methods that do not rely on fossil fuels, then maybe we can turn things around.

Ramana. I have not found anything yet, but my wife may still have the email I sent. I will check.

Gorges. You & me both my friend.

Martin. I would imagine it is on the cards Martin, fingers crossed.
Modern technology looked good at the time, but it has caused a lot of grief. We need to keep the good technology such as medical advancement for instance, but drop back to the old methods where we can
The industrial revolution put a lot of cottage craft people out of business, transport has become expensive. Some truckies are still paying off their trucks, & vegie prices are climbing.