TECHNICAL TRAINING OF DRAFT ANIMALS SHEET LINE
Introduction
The dressage of draft animals is a set of successive learning, based on repeat orders and constraints
imposed on animals to obtain a docile and voluntary behavior both for the execution of the work.
Qualities of a trainer
A good trainer must be patient, attentive to the signs of fatigue, calm and firm.
Duration of training
The duration of training is about a month. It also depends on the qualities of the trainer and
character of animals. The training can start three or four years, even without rushing animals two
years. The best time is the end of the dry season, which allows the perfect dressage at the first
plowing. The animals trained for the traction become fully operational after two to three crop years.
Methods of dressings
Three training methods are used for cattle.
The first is to develop two new young bulls under the same yoke. This is the most common,
but the most difficult.
The second method called "Parrain" is to educate a young animal with an experienced one.
Those two young animals then are gathered under the same yoke.
The third so-called "Sandwich" is done with a yoke of three places; the candidate dressage
is in the middle of an experienced pair.
How to Train:
The user must perform hitch himself straightening
his team or at least participate actively. So we have
to:
Talk to the animals;
Give to the animal a very short name (two
syllables, for example);
accustom the animal to respond to the
Fig. 1: Use of a stress mean (a stick thin) for
following orders: advancer, stop, turn left,
an unexecuted order.
right, back. Each order must be
accompanied by an effective stress;
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Use immediately after stress means an unexecuted order, but gently (stop the stress means
just after an executed order). A wooden stick thin, flexible and brutal voice can be used.
Stages of training:
The training involves several stages, each about a week:
1) Habituation to a dresser man: allows
to approach and touch the animal without
causing his concern. Piercing the nasal septum
with a special clamp and trimming horns (3 to
5 cm at the ends) can help dressing. Restraint
can be total while immobilizing the animal to
the ground (often standing) to perform delicate
operations such as: treatment and care of the
nasal septum piercing. For piercing nasal
septum, use the nose clip easy to use and much
more secure (Figure 2);
Fig. 2: Approach your animal from the front and
call his name
The harness consists of the
following parts : halter chain or
nasal ring, yoke, head joint rope,
steering rope. Adjust your Halter
Chain correctly to the animals to
avoid wounds at the eyes, muzzle
or mouth (Figure 3).
Fig. 3: Correct adjustment of the halter chain
The head joint and steering ropes are attached
to the halter chain or nasal ring to control the
oxen. The steering rope is 12 mm thick and
20 m long, head joint rope is 6 mm thick and
2 m long (Figure 4). Avoid wrong adjustment
of the head joint. Figure 5 and 7 show the
wrong way to make the head joint. Despites,
Figure 6 shows the right way.
Fig. 4: The Head Joint joins the two animals and
the Steering Rope leads round their rears to the
driver.
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Fig. 5: No! The head joint is too long.
Fig. 6: Yes! Head Joint and Steering Rope are correct
Fig. 7: No! The head joint is too short
2) Installation and safety of yoke: animals are
tied by the horns to the horizontal rod to familiarize
them with human activities. The yoke connects the
two draft animals. All traction implements are
attached to the yoke by the pulling chain (prow,
harrow) or the beam (cart, roller cutter). The yoke
consists of the yoke beam, the yoke pegs and the
peg beam. You have two kinds of yokes:
Fig:8: Use the short yoke for plowing and
- The short yoke with a length of about 1.3 m,
weeding rice and wheat (40 cm rows)
used for plowing, harrowing, transport, clearing.
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- The long yoke with a length of about 1.7
m and adjustable to different working distances,
used mainly for ridging, weeding and molding.
- For weeding or Ridging use the
maximum distance between the animals. Leave
central holes of the yoke free (80 cm ridges).
For plowing, reduce the distance between the
animals by changing the pegs Weeding: of 60
Fig. 9: A pair of draft animal should be equal in
cm ridges.
size, weight, height and temperament. Here a
new pair is tied in the dressing room or stock
3) The practices to walk:
often requires the presence of
three persons (one in front of
animal, two on the sides). It
allows to the herdsman to give
the voice command. Initially, the
animals are kept closely (if
necessary, by means of ropes), in
the end, the animals walk alone
Fig. 10: Use the long yoke for ridging, weeding and molding
without the presence of aid and
obeys the voice and guides. Allow short rests from time to time. Avoid shouting, give clear
commands, go slowly and steadily, never beat the animals, be patient, show no anger.
Fig. 11: Teach them to go in line! Fig. 12: Use the steering rope to keep them in
line!
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a) Change positions from time to time. Allow both the farmers and the
partner to learn the handling exercise
b) Teach them to start and stop: use the commands "go" and "stop
c) Continue to call the names and the commands until the animal have
learned to follow the commands
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d) Start to teach them to turn left and right by using the commands
"go left" - "go right"
When the animal walk steadily and follow your commands you hook the pulling chain to the yoke
and continue practicing for the first day.
As soon as the oxen are accustomed to the chain
-attach a small light log to the end of the chain and pull
-teach the animals to pull straight
-give commands to turn left and right while pulling
-increase the size of the pulling log
-attach a harrow, first upside down and pull - then turn
-give a short break after some minutes
Try to control the animal alone as far as possible. Change with your partner, to allow him to learn
the exercise as well.
4) The development of a traction effort: consists to accustom the draft animals to tow a load
which is gradually and progressively increased in weight. Traction sequences are interspersed
with many pauses (example 10 minutes of work and 30 minutes of pause). Check the adjustment
of your harness before you start pulling. Wrong adjustment can hurt or wound the animal.
5) The traction with agricultural tools: consists of accustoming the draft animals to perform the
agricultural work on a field. The traction with one cattle is less common than the use of two
pair cattle. It is recommended for small work which require little effort, as the medium
transport, weeding, hilling
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Fig. 16: Develop draft effort by pulling a log and accustoming of
draft animals to cultivate
6) The management of the Careers of draught animals (cattle): The duration of use of draft
cattle is highly variable. It depends on how the use of animals, but also market conditions fixing the
purchase price of young cattle and the sale price of cull cattle. Several activities are performed to
assure the effectiveness of animal traction including housing, food, health and hygiene.
Fig. 18: Animal Work from 07:00 - 11:00
Fig 19: Animal Grazing from 11.00 to 18.00
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7) Housing of draft animals:
located near the residence of the user,
the housing must provide good
comfort to the draft animal. Housing
of draft animals must have a pen
where animals are constrained or free,
means of distributing water and food
(buckets, troughs, racks and fodder
troughs), a restraint system with
simple poles of tie stall or corridor of
contention, shelter against the weather
or the sun, a system of concentration
of dejections or manure. Then, for Fig. 19: A good cowshed. During the night feeding in the
cowshed
shelter, there should be 4-5 m2 per
cow to park at night and from 3.25 to 3.75 m2 for the cowshed, plus a corridor of 1 to 1.5m behind
the animals and an area of pause; for the pit, a volume of approximately 9 m3. Stabling must be
maintained in a clean condition and not
wet: setting pit regular litter, regular
cleaning of troughs, buckets and feeders.
During the night, your oxen are kept in a
COWSHED. An oxen farmer without a
cowshed is no real oxen farmer. The
housing of your oxen win give you a lot
of advantages.
Fig. 20: A good COWSHED is made up of three rooms
8) Castration: Castration makes the animal more gentle and docile. It is performed by a
veterinarian or technician competent with Burdizzos kind. The age at which the animal is castrated
is between two and three years because if the operation occur after 3 years, the character of the bull
is already said, the effect is small; and if it is done before two years, it may limit muscle
development of the animal. Castration must be made at least four weeks before the start of training.
9) Health risks and prophylactic standards: There is no specific pathologies for draught
animals. However, their extreme use can exacerbate certain diseases and injuries: wounds,
lameness, skin sores, joint damage ... Some diseases appear to be more severe in draught animals
because they limit them to work (example: dermatophilosis). To maintain a satisfactory state of
health, it is important to ensure compliance with the basic rules of hygiene and working conditions.
It is even more important for draught animals as well as for others to do the mandatory vaccines in
campaigns struggles against major outbreaks. It's the same regular internal and external deworming.
All illnesses or injuries constants on a draught animal, you need to alert a near veterinary or
technician for potential treatment advices.
