Customer Reviews

Oxen: A Teamster's Guide to Raising, Training, Driving & Showing (Storey's Working Animals)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I live in New England and have been involved with working cattle for thirty years. In this region we have a wealth of people knowledgeable in the art of training and working steers and oxen. What sets Drew apart from these teamsters is his talent and ability for putting into print what he has learned and expirienced. Drews twenty plus years of expiriences as a trainer and a teamster are compiled in a fashion that allows a novice teamster to read the book and successfully produce a team of working cattle. As a co-leader of a 4-H Working Steer club, I advise our members to purchase and read Drews book. It is the finest resource for answering 'oxen' questions available. I enjoy this book and refer to it often. I highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in working cattle. Great job Drew!

By Sharon Keeler UNH News Bureau

DURHAM, N.H. -- On a cold night in 1978, 13-year-old Drew Conroy and his father drove 30 miles over snowy New Hampshire roads to look at twin Brown Swiss calves. It was love at first sight. For $50, Conroy bought the pair from Donald Hawes of Milford. Young and eager to embark on his new adventure with his first steers, he talked his dad into taking them home that night.

Conroy didn't anticipate the daunting challenges he'd face. The calves were reluctant to follow him on the lead rope, and even more reluctant in the yoke. Neither of his parents could offer advice to their son, as they had never raised or trained oxen.

"Somehow, I managed to train Zeb and Luke. I suppose I was motivated by my father's insistence that we could always eat them if I didn't get them trained," says Conroy, jokingly. "One of the greatest lessons I learned is that there's no substitute for time spent working with animals. I also learned the importance of communicating with people and learning from the experience of others."

Twenty-one years later, Conroy is an animal science professor at the University of New Hampshire's Thompson School of Applied Science. His recently published book on training and working oxen now helps others interested in the "lost art." Titled "Oxen, a Teamsters Guide," the 345-page book includes information on every aspect of raising, training, driving, and showing the animals.

It also includes many illustrations and photos, which include a number of well-known New Hampshire teamsters.

Conroy has found a role in training individuals how to use oxen today on small farms and in international development. He has traveled as far away as Tanzania and Uganda in Africa to teach people about the productive use of oxen. He has also been involved as a consultant for the movie industry.

"The book emphasizes New England methods of training and working animals that can be applied anywhere, and at the same time describes how oxen are yoked, worked and used in the United States," says Conroy.

The Berwick, Maine, resident wrote his first book, "The Oxen Handbook," when he was a junior at UNH in 1985. It quickly became a reference for 4-H and adult teamsters everywhere. The new book expands on Conroy's first work. It covers the basics, from choosing the right breed and properly feeding and housing oxen, to correctly fitting a yoke and bow, to keeping oxen healthy.

It also provides information for readers interested in using oxen for farming and logging, as well as competition.

The book includes a chapter on oxen in history, as well. Conroy argues that without oxen, European settlers could not have survived in North America. Their role in farming the land and in westward expansion were paramount to developing this country.

"History changed with the beginning of farming and the domestication of animals," Conroy explains. "Following centuries of human labor, the first draft animal put to work in early agriculture was the ox, which was used long before horse and other equine animals were domesticated. Oxen provided the draft power that helped create an agricultural revolution by allowing farmers to till more land, harvest crops in a timely manner, and transport crops and other goods in large quantities over great distances."

According to Conroy, the first oxen were likely domesticated in southeastern Europe and western Asia, most likely in Greece and Turkey. Cattle husbandry in that region was common 7,000 years ago. Other than the domestication of the dog, domestication of cattle was the most important step in manipulating the animal world and exploiting the land for agricultural purposes. Cattle supplied the meat, milk, leather, manure and power for agriculture.

In his book Conroy also discusses the use of cattle as draft animals in Third World countries today. Offering a living history lesson, he explains how the Maasai in East Africa continue to herd their cattle, as many early Asian and Eastern European cattle owners did.

"The Maasai and others like them in Africa are beginning to adopt more productive ways of farming their land, and oxen are an important part of that change," says Conroy. "They are just beginning to face the trials of training and using oxen. In addition to the ox's most important role in plowing the land, they are also using this animal to transport manure, carry water and move materials from the forest to build fences and new homes. Observing these people and their use of oxen is like traveling back in time."

Conroy says the primary audience for his book is New England people with oxen, 4-H groups, museums, and living history farms like Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. But he also hopes it will find a niche among international development groups like the Peace Corps.

"There a more than 200 million oxen in the world today, mostly in Third World countries," Conroy says. "So I hope it will somehow find its way into the hands of international development groups that can put it to good use."

Conroy continues to own and train oxen today and his two new additions, a pair of four-year-olds named Rex and Ely, help himwork his 10-acre farm in Berwick.

February 15, 2000

Drew Conroy - the reigning leader in modern working cattle techniques has once again outdone himself. The total compilation of this laymens handbook is without a doubt unequalled. Speaking as a Draught animal teaching professional, with 20 years experience, I highly recommend that this information be taken by any novice, amateur or professional as gospel. Working draught animals and three continents of travel, collecting information for research I have never been able to find another source as definitively accurate in every minute detail. Additionally the terminology and technical detail is unsurpassable. "This book crosses the boundaries of class and education to bring to the international working animal scene a timeless source for information and instruction." If your are currently working cattle or planning on starting a carreer or hobby in the working cattle feild the best money you will ever spend will be on this book.

This book is absolutely the most important reference on oxen. If you are contemplating buying a team, training a team, researching animal traction, or are just curious about oxen; this book will satisfy you. Particularly if you do not live in New England and have to train your team on your own you should not be without this book. Mr. Conroy distills the great New England ox tradition and explains how simple and satisfying owning and working a team can be. My one complaint is the glossing over of the use of oxen in farm work. Although that is understandable as most oxen are kept for fairs and parades even in New England.

This book is absolutely the most important reference on oxen. If you are contemplating buying a team, training a team, researching animal traction, or are just curious about oxen; this book will satisfy you. Particularly if you do not live in New England and have to train your team on your own you should not be without this book. Mr. Conroy distills the great New England ox tradition and explains how simple and satisfying owning and working a team can be. My one complaint is the glossing over of the use of oxen in farm work. Although that is understandable as most oxen are kept for fairs and parades even in New England.

I've always dreamed of driving a single ox. Thanks to this book, now I own one. He's an apprentice ox to be sure (Aiah is a 7 month old Holstein-Jersey) but thanks to the clear instructions in this marvelous book, he's coming along just fine. Now, following the directions in the yoke-making chapter (aided by a single yoke leaflet from Tillers International), I'm building Aiah's first yoke. If you've ever considered owning oxen but don't know where to begin--BUY THIS BOOK. You'll be very, very glad you did.

The second edition of Oxen, A Teamster's Guide by Drew Conroy fulfilled my expectations for this informative and magical new edition of the classic American book on the care of oxen. My original edition is worn, torn, and marked due to loving usage. I expect soon this new edition will also have serious evidence of wear because the value of the book is in using it not merely reading it. That means sometimes it is in the field with me and the oxen and subject to the weather and whatever may happen when you take the oxen out for a stroll.

I treasure this new book. The beautiful color photographs that illustrate this new edition make the subjects in the photos nearly jump off the page. I like best the insertion of stories about the lives of men who work oxen in America today. He calls these stories "On the Farm" they are like an oral history of the lore of oxen in America today. I noticed several men I have had the pleasure of speaking to myself, Howard van Ord from Pennsylvania and Tim Huppe from Berrybrook Ox Supply in New Hampshire. These stories help the reader understand the depth of feeling of the oxen teamster about his animals and his relationship to them.

I am new to this business. I have driven oxen teams for only six years, so I value all the new information in Oxen, A Teamster's Guide more than most. This is almost an encyclopedia of knowledge on the subject of working cattle. Many of the drawings and black and white photographs from the first edition remain and that is good. I noticed many new drawings that help illustrate how to perform a particular function--the artist really captured the sense of what you have to do to make things work.

I say bravo to the author for this wonderful instructional book. Every oxen man or woman will want to have his or her own copy of this impressive new edition. Every time I open the book I will offer a silent thank you to Drew Conroy and his family for making the effort to put into words some of his oxen wisdom. This book is a gift to the world.

Philip Henderson, Head Oxen Teamster Orange County Centennial Farm in California

As a 79 ex farmer and one who worked horses in the fields as a young man, I always wondered how the early americans kept the wagons from running over the oxen when going down hill. This book answered my questions. It is a great book and it has given me a deeper understanding of what my great grandfather experienced when he drove a six-oxen team to Utah in 1852.

I bought Oxen: A Teamster's Guide for my father and he loved it. My father is 85 and has always lived on a farm. After he retired from his day job he continued to farm but eventually had to sell off his herd of Jerseys. He has kept a pair of oxen and this book had great stories that he really enjoyed.

Drew Conrow touches on all of the basics with this book. I'm considering taking it with me to Africa to have it as a source. I wished that he would have written a bit more about the tools that oxen could power (which would be extremely useful for me in a rural setting).