I remember from childhood eight huge sets of harness, halters as big as I was tall and horseshoes as big around as five-gallon buckets hanging in the barn. These were my great-grandfather’s who raised and bred registered Percheron draft horses in Southwest Iowa. Family outings to the Iowa State Fair, Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Days, a brewery tour at Budweiser, plus storied family experiences and antidotes give me a historic feel for living with draft horses for work and travel.
Source: Modern Farmer, December 16, 2015.
“I know tons of farmers who drive horses, many in their 20s and 30s”, says Matt Volz of Greyrock Farm in Cazenovia, New York. Which is hardly surprising, given horse-drawn labor’s obvious neo-Luddite appeal. What could be more old-school and artisanal than using animals to pull plows and cultivators, harrows and hay balers? Cheaper than tractors, draft horses will toil for 30 to 40 hours a week on a simple diet of grass and hay, then export fertile manure—instead of guzzling fossil fuels and belching diesel exhaust.
INSIGHTS: We wrote about the State of the Equine Union on December 16, 2015. This story adds perspective to those interested in equine medicine, market segments and horse breeds. If you smile at Budweiser Clydesdales ads, you’ll grin reading this.