Lumbermen May Return To Use of Oxen

1908

Workers in Northern Wisconsin Believe Them More Serviceable

Milwaukee. — The determination of the lumbermen to return to the employment of oxen in the woods of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota will recall the days of the pioneer of 40 and 50 years ago, when horses in the woods were a curiosity or luxury.

Horses succeeded oxen for the reason that they make quicker time in hauling over long roads, and for the reason that feed became more plentiful as the country became settled by homesteaders. It was when feed was impossible to obtain that cattle were employed, for they were generally able to forage with the deer through summer and winter months. Those were the days of the dense pine forests when feed was plentiful and the climatic changes were not so sudden as a present, but the present day has its advantages, though the winters are more severe.

Feed for the oxen may be had at any railroad station or of almost any farmer or homesteader. Oxen require less feed than horses, and here is the first stroke of economy, though not a large one. They are sure of foot and will haul as large a load as horses. In skidding logs they are said to be much preferable to horses, and, unlike horses, they may be slaughtered and served to the lumberjacks when they have served their purpose.

In some of the northern counties oxen are being employed by the new settlers for the cultivation of the farm. They move along slowly it is true, but they accomplish the work of clearing the land and bringing it to a state of cultivation. The only drawback to this new movement is the lack of trainers and drivers. The oxen men of the last generation have or are passing away, and it will be difficult to get men who will condescend to desert the horse for the ox.