Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 Chapter 2: Animal traction 2.1.

Introduction The employment of domestic animals for tillage or transport is known as animal traction. The term is generally understood to include pack transport as well as the pulling work of animals. Animal traction refers to the use of animals for ploughing, harrowing, ridging, carting, logging, pumping, threshing, planting and pulling sledges. In areas where insect pests and diseases do not prohibit herding of livestock, the incorporation of animals into the agricultural systems can help farmers in a many ways. Where motorized mechanized farm implements are unavailable or prohibitively expensive, animal traction is often the only alternative to back-breaking human labour. Beyond the energy they provide, farm animals can furnish organic fertilizer, milk, meat, skins and offspring.

In various parts of the world cattle, buffaloes, yaks, horses, donkeys, mules, camels, llamas, elephants, reindeer, goats and dogs are used for transport, crop cultivation, water-raising, milling, logging and land excavation or leveling. Cattle are the major work animals world-wide. It is most common to use male animals because they are stronger than females and cattle herds always produce a surplus of males. Castrated animals are more docile than intact males. Thus, the most common working cattle are castrated bulls, known as oxen or bullocks. In some texts, the word oxen have been used to describe any working cattle. Since working cattle are generally castrated males, the two uses of the word generally overlap. Nevertheless, confusion can occur in regions where cows or bulls are used for work. In this text, an ox is a castrated bull of any breed that is used for work. The term bovid encompasses the animals that are closely related to cattle, including water buffaloes and yaks.

After cattle, the main work animals world-wide are horses, donkeys (asses) and mules, known collectively as equids. In current English, a domestic ass is generally called a donkey. The word ass is now mainly confined to archaic, zoological or colloquial writings (and the statistics published by the Food and Agriculture Organization). Mules are non-breeding hybrid animals formed by crossing a female horse with a male donkey. They are stronger than donkeys and more hardy than horses. The other possible cross (female donkey and male horse) is known as a Draught animal technology lecture notes by SKB Page 1

Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 hinney. These are much less common, partly because the cross is biologically much more difficult to produce.

This chapter explores the use and spread of animal traction in Africa from both chronological and geographical perspectives. However, since several different processes occurred in the continent, time sequences and country patterns will inevitably overlap. The study concludes by describing the present situation and current trends. As far as possible, references relate to information that is readily accessible: these are often review studies rather than primary sources.

2.2. Origins and expansion of animal traction The recorded history of animal power in Africa starts about 6-5000 bp in Egypt with the first drawings of oxen and ard plows occurring in the III Dynasty. These, together with the engravings of oxen and plows in early Mesopotamian civilizations, appear to constitute some of the earliest records of animal traction anywhere in the world. It is possible that the maresha animal-drawn plow was spreading in Ethiopia at the same time as animal traction was developing in ancient Egypt, but there are fewer records from this period in Ethiopian history.

The early Egyptian ard plows were clearly illustrated in wall paintings and on papyrus. Further evidence comes from the intact plows that have been found in some tombs, and also from some detailed models of plowing teams. The plows comprised a long wooden beam that pulled a horizontal wooden plow body fitted with a metal share. The plow was controlled by two handles. The ard plows widely used in Egypt to this day are not dissimilar to the ancient designs. The early drawings and models show animals plowing in yoked pairs. Some early illustrations suggest that the yokes were tied to the horns (head/horn yokes). Other illustrations and models suggest the use of withers yokes similar to those used in present-day Egypt.

Several ancient Egyptian illustrations clearly show that the animals used for plowing were cows. One possible historical and cultural explanation is that the ox was considered more sacred than the cow. In most parts of the world, oxen are the first bovid to be used for work. Cows only start to be employed when smallholder farming becomes intensive, when animal feed resources are limited and when the work operations are light or highly seasonal. These conditions may well Draught animal technology lecture notes by SKB Page 2

Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 have developed early in Egypt, particularly as equids were available for certain transport tasks (year-round work). In present-day Egypt, almost all animals used for plowing are cows.

Some ancient Egyptian illustrations show cattle pulling sledges. In the Papyrus of Ani (about 3300 years old), oxen are seen pulling the funeral sledge. Wheeled ox-carts (as opposed to horsedrawn chariots). do not appear to have been common in ancient Egypt. Drawings and models of ox carts in nearby Mesopotamian civilizations date back about 5000 years ago. Domestic donkeys were recorded at Maadi in Egypt 3500-4000 BP. Paintings of pack donkeys appear in Egyptian tombs about 5000 years ago (Clutton-Brock, 1992). The main use of donkeys in ancient Egypt appears to have been for pack transport. Biblical evidence suggests donkeys were also important in the region for riding. Donkeys were not only maintained for work, for Cleopatra is said to have bathed in donkey milk.

The employment of horses in Egypt appears to have followed the use of donkeys. They do not appear until the about the 13th Dynasty (about 3800 bp). Many Egyptian illustrations 3000-3500 bp show horses hitched in pairs for pulling two-wheeled chariots. A ceremonial chariot with light-weight spoked wheels was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (3300 bp). Drawings dating from the same era show animals that appear to be mules or hinnies pulling two-wheel carts or chariots. However, there is no evidence that donkeys were used to pull carts in ancient Egypt (Clutton-Brock 1992).

2.2.1. Animal traction in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa Ox-drawn plows appear to have been used in Ethiopia for at least two millennia, and possibly a much longer, although the origins of the maresha ard plow are not known. The single-handled Ethiopian scratch plow is very different in design from the two-handled plow used in Egypt. The maresha is more like a spear, pulled through the soil using a long beam. Stiehler (1948) suggests the ard plow was introduced 2600-3000 years ago by Semitic-speaking peoples invading from South Arabia. Another view is that the plow was already in use at this time, having spread from Cushitic peaking peoples of Nubia in northeast Sudan (Simoons 1965). Linguistic evidence suggests that the ard was in use several millennia before the South Arabian invasion, which

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 might make the Ethiopian plow the oldest in Africa (Ehret 1979). Drew (1954) illustrates rock paintings from Eritrea that clearly show a maresha plow, but their dating is uncertain.

The Ethiopian maresha is not only old, it is highly persistent. To the present day, it is almost universally used by smallholder farmers, for the cultivation of the tef grain crop. Although a variety of development programmes has attempted to introduce short-beamed steel plows for the past fifty years, there has been almost no adoption of these. The plowing animals are generally oxen, yoked in pairs with withers yokes, and controlled by a single person. Where oxen are in short supply, horses, donkeys or cows may be used, but oxen are the work animals of choice. Camels are occasionally used for cultivation. Ox-carts do not appear to have been part of Ethiopian traditional systems, and they remain extremely uncommon.

Transport of goods in Ethiopia has long been based on pack donkeys. Little is known about when donkeys started to be used in Ethiopia, and when they became common. Under the Pharaoh Pepi II (c. 2270 BC) caravans with pack donkeys were trading with Punt (Ethiopia) (Kitchen 1993). Donkeys have long been important in the history of the salt trade in northern Ethiopia (Wilson, 1976, 1991) and are represented in traditional Ethiopian art. The population of donkeys has been rising in recent history. With about five million donkeys, Ethiopia now has the second largest population of donkeys in the world. Pack donkeys are extremely important in both rural and urban economies. The success of military campaigns in Ethiopia and Eritrea in the late twentieth century owed much to the use of pack donkeys. Despite the large numbers of pack animals employed in Ethiopia, transport of loads by humans (mainly women) is still common.

Horses and mules are mainly used for riding. Simple passenger-carrying two-wheel horse-drawn carts became common in Ethiopian cities around the middle of the twentieth century. They were banned by the authorities from central Addis Ababa around 1963, but remain common in other towns. They are almost invariably used as passenger taxis for hire, and there is negligible use of horse carts for freight purposes. Donkeys have not been traditionally used for pulling carts. However, an innovative design of low-cost donkey cart started to be seen in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia in the 1970s. In the rest of the world, most carts pulled by one donkey have parallel shafts that pass on either side of the animal. Draught animal technology lecture notes by SKB Page 4

Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 The donkey pulls from a collar or breast band, and the weight is taken by a band between the two shafts that passes over a back saddle. In contrast, the Ethiopian carts are pulled from converging shafts attached to a simple pack saddle. The carts made from wooden poles, with steel wheels, appear of recent, indigenous design, and have evolved in a country where donkeys have always been used to carry on their backs rather than pull from harnesses. At the end of the twentieth century, these carts have been spreading rapidly in the Rift Valley where they are used for the transport of water, straw and other materials. The development and rapid spread of these carts has been within the informal sector. It contrasts with the low uptake of the more expensive steel carts promoted by government agencies in the 1980s and 1990s.

2.3. Use animal traction 2.3.1. Stationary applications of animal power In Egypt there has been a long history of using work animals to raise water for irrigation. The ingenious sakia irrigation wheels appears to have been developed during the Ptolemaic period, about 2200 years ago (Stead 1986). The traditional sakia wheels have internal spirals, allowing them to efficiently raise water that is within two metres of the surface (Lwe 1986). They remain in use in present-day Egypt and may be turned by cows, buffaloes or donkeys or less commonly, horses or camels.

Animals may also be used to pull water from wells. In North Africa, mote systems are employed, where an animal walks down a slope and pulls on the rope attached to a leather water bag. Some motes have self-emptying systems. Descending the slope makes it easier for the animal to raise the water. All types of work animals may be used. Elsewhere, notably in circum-Saharan Africa and the Horn of Africa, animals are also used to pull water from simple wells. Such systems are most common in pastoral areas, where large numbers of animals must be watered at the same time.

Threshing Lagercrantz (1950) has reviewed the use of animals in Egypt, North Africa and Ethiopia and Northern Somalia for threshing. In this operation, the animals walk round in circles over beans or cereals, separating the husks from the grain. There is a strong geographical distinction between Draught animal technology lecture notes by SKB Page 5

Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 systems using a central tethering post and those which simply make use of random trampling movements. In Egypt, a special threshing sledge, may be pulled by the animals to accelerate the process. Pigs were used for work in Ancient Egypt, both treading and threshing seed in the eighteenth Dynasty, a practice also confirmed by Herodotos (Zeuner 1963:262). The first iconographic evidence for animal threshing is in the Old Kingdom (i.e. prior to 2300 BC) and this use of animal power has continued in Egypt up to the present.

Threshing is a seasonal operation and the species used are those that are readily available because they are maintained for other work. Iconographic evidence from Egypt suggests that donkeys were used in the Old Kingdom and were supplanted by oxen in the New Kingdom. Exceptionally, camels are used to thresh grain in Tunisia. In the Ethiopian highlands, oxen are used to thresh the cereal, tef. In the Ethiopian Rift Valley, a similar technology has more recently been adopted for decorticating maize. Animal threshing occurs in both the Canaries and the Azores, probably as a result of European introductions. It was also brought to South Africa by European settlers, and Lagercrantz (1950:23) reproduces an early eighteenth century engraving of horse-threshing in the Cape Colony. Through the agency of missions, animal threshing spread to Namibia and to the Sotho-speaking areas.

Milling Animal power is used for milling in a band stretching from Somalia to Chad. Oilseeds such as sesame or groundnuts are placed in a large wooden pestle, carved out of the trunk of a large tree. The animal walks around pulling a counter-balanced frame attached to a large wooden mortar. This grinds the seeds, extracting the oil. The animals employed are often oxen but camels may be used in Sudan and Somalia. This grinding technology is pre-colonial but its exact origin is unknown. The pattern of transfer of this animal-powered grinding technology has not been investigated. Similar mills are found in the Seychelles and on the Indian subcontinent, but they have not spread elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 2.3.2. Animal power for riding and pack transport in sub-Saharan Africa Horses, donkeys, camels and cattle have been used for riding and pack transport in parts of subSaharan Africa for centuries, if not millennia. However, relatively little is known about the history of these applications of animal power. Certain pastoralist groups in the continent, including several in West Africa, ride cattle and use them as pack animals. There are historical observations of fifteenth century European seafarers concerning the Khoi-Khoi of South Africa. These rode cattle and used them for pack transport. Some cattle were trained for use in battles (Burman, 1988; Joubert, 1995).

Several authors, including Muzzolini (1997), have noted that references to donkeys in traditional art (including rock paintings) and literature are surprisingly few in sub-Saharan Africa (including Ethiopian and Arabic sources). This might be because the spread of donkeys was slow and scattered, or it could be because donkeys had low status, compared with horses and camels. Donkeys were used mainly as pack animals (as they are world-wide) although there is little evidence to support this. By the time of recorded European exploration in sub-Saharan Africa, donkeys were used as pack animals in parts of West Africa (Sahelian zone) and East Africa (in some coastal ports and among the Maasai). A Portuguese report of 1758 suggests that the Shona in Zimbabwe were using pack donkeys, and this may have been associated with the gold trade route to and from Sofala in Mozambique (Ellert 1993).

Horses became important for riding and prestige in West African civilizations across a wide zone of Muslim influenced cultures from Senegambia to Sudan. Their high social status meant that they were seldom used for transporting goods. In Eastern and Southern Africa, horses were introduced from ports in the past five hundred years by European settlers and traders. Camels, used for riding, transporting and meat/milk production spread in circum-Saharan countries between 1000 and 3000 years ago, first in the Horn of Africa and later in West-Central Africa. They are shown extensively in late period Saharan rock-paintings, but only as riding animals. Camels have probably been used to pull water from wells since their introduction, but their use for plowing in West Africa is recent (RIM, II 1992).

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 2.3.3. Animal power for cultivation and wheeled transport in sub-Saharan Africa Ethiopia, together with a few neighboring parts of the Horn of Africa, is exceptional in subSaharan Africa, since farmers have been using animal power for tillage for thousands of years. However, in most sub-Saharan African countries, animal traction for tillage and wheeled transport was introduced during the colonial period. The process of introduction and adaptation is still continuing. There are various factors that may be responsible for the late adoption of plows in sub-Saharan Africa. In much of the continent, different tribal groups have specialized in animal-rearing and in crop production. Thus many crop-growing farmers did not own potential work animals. Moreover, many traditional farming systems have been based on bush-fallow rotations. The bush is cut down and burned, and seeds or tubers planted in the cleared area. There is no need to till the land with a plow. In any case this would be difficult since the soil is full of roots. Seeds can be scattered or planted in small pockets, for which a simple digging implement is appropriate. In farming systems with long periods of bush fallow, weeds do not present major problems.

Provided the fallow periods are long, such systems can be quite productive in terms of yield per unit of human labour. It is only when human population pressures necessitate short fallow periods that it becomes justified to clear the land of roots and stumps and to plow. Thus, in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the necessary social, environmental and agricultural conditions to favour the use of plows have not really existed. Indeed, there are still parts of Africa where the plow is not really economically justified. The failure of animal traction to spread into some semi-humid areas in recent decades, is partly explained by the lack of the appropriate preconditions . Another important constraint on the spread of the plow in pre-colonial times was the presence of tsetse flies and trypanosomiasis in virtually all lowland areas. The relatively low human populations that obtained almost everywhere in Africa meant that hunting pressure on wild animal vectors was insufficient to eliminate reservoirs of trypanosomiases. Pastoral cattle that can survive when well-fed or moved regularly by expert herders have a much accelerated death rate from disease when subjected to work-stress (Blench 1987). It is possible that both wheeled vehicles and plows were introduced experimentally in prehistory, but failed due to disease constraints. Increased human population in the colonial era following improved health-care both Draught animal technology lecture notes by SKB Page 8

Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 allowed major clearance of regions of bush and eliminated large populations of tsetse vectors. This helped to make animal traction a viable proposition in many areas.

Sledges The origin and spread of the animal-pulled sledge in not clear. Simple triangular sledges are now very widely used throughout eastern and southern Africa and also in Madagascar. However, they are seldom, if ever, seen in West Africa, where they should be similarly useful as basic and cheap means of transporting materials. There is a wide range of sledge types and this suggests there has been considerable farmer innovation in the design of sledges. Three main types have been identified in Zambia, the dug-out log (umulangu), and the flatter carved board (mula) and the simple Y-branch (Mller, 1986). All of these, but particularly the Y-branch, may be modified with superstructures made from poles and/or basket work. There is some uncertainty as to whether or not the umulangu was in use in Zambia prior to the arrival of the traders and missionaries in the nineteenth century (Mller, 1986). However, despite the different sledge designs, they are almost always pulled in a similar way. Oxen are used in pairs (one or more pairs) to pull the sledges by means of a steel chain attached to a standard withers yoke. This suggests that the present system of pulling sledges has spread in post-colonial times.

While considering sledges, it is interesting to note that there are several independent twentieth century examples of sledges being developed into simple carts, using wheels made from treetrunks. One such example in northeastern Zimbabwe appears to have been a farmer response to the banning of sledges by the colonial authorities (who feared that sledges accelerated erosion). Four-wheel, articulating carts were developed from Y-branch sledges using cross-sections of tree-trunks and simple wooden axles. Similar innovations have been seen in the Mbeya region of Tanzania.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 2.4. Animal traction selection and training 2.4.1. Choice of draught animals How to select good animal In order to do this we need to go through the characteristics and conformation of the animals to select. Characteristics Animal breed: Select local cattle breeds as they are used to the environment: the local disease challenge, prevailing climate conditions, quantity and quality of food available and the traditional management systems. Age Select young oxen or bullocks of between 11/2 and 3 years old. Young animals are light, cheap, easy to train, and they can accept commands. The selected young animal must have good growth potential; this will profit the farmer when he sells it for meat. Young animals also have a longer working life.

To obtain the age of the animal look at the teeth. This is done by determining the number of front teeth at the lower jaw of the animal, in other words, looking at (temporary and permanent) teeth to work out the age of the animal, as shown below.

Note: From five years onwards, cattle will have developed a full set of permanent teeth, and from eight years onwards the teeth will start to wear down. If they are older than three years, they are too old to learn and accept the training commands. But also if they are younger than 18 months, they will not have developed enough, physically, to work.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 Weight Select a young local Zebu weighting between 150 - 300 kgs. Select only those animals with a potential to gain weight.

Thus, eliminate an animal which falls below or goes above the recommended weight limit, because the animal will either be too light to pull the draft during the training or too heavy to manoeuvre during the training.

Temperament Select or retain animals with a responsive behavior.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 Eliminate very nervous animals that get easily frightened and those that are aggressive to other animals and to people. Health: Discard cattle suffering from major injuries, diseases or defects like: Limping or lame animals Deaf animals Animals that don't see properly or are totally blind Weak or sick animals

Discard pregnant females, especially those which are 2 months away from delivery Discard those with breathing problems: irregular or fast breathing, because they will get exhausted after moving for a very short time and will fail to pull the implement to the end.

Exercise 1 As an exercise, invite the participants to tell which problems they can see with the animals in the following drawing

Note: This exercise should also be done with real animals so that participants get used to the selection features.

Animals should be chosen according to the type of work to be performed, the local environment, socio-economic conditions and the availability of local animals. Indigenous breeds tend to be

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 well adapted to the local climate, feed availability, and diseases and to traditional management systems. Donkeys Donkeys provide power for agriculture and transport at the low cost. Donkeys adapt well in dry areas. They eat less than cattle and for this reason do better than cattle under drought conditions and in heavily stocked areas. They are also lighter and smaller than cattle. Donkeys can live a long life and can be worked up to 25 years of age. They can carry goods and people on their backs in hilly as well as flat areas, pull carts, turn mills and waterwheels, cultivate fields and can even be used to guard sheep against predators such as jackal and lynx.

Figure 1. Girls riding donkeys to fetch water Carts can be pulled faster than in the case of oxen, but donkeys are better suited to lighter field work and cannot work for long periods. Women and children can also handle donkeys. The animals are very patient, hard working and dependable. The common idea among the general public, commercial farmers and extension officers that donkeys are lazy or eat too much is quite unfounded.

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Figure 2. A woman and pack donkey Cattle Oxen are some of the most powerful draught animals currently used in south Africa, but they are slow and labour intensive. They are generally used for heavy work where speed is not essential (ploughing and pulling heavy carts and wagons). Cows can be used where the work is light and infrequent (planting and cultivating). Bulls can also be used as part of a span.

Figure 3. Ripping and planting using oxen Draught animal technology lecture notes by SKB Page 14

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Horses and ponies Horses and ponies are mostly used for riding in highland areas. They provide strong, fast transport but do not generally have the hardiness of other draught animals. They may be used for ploughing, harrowing, planting, weeding and transport. These animals have not been used as widely as oxen as a result of horse sickness which occurs in low-altitude areas. Horses are used to pull carts in the rural areas. Sometimes thoroughbreds are bought cheaply from the racing industry. As they have not been bred as draught animals, they do not do well and generally do not live long. Heavy breeds such as Percherons, Clydesdales and Shires may be used as traction animals on farms. The Percheron appears to adapt best to South African conditions.

Figure 4. Two shire horses pulling a hitch-cart and trailer

Mules Mules are strong, intelligent, hardy and hard-working animals. Because they are large animals, they are more easily used by men than by womenor children. They cost the same as oxen, but are considerably more expensive than donkeys. Mules can be used for ploughing, harrowing, planting and logging. Draught animal technology lecture notes by SKB Page 15

Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 They can also be used for packing and to pull carts and wagons. The animals can work on poor quality feed, under hard conditions up to an age of 35 years.

2.4.2. Training animal traction Training animals Training animals for traction involves an understanding between the trainer (yourself) and the animals. The animals need to trust you. For that we need to be patient and reward them for good behavior. Reasons for Training Animals Trained animals can do more work in a shorter time. Trained animals hear and accept commands (voice commands). Trained animals pull better, like a team with well-coordinated movements. They are easier to control. They are able to pull heavy loads for longer periods.

Note: In order to train animals, a trainer must follow some principles to achieve good results during the whole exercise. The reason for this is that cattle are not used to work unless they know the training steps.

Seven Principles to Consider When Training: 1. The approach must be simple, calm, patient, persistent, and the trainer needs to be firm (not to show fear to the animal). 2. There should always be a routine and a repetition of the training steps, so that the animal adopts the new behavior. 3. Spoken commands and names should be few and simple such as: Go, Turn left, Turn right, Reverse or Stop. Remember to always use the same language during and after the training. 4. Train either early in the morning or late in the evening so as to avoid the heat of the day.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 5. Reward the animal for any positive behaviour, then correct bad behaviour immediately and don't reward. Rewarding the animal includes; patting on back, calling the animal's name, grooming him or giving some food. 6. Complete every step in the training programme before moving to the next one. Do not move to the next step, unless the animals have understood the one before. 7. To carry out the training you need the following items: a trained animal, a proper kraal, a good pegged training field and tools (ropes, different types of yokes, ploughs, weeders, loads and sledges).

Training stages: STEP 1: Roping and Walking The purpose here is for the trainer to get used to the new animal, to create friendly conditions and to remove fears/suspicions from the animals.

You should tie the oxen with ropes and make them walk in circles without yokes. To tie you can use halters or nose punched animals (as explained below). Each time you train, you reduce the rope that separates you from the animal, so that you come closer to it and this one keeps on gaining trust in you.

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These exercises take 2-4 hours per day for 2-3 days The animal should learn to accept commands, so by the end of this step the animal should be able to go left or right, to stop or start and even to go backwards following the voice commands. This step ends when a trainer is able to move closer to the animal, to put a rope around the neck, name the animals, make them walk or move and stop using simple commands.

How to tie your animals 1. Make a simple halter A simple halter for the animals can be a rope with two knots, as shown below or as on the side drawing. Place the central loop on the mouth of the animal and tie the strings behind the ears. Always place the rope underneath the ears and tie it behind, otherwise the rope will be over the eyes and will disturb the animal.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 2. Use a nose-punched animal

STEP 2: Harnessing and Walking the Animals In this step, harnessing or yoking is done in the kraal. After that, the animals are moved to the field. The objective here is for the animals being trained are able to accept harnessing and removal of the harness while they are outside the kraal. If a trained animal is there, use it to train the new one, so that they learn to move in pairs. By the end of this step, the pair of animals should be able to move forward, stop, turn left, turn right and eventually turn and walk back using voice commands e.g. go, stop, turn-left, turn-right, about-turn, etc.

The items used here include a yoke, ropes, a kraal, a training field and trained animal.

These exercises should take 3-4hours per day for 7-10 days

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STEP 3: Pulling Loads The purpose is to train the muscles of the animals and for them to gain strength to pull heavy loads. During this step, varying loads are introduced from 20, 30, 40, 50 kg /log.

These exercises are done in the field, 2 hours per day, for 7-14 days. Note: Frequent rest should be allowed for the animals on training STEP 4: Pulling Implements Implements such as ploughs, weeders, harrows, planters, etc, are introduced in this step.

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This can be done for 3-4 hours per day for 3 days.

Training animals to weed Training animals to weed or to pull a weeder between rows can be started on step 3 of the training exercises explained before. This involves the following: Field selection and pegging: Select a well-tilled, smooth field for training your animals and cut stakes (pegs) around 1.5 ft (45cm) long. Arrange the pegs in rows to simulate the rows of crops. They should be firmly inserted such that they do not fall when knocked by the animals. Use a planting rope to make certain the pegs are on a straight line. Always measure the same distance between the rows of pegs, as you would do when planting.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 Measure the distance between the first two rows and then cut a piece of wood of that size. Like this you will be certain that all the rows have the same width. This will be important later on, so as not to have to re-adjust the weeder.

Walking the animals between rows: The yoked animals can then be led to walk between the rows of the pegs. You can use the ploughing yoke to teach them how to walk between the rows of pegs. (Like in the drawing). As the animals keep knocking their hooves against the pegs, they will feel the effect and learn to walk straight, between the rows, without stepping on the pegs. The drawing shows a pair of oxen joined by a ploughing yoke. The same idea applies with a weeding yoke.

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This exercise takes 2-3 hours per day for about 1 week.

Pulling implements between rows: Once the animals have got used to walking between the pegs, varying weights of 20, 30, 40 and 50 kg respectively can be introduced for them to pull along the rows. Later, the implement (weeder) can be introduced

This exercise takes 2-3 hours per day for 1 week.

YOKE MAKING 1. Selecting the yoke pole

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The chosen pole should be strong, straight and free from too many knots. The poles length should be longer than the required length of the yoke to be made. 2. Seasoning the timber The yoke can be seasoned in order to make it stronger or to increase its durability. This is done by: Placing the yoke into a water-bath, then leaving it to stay there for at least 1 week. Alternatively, the yoke can be buried in the ground or covered with manure taken from the animal shed, for at-least 2 weeks. After the yoke has been subjected to any of these treatments, place it in a shaded place and allow it to dry slowly. 3. Drying The pole should be well dried before making the yoke, but if time is limited, the bark of the pole can be peeled off or, the wet pole can be lightly burnt and the bark removed by hammering to enhance drying.

4. Shaping The pole is then shaped well and smoothed, removing any knots to avoid injuries to the animal's skin and reducing the diameter to about 8 cm.

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5. Cutting the pole to the correct dimensions. Ploughing yoke Draw a centre line along the length of the pole and put a mark in the middle. From the centre, measure 45 cm to either side. These two marks will exactly be over the animals shoulders. The distance between them is known as the "yoke length". So the actual full length of the yoke will be longer than this yoke length.

Weeding yoke Yoke length There are two ways to measure the yoke length of the weeding yoke: 1. Place the yoke in front of your planted crops, and draw the exact point where the animals should be. The distance between the two lines is the yoke length. As shown in the drawing 2. The yoke length should be twice the distance between your crop rows. So from the centre of one animal to the centre of the other there will be a distance of two planting rows.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 As shown in the picture, check that A = B, or that, the yoke length is twice the crop inter-row distance.

So there is not a standard size for a weeding yoke, it depends on your crop spacing Weeding yoke Full length

Now that we know the yoke length, we need to calculate the full length of the yoke. So we start by calculating the space for the neck of the oxen; it should be 10" or 25 cm but to make it easier, we can calculate with our hands together, thumbs touching, a shown in the drawing: So it is 10" (25 cm) from the middle of the animal to the end of the yoke.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 That makes the total length of the yoke 20" (50cm) longer than the yoke length.

Exercise 2 a. Ask the farmers to calculate the yoke length and the full length of the weeding yoke, if they planted the crops at a distance of 65 cm between each row. b. What about if the crops are at a distance of 90 cm? c. If they have a weeding yoke with a full length of 1.30 metres. What would be the distance they need to plant their crops in order to use the yoke?

Making the holes The holes can be made locally with chisel a hammer or with an auger

MOUTH CAPS (like fish net)

The mouth cap or muzzle is very important when we are using animal traction for weeding. If you fail to put one on the oxen, they will stop pulling and will instead start enjoying eating the crops! It can be made locally using sisal string. Place it over the mouth of the animal and tie the strings behind the ears, passing the string underneath them.

Note:

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 Do not tie them only behind the horns as the strings will pass over the eyes and disturb the animal

Exercise 3 Show the following drawing to the participants and ask them to point out all the problems. What should have the farmer done?

OTHER USES OF ANIMAL TRACTION Exercise 4 Ask the farmers how many uses of animal traction they can think of before turning to the next section where we have represented some of them. In page 20 you will find a list of suggestions ____________________________ There are many uses of animal traction that we have not covered in this manual. However, once your animals are trained and obey your commands, you will be able to use your oxen for any other activities, saving a lot of work.

1. Weeding Animals that have successfully completed the training can therefore be used to weed a garden with row planted crops. This should be practiced regularly so that the animals do not forget. The mouth-caps or muzzles should always be fitted well to prevent the animals from eating the crops.

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011

Types of weeders There are many types of weeders, some are fixed but some can be adjusted in width to match your crop row spacing. The one in the following drawing is the SAARI type. This weeder is an attachment that you can fit on to your plough after removing the mouldboard*, the share*, the landside* and the frog*. * (see page 19 Plough parts')

2. Transport As shown in the pictures;

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011

3. Harvesting Using Animal Traction, Especially Groundnuts. Animal power can also be used for harvesting groundnuts and root crops like sweet potatoes, cassava, etc. This can be achieved by the following adjustments made to the mouldboard plough: Remove the mouldboard from the plough. Set the depth adjuster to the required depth to facilitate proper lifting of the crop. Groundnuts Not too deep Sweet potatoes Deep Cassava Very deep, requires heavy bulls

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 Some local ploughs do not have a depth adjuster, so lengthen or shorten the chain according to the depth you desire, or lift the wheel

4. Seed bed preparation, by harrowing, breaking the soil lumps Commercial harrows are made of steel, with teeth to break the soil lumps, however, harrows made of local materials work just as well. To increase the depth, put some weight on top of your harrow.

Note:

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Chapter 2: Animal traction 2011 Use it always in a horizontal position, so back and front teeth are working the soil. Adjust with the chain length

5. Heaping potatoes (ridging) First make a deep furrow by passing twice or three times on the same row. Then, pass with the plough next to the furrow so the soil will turn into it and start heaping where the initial furrow was.

Do the same on the other side. You may need two passes on each side at least for the first heap. To do a second heap; turn over the soil next to the last one. By putting the soil in the furrow we are certain there is enough room for the potatoes to grow.

Plough parts

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