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After attending our May 2008
Family Cow workshop, Chuck Duncan asked if there were any follow-up courses in cow care or some other way he could learn more about the care and keeping of cattle… We hatched a plan for him to train up a pair of Local Farm bull calves as oxen. Chuck and “the boys”, Jigger and Jolly, have been learning a great deal from each other and two years later, Chuck can ask them to haul rocks, logs, cartloads of manure… even this chicken tractor!!!!
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As a Hare Krshna devotee, Chuck seeks to serve the Divine through his service to oxen. He gains inspiration from his favorite charity
CareForCows.org. WE love the smoked cheese recipe on page 10 of their June ’09
newsletter In mid-April of 2010, Chuck started sending regular “Friday Night Oxen” emails to interested friends and acquaintances. Some of them follow. If you would like to be on his list, please click
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June 4, 2010,
Hello Everyone,
…This week I have something really wonderful for you. It revolves around the special work being done at Care For Cows, Food for Life Vrindavana and the Sandapani Muni School.
In the Care For Cows Newsletter for June 2009 we read:
“The Bhaktivedanta Swami Goshalla has donated four handsome oxen to Vrindavan Food For Life who has increased their fleet of bull-driven schoolbuses. At present they have six school buses transporting approximately 250 students to and from the Sandipani Muni School each day. Care for Cows is hosting the new bulls along with seventy others at the Sundrakh facility. Upon arrival there was a lot of huffing and puffing, coughing and snorting as the new oxen felt the need to establish them selves as the bosses of their new residence. There were several scuffles as our older residents resisted. Nakula, who is smaller in stature than the others (about 400-kilos), has proven to be the strongest of the new batch. He made short work of our 350-kilo Nandi leaving a grapefruit-size welt on his underside. In another scuffle Nakula picked up our 600-kilo Madhu and tossed him in the water tank! Now that the pecking order has been established the dust in the bull-pen has settled and we are back to normal. This week the bulls will be paired up and will begin their routes dutifully taking the Vrajavasi children to school. Krsna Murari intimidates all challengers.”
Krsna Murari
Nakula
As I read this, the scenes just come to life and the sheer power and intense focus of these bulls makes the atmosphere altogether palpable. Now, as you click the link below, see how they have been transformed in their humble service. Amidst the singing and laughter of the children, try resting your cursor over the play/pause button on the video player and try pausing the video at minutes :15, :49 and 1:25.
Sandapani Muni School Bus
Oxen serving people, people serving oxen…please take a couple of minutes to browse the website links, they might change your life.
May 28, 2010
Randall Lineback
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the eight new members of Friday Night Oxen this week. When you wiki Randall Cattle, this is what you get…an amazingly beautiful team of a rare and historic breed. This classic pose, possibly set in early Spring in VT, which is the breeds’ home territory, shows off their distinctive coloration and markings very nicely. For more on the breed and their history,
click here.
I do not know who this team belongs to for sure,yet, but in browsing the
Randall Cattle Registry, I found this picture second one down on the left. That sure looks like Lyle and Maestro to me and it even looks like the same vintage yoke. I will research it further and let you know what I come up with.
If you have a little more time tonight and want to see more,
click here.
Hope you enjoyed tonight’s Friday Night Oxen
Best Wishes and in service to the Oxen,
Chuck
May 21, 2010
Hello Everyone,
I have been getting some encouraging replies back from many of you and even some pictures. Tonight, I wanted to share this from my online friend Tom.
Tom lives in VT and was very helpful to me back about a year and a half ago when I first wrote to him asking for some tips on oxen training. As I knew less than nothing, he patiently helped me out, for which Jigger and Jolly and I are very grateful.
Dobey is red and nigh and Grey is roan and off
Dobey and Grey are 10 year old twin working Durhams (Milking Shorthorn). These boys have such a stately and self-assured look, don’t they? I really like the body length and go you got to love that roan color.
These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago. You can see that Spring in VT was still in a very tender stage. The task at hand is manure hauling. That is one very nice cart, I must say, beautifully made…with a dumping feature!
Milking Shorthorns hold a very distinguished place in Oxen history and are very desirable to many-a-teamster. I’m sure Currier and Ives had them in mind for “Home to Thanksgiving”.
So, thanks to Dobey, Grey and Tom for helping us tonight on Friday Night Oxen.
Have a nice weekend, in service to the Oxen,
Chuck
May 14, 2010
Hello Everyone,
This is a collection of three pictures, two paintings and one drawing, by Van Gogh around 1884 in the Netherlands. These pictures are from his earlier work and are studies of peasant life. They were painted before his works in Southern France that we mostly identify him with, like “Starry Night” and so many others.
This first one called “The Ox Cart.” It is my favorite of the three for several reasons. The early morning solitude here is really wonderful and the detail in the single yoke and cart have a timeless quality in their design. Mostly, I just love the Ox because he looks so young, his head bent low from hauling such a burden. By the looks of him, he can’t be more than two years and will be growing into those formidable legs. ”Ox” is a title that he will be growing into as well.
Second is “Cart with Red and White Ox”. The wagon looks positively ancient, warped and bent from years of service. You can almost hear it creak and feel the burnished wood with your eyes. From Van Gogh’s persistence portrayal of single yoked hitches, I’m guessing this was very common for the time.
And lastly, “Ox Cart in the Snow”. I like the bleakness that anyone in the northern climates will relate to and how well trained this Ox is, pulling a sizable load with little prompting from his teamster, seemingly lost in though behind.
Wishing you well and in the service of Oxen,
Chuck
Hello Everyone,
This week I have tried to embed a video that I like very much from youtube. If you have gmail, you should see this as an embedded player, probably at the very bottom of the email. If you have another email client, it might appear as a link below to click on. If you are only seeing text, you may need to switch to rich formatting.
I believe this team of buffalo is grading a rice paddy after plowing to even out high and low spots. I have heard this horizontal attachment referred to as a datya. I admire the rhythmic plodding of the oxen through the mud and the facility of the teamster to so expertly drive the team from behind, perched on the datya to give it added weight.
Have a great weekend,
Chuck
So the new project that I would like to try is sending out something to you on oxen each week. Maybe a picture from the web or a video, something that will help us to contemplate the wonder, beauty and great diversity in these animals and their human friends. I hope you enjoy them.
Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
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