Bovines as Beasts of Burden

[rvm45]

I put this link over in the "Story Plots" section. Maybe some of you, with no inclination to write stories, just didn't even bother to go there.

Briefly, there is likely to be a real shortage of horses for a generation or longer, after TEOTWAWKI.

Cattle can and have been used to plow. Cattle can and have been used to pull wagons or Mud-sleds (Or why not, regular sleighs, get right down to it.)

People have long ridden Cattle--with saddle, etc.

Steers are most common as Saddle Beasts, then Cows.....

But for any of you who'd rather not Castrate anything.....

Some folks do choose to ride Bulls--and not for eight seconds at a time, in the Rodeo either.

My friends tell me that a Bull never ceases to be a source of danger.

No animal, with teeth and/or hooves, or claws and/or Horns and/or large size ever ceases to be a danger.

{Humans can be toothless, half-blind, over half deaf, half-starved and confined to a wheelchair--and still manage to stab you in the back--figuratively or even quite literally.....}

Anyway, go by the Cattle Riding Forum. Say hello, and tell them I sent you.

Interesting reading.

ridingsteers.freeforums.org/index.php

.....RVM45

[libertarian]

Mongo (Alex Carras) rode a bull on Blazing Saddles.

[buckshot]

Don't forget oxen, either.

Generally just a large steer castrated very young and trained as a beast of burden as part of a team the whole time.

Buckshot

[Jerry D Young]

I can vouch for the fact that a young calf can drag a 10-year old around the pasture with great ease when said child, against strict instructions, wraps the rope around his arm so it wouldn't get away.

[buckshot]

Oxen were used a LOT in the Great Black Swamp.

They were slower but could pull more than horses could and they did better in mud with much less chance of breaking something than a horse had in the same nasty conditions.

Stone boats and mud boats were specialties as well as the winter use of the mud boat.

Buckshot

[bunyip]

In the 19th century, and into the beginning of the 20th, 'bullock teams' were the trucks of pioneer Australia. (And 'bullockies' were the truckies of that time).

They had a reputation as the most accomplished swearers (cussers) in those times.



They were known for hauling HUGE loads, particulary wool, or logs, but also building materials, staples etc.

so yes, they make good beasts of burden, and are proven.



There are even some guys who do just to keep history alive;


www.smh.com.au/news/national/never-mind-the-fuel-prices-here-come-the-bullocks-again/2006/05/19/1147545529289.html