Here at Blackleg Acres all of the farming is done with our
horses. We farm about 15 acres in hay, corn and oats that we bale for hay,
in addition to the garden. The following pictures will take you through our steps of farming
with horses. Many people ask us why we farm with horses. For one
it is cost effective, it involves the whole family, and finally there just happens
to be something about the sound of the plow slicing the damp soil and hearing the birds
sing that can't be heard if you're driving a tractor. This page is graphic intense and will take time to down
load, but I hope the wait is worth it.
| PLOWING
Plowing the garden before planting sweet corn. Yentz (gelding, 1 yr.10
mo.) in the furrow, Bulah (filly, 2 yr. 10 mo.) on the land. Both are bay
roan but Yentz turns darker in his winter coat. 2/1999
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DISCING
Discing the garden with three Brabants: Rocky (Stallion), Yentz (gelding), and Bulah (filly).
3/1999
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| HARROWING
Annie using the spike tooth harrow to smooth the garden with
April our blue roan Percheron. 12/1999
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LOGGING
Using the forecart to drag some logs. Yentz and Rocky doing the
work. Yentz is just being broke, his first time working at log skidding.
1/1999
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| CORN PLANTING
Planting sweet corn in the family garden with Yentz and
Bulah. First time for Yentz on the corn planter, he was just 1 yr. 10 mo.
old. He and Bulah planted all of our corn that year. 3/1999 |
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CULTIVATING
April our Percheron pulls the cultivator while Annie guides it
through the sweet corn, trying to just get the weeds.
5/1997
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| CORN PICKING TIME
Rocky and Bulah pull the wagon, Annie does the driving. Picking
corn at the Edisto Research Center in preparation for the Horse Farmers
Gathering. The bangboard in the wagon helps with some of those near
misses. 8/1998
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CORN BINDING
From the left: Bulah (filly), Yentz (gelding), Rocky (stallion),
pull the McCormick Deering corn binder. This was during the annual Horse
Farmers Gathering held in Blackville, SC. Two horses can pull this
machine but it makes it a much easier job for
three. 9/1999
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| GRAIN DRILLING
Percheron mares April (blue roan), and Sedata (bay roan),
drilling millet for summer grazing in a small paddock. Sedata was 19 in
this photo, she died in 1997 at the age of 20. April is 3 in this
picture of her working with her grandmother.
5/1996
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MOWING
Bulah and Rocky mow hay at the 3rd annual Horse Farmers
Gathering. The McCormick Deering #9 mower was originally used on a mule
farm where we now live. It was found where it had been sitting in
the woods for 35 years, restored, and put back to use cutting all of our
hay. Both horses are 2 yrs. old. 9/1998
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| RAKING
Bulah and Rocky pulling a John Deere side delivery hayrake. This
is coastal bermuda grass in a field near Barnwell.
8/1998
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TEDDING
Flipping the hay with an International hay tedder. Rocky and Bulah at 2
years old. 8/1998
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| LOADING
Another demonstration at the Gathering, where Bulah and Rocky
pull a McCormick Deering 9 bar hay loader. It picks up the raked hay and
drops it on the wagon for delivery to the
barn. 9/1999
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BALING
Rocky and Bulah using a forecart to pull the New Holland haybaler.
This was their first summer to use the baler, but after 1100 bales they
know how it works. 7/1999
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| MANURE SPREADING
It always helps to add a little fertilizer. On a cold January day you
can pull the spreader in the barn and by the time it is loaded you aren't
too cold anymore! We usually have a load each week during the winter to
spread on the fields. Annie uses Rocky and Bulah on the New Idea
10A. 1/2000
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