Horsepower at the Farm
It has been years coming and there have been some bumps along the road, but horses have finally arrived at Fair Fields. Devan has wanted to work with horses since he did an internship at Orchard Hill Farm, near Sparta Ontario, about 20 years ago. Horses help reduce fossil fuel use on farms, provide a fertility source through their manure and are a joy to work with. Before having horses at the farm, we wanted to build some housing for them, start our main business and start to get equipement. It took time…
About 5 years ago, we had our first opportunity to bring draft power onto the farm. Our neighbour Don had a team of young haflingers (smaller draft horses) and he offered to let us drive a manure spreader with them, spreading composted manure in our strawberry ground for the following year. It was going great till we neared the end of the task. Stopping to fill up the spreader with another load, the team spooked and charged off down the lane. They had many choices of where to go, but decided to charge straight at our car. The horses were fine, if a little shock up, the car was totalled. Nicole saw the whole event from the kitchen window, our daughter Fiona was born the next day… Not the auspicious beginning we were hoping for!
After a few more years gathering equipment, finishing off the barn (mostly) and regaining our confidence we feel ready to try again. Our neighbour, Don, sold his farm last year and generously gave us his team of Clydesdale mares, Alberta (Bert for short) and Bonnie. Bert is the boss and fairly steady. Bonnie is full of energy and curiousity. They are middle aged, fairly calm and steady, and have already worked on Amish and Mennonite farms in the area. We have had them since mid-summer and have been finishing off their stable, getting pastures into shape and getting them used to us and the farm. During a brief snowy and wintery spell recently (there haven’t been many this winter) we got out with them and drove a sleigh around the field with the family. It was a beautiful afternoon and everyone was excited and relieved to be out there and have them working, even the horses.
Over this year we will slowly get used to working with them at a variety of tasks, from ploughing and cultivating, to cutting hay and weeding in between our crops. We are happy to be slowly moving away from tractors and generating more of our own manure compost. Eventually we hope to offer wagon and sleigh rides, use them for logging in our woodlot and maybe even breed Bert, to have a foal to raise up to be part of the team.
We’ll keep you posted on how it all goes…
