Becky Frye milks the Randall Lineback Cow, Daisy. Randall Lineback's can be used as oxen, although typically this is the males. Becky sells the milk and also makes cheese. This task is unrelated to Becky's work as an herb farmer with draft power, but all the skills on the farm connect to create a living. She runs her farm on the Northland Sheep Farm, and contributes labor in exchange for land and skills training.

Tony is dear to his owner so, unusually his cattle ear tag has his name, versus a basic stock number required by the government. To work safely with a draft animal requires hundreds of hours of training and bonding with a massive animal, requiring serious presence and intentionality. This is one of the main reason so many people like this way of life. This is also what makes Toni, a massive beef breed, safe to work with. That and early castration.

A young woman stands with her weanling ox, which she bought newborn and bottle fed to create the bond necessary for working with such a massive animal. Oxen are usually male dairy calves who have no use in the industry. Teamster's typically train oxen up this way as the animals must learn to listen the human young as there are no lead, lines, or bits (as with horses) only the yoke, whip and voice commands.

At Draft Power Days community members of DAPNET, the Draft Animal Power Network whose membership spans North America and Canada, come together to teach and learn draft animal skills at all levels. This is essential to staying safe and working their land. Volunteer teachers bring their animals and teach attendees. It is also a great opportunity for community members to catch up for a weekend every year.

Professional horse loggers train would be horse loggers at the Draft Animal Power Days in Montgomery NY, September 2024 on selecting, felling, hitching, dragging and even using a sawmill. This is essential in an industry where a rolling log or skittish animal can break legs, and a falling tree or chainsaw can kill.

Michael Glos, who owns Kingbird Farm in New York with his wife Karma Glos, brings one of his Cultivators to Donn Hewes Northland Sheep Farm for the Cultivator Repair Workshop. Cultivators are one of many tools used in horse powered farming to work the land, primarily used for weeding, but are verstile and can be turned to other tasks. Community is essential to learning skills in the modern draft movement. Unlike religious draft people, most who join the modern draft movement are not born into draft animal skills and to understand the animals and operate safely they must train up with experts in the modern draft community.

Becky Frye, Julia Ramsey, Maggie Smith, Michael Glos and Donn Hewes examine each Cultuvator brought to Northland Sheep Farm for the workshop. The cultivators have often been left in fields for decades and have to be taken apart and rebuilt, sometimes with Amish parts. The knowledge requires community support and collaboration. Maggie Smith previously interned with Donn, while Julia and Becky are currently working on his farm, learning skills as they grow their businesses. The generosity in the draft animal community with time, tools, and expertise is extraordinary. Not only are the teamsters committed to the animal husbandry, but they are also committed to sharing skills with those around them.

Becky Frye and Maggie Smith salvage parts from a cultivator with bent wheels to repair their own machinery. Both will use them on their farms with their draft horses. Although around a hundred years old the machinery is extremely well build, a fraction of what a tractor would cost, and with, repair hold up well with minimal care and cost. And they require no fossil fuels, just a well trained horse.

Becky Frye, owner of Horsetail Herb Farm, pulls apart pieces held together by decades of rust. Horse drawn cultivators largely went out of use in farming with the advent of the modern tractors. But they have been coming back into use since the 1980's because of the lower cost, less damage to the land and better way of life. But nothing about this way of life is easy, everything requires hard work and patience. But for those who stick at it, thats a part of why they like it.

Donn Hewers, owner of Northland Sheep Farm, and Maggie Smith use an angle grinder to remove rusted segments of her cultivator. Maggie worked on Donn's farm for a few years until she was confident enough to go it on her own. She is now a part of a community farm 45 minutes away where she uses her draft horses to raise, among other things, grains for a bakery which is entirely sources, milled and created locally.



Becky Frye, owner of Horsetail Herb Farm, is one of Donn's current apprentices. She runs her business Horsetail Herb Farm on the land and contributes to running Northland Sheep Farm while building her skills. Similiar to conventional farming, but perhaps more so, draft farming can be dangerous without mentorship and training so an apprenticeship is the best way to go.

The learning curve for working with draft animals is steep and can be dangerous without teachers like Erika Marczak, Zosha's owner, and Ted Russell. They are two of the volunteer educators at Draft Power Days, in Montgomery NY, who help Everett, one of the youngest students.

Under Ted Russell guidance, young Everett and Zosha navigate the complex obstacle course which shows that the horse and teamster are working in sync and able to safely navigate stops, turns, backing up, and other necessities around the farm. Everett is a great student in his first few days as a teamster, and is committed to the path.

Dana learns to work with draft animals at Anam Cara Farm, in Maine, in spite of having no prior experience with farm animals. Unlike industrial agriculture, a significant percentage of modern draft practitioners are women, who are stepping into leadership roles. Gender could seem like a disadvantage, but draft work is largely about patience and hard work, not braun, in spite of the size of the animals.

Dana out on the road working with Shire Tommy in her harness driving skills class. Sadly, Tommy passed away soon after although he was not old. Some draft animals are used hard by teamsters who have the old mindset that draft animals are just another kind of tractor. Tommy was brought to Anam Cara Farm to recover and become a teaching animal, like all the horses on the farm.

Donn Hewes watches to see if Ladybird can settle in with his herd of Suffolk Punches. Boss mare, Duchess, rearing up in the center, does not take kindly to an outside mare coming in and tries to run her off. The other horses, two include two of her fillies which Donn bred to train and sell, follow Duchess's lead. Ladybird a dappled Percheron is a sweetheart, but must defend herself against the bites and kicks.

Donn Hewes brings Ladybird down from the field at Northland Sheep Farm, where she is being kept (safely away from his herd of Suffolks who don't welcome the outsider) to breed with Red, his Suffolk Stallion. Maggie will likely pay Donn a stud fee or trade for the value as they are friends.

Ladybird and Red are hand bred, meaning the people oversee it, for more safety and control. Red is Donn’s shire Stallion, who he breeds with his own mares and other mares as a part of the many businesses it takes to make a living on a small farm.