High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Breitbart.com/AP

MCMINNVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. T.R. Raymond bought Dolly and Molly at the Dixon mule sale last year. Son Danny Raymond trained them and also modified the tractor rake so the mules could pull it.

T.R. Raymond says the mules are slower than a petroleum-powered tractor, but there are benefits.

"This fuel's so high, you can't afford it," he said. "We can feed these mules cheaper than we can buy fuel. That's the truth."

And Danny Raymond says he just likes using the mules around the farm.

"We've been using them quite a bit," he said.

Brother Robert Raymond added, "It's the way of the future."





Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90Q70M80&show_article=1

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The Amish are going to be the wave of future farming!

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Besides, they drop natural fertilizer as they work. nt

[China_cat]

2. Unuseable.

Fresh manure is too hot, it would burn off your crops. It has to be rotted 6 months to a year before it's fertilizer.

[Tempest]

3. Not really an issue for two reasons

First, the mules are only crapping where they've already harvested and secondly, the mules work the manure into the soil by stepping in it during the harvest.

[lonestarnot]

42. unless you're using a 12 mule team to pull the plow.

:evilgrin:

[kestrel91316]

5. Not so. Rotational grazing of pasture is THE BEST way to fertilize.

Let me guess - you grew up in the city, right??

[China_cat]

10. Wrong... I grew up on a farm.

And if you're going to use manure for crops to be planted immediately (and then harrowed in), fresh will burn the seed and keep it from coming up. It's too high in nitrogen.

[NickB79]

19. True if you're spreading barnful's of manure at once

Not so much with a mule team dropping a plop here and there.

How much manure could a pair of mules can put out over the course of the day, spread out across however many acres of field?

I too grew up on a farm. We'd usually spread the manure in early spring and again after harvest in the fall until the snow got too deep to get into the fields. 6-8 weeks was plenty of time for the manure to compost down to the point where it wouldn't hamper seed germination.

[China_cat]

23. We moved ours to a compost heap

along with what was mucked out of stalls and the barn (dirty straw bedding, cleanings from the chicken coop, etc) Loading up what had composted down into the spreader from the oldest piles. My stepfather and grandfather didn't think much of people who would risk their fields with fresh. Considering that the farm produced wheat, oats and corn (not to mention the almost 2 acre kitchen garden...and we didn't sell any produce) for over 100 years, I'll go with what I was taught.

[aquart]

6. Good to know.

[Winterblues]

4. "It's the way of the future."

LOL... Back to the Future..I grew up in the day when people used to yell "Get a Horse" to people in trucks. Looks like we may just return to those days..

[Johnyawl]

7. This happened during the '70s oil crises/price explosion...

...quit a number of small lot farmers went back to horses & mules to replace at least some of the tractor work.

Didn't last. For the same reason alternate forms of energy & conservation fell out of favor: As soon as it all started to have an impact, the oil companies dropped the prices, and the nation went back to what they were used to.

[Bo]

8. Peta will be there any minute now

...abuse of mules

[robinlynne]

17. You can, and should, work with animals without abusing them!

[China_cat]

24. It doesn't matter to peta that you don't abuse animals

'Making' them work at all is seen as abuse.

[robinlynne]

26. that's nonsense.

[China_cat]

27. No, it's their own words.

Owning animals and 'making' them work is 'keeping the animals in slavery'.

Newkirk herself answered a blind friend's inquiry about guide dogs by telling her that if she couldn't find some way to get around without exploiting an animal, then she should stay at home.

[robinlynne]

29. That's ridiculous. I was a peta member for 5 years. NEVER saw that written

on any peta literature or the website. We (meaning animal rights advocates in general) work, for example, to ensure that farm animals have cages large enough to stand up and lie down in, something most do NOT currently have. That is a far cry from saying there should not be farm animals. Farm animals should be treated with the same respect and dignity we (should) give to people.
I'm afraid that is an erroneous perception of peta, not really peta. I see a lot of that here. And I really think that what humans do to animals is so criminal that if it takes a lot fo screaming and shouting for people to become aware of it, so be it.

[China_cat]

32. From their own website

http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=133

Working Dogs
Relationships of mutual respect and benefit are truly wonderful between dogs and humans; however, working dogs are instead often used as a substitute for innovative non-animal programs that intelligently address human needs. Sometimes working dogs are used in situations that are considered too dangerous for human beings—and therefore too dangerous for animals. They may be treated cruelly in preparation for and during their lives of servitude. Some people love their working dogs, but others don’t, which means that working dogs cannot count on having a home where they will be treated well. Also, some working-dog training programs contribute to overpopulation by breeding their dogs (with the notable exception of programs for the deaf, which rescue dogs from shelters).

When working dogs become too old to work, they may be separated from their human companions and either “retired” to another family, returned to the training center, or even killed. Optimally, humans should be relied upon for support of the disabled rather than working dogs and other animals—it is too common for animals to be exploited and abused.

A bit softer than the letter sent to Terry but then they've dialed down a lot of their rhetoric.

[robinlynne]

37. note the words sometimes, often, may, "some people love their working animals, others don't".

Notice how she applauds dogs working with the deaf who are rescued from pounds, as opposed to breeding programs.
It does not say dogs shouldn't work.
It does say, working dogs should be rescued from shelters and trained rather than bred.
It does say, if it is too dangerous for a human bring (working with explosives, for example), it is too dangerous for a dog.
It does say working dogs should not be killed when they get old. Would you support the killing of human beings at retirement age?
Optimally means "in a perfect world". I do not agree with her on that last sentence, but I certainly agree with all the rest.
We are killing hundreds of thousands of dogs a year here in Los Angeles alone. Why breed more? There are great programs which train shelter dogs to take care of the blind, and people with MS and in wheel chairs. I believe anyone in pEta would, as I do, applaud these programs. i.e. The point is not that animals should not work. the point is that animals should be respected, cared for, and loved just as human animals should be.

[China_cat]

38. The only program that kills its dogs rather than retire them

is the US government. Military dogs.

Guide dogs, when retired, go to homes where they are cherished pets. The reason they don't stay when they become too old to guide is that they don't do well seeing another dog in 'their' harness. They have to be rehomed to prevent the inevitible aggression.

And, as I said before, this is NOT what Newkirk herself told Terry about her guide dog. The words were in no way ambiguous. Terry was told that she shouldn't be out in public if it meant using a dog.

btw, when you talk about the killing of dogs, for any reason other than serious illness or injury, you might want to consider this. (Please note the author)

http://www.pbreporter.com/peta.htm

[robinlynne]

39. My personal opinions are that seeing eye dogs are absolutely wonderful.

have never seen a blind person mistreat his/her seeing eye dog. They are generally loved. If one is mistreated, then the owner should lose the rights to have a dog, just like any other dog owner.

Pitbulls, in my opinion should not be bred at all. The animals themselves can be wonderful, just like any animal, but I don't think people should be allowed to have lions at home either.
Pitbulls are a human-created breed. I don't think they are really appropriate as pets. I do understand that it was the breeding that caused them to be so dangerous. I don't go around trying to change the laws about pitbulls or euthanize them, and I know some who are very sweet and gentle.
Anyway, let's agree to disagree.
I'm very glad Peta exists. I believe they save many animals' lives and others from suffering.

[LostinVA]

40. All breeds are a human created breed

You should read some of flvegan's stuff about pit bulls.

[Indenturedebtor]

30. If that's true, Newkirk is an idiot.

Social animals like working. Maybe she should get a dog. My dog's favorite thing in the world is to do what I tell him to do. He would absolutely KILL to lead me around town all day. I can't think of ANYTHING a dog would like more.

And horses like to be ridden and fed carrots and whatnot. They like to make their herd mates happy too ya know.

Now hitching a cat or a bear or something would be cruel, but again social animals like to work. Within reason of course :P

-------

To the OP, this is great :D

And this would help maybe to cut back on big agri?

[LostinVA]

41. My border collie loves working sheep

He can only do it about once a week, but he loves it so much, we can't say "sheep" or the trainer's name around him. He goes absolutely berserk. When he gets out of the car, his whole body is shaking, he's so excited. One day, I hope to be able to have land and sheep JUST for the dog. He's so intense that he even "works" at the dog park. I don't think there's anything cruel about most jobs dogs are used for.

His trainer has about 10 border collies, and a few Kuvasks as guard dogs. They're all very loved and happy dogs.

[Solon]

21. Abusing the mules would lead to lower productivity...

work them too hard, and they will die, stress them too much, and they won't eat or work, and try as humans might, its actually quite hard, except in extraordinary circumstances, to force an animal to work, and its usually quite expensive as well.

[DogPoundPup]

9. I'm passing a lot of farmland this spring that hasn't been plowed

for planting yet. I guess it's not going to happen and the food shortage will get much, much worse.

[China_cat]

11. Some fields need to be left fallow for a season or 2

to keep it bearing. Most farms will plant one third, rotate a crop on a third and leave a third fallow. Keeps from depleting the soil.

[Xenotime]

43. Some farmers are actually paid NOT to grow

[Born Free]

12. Big Deal?

The Amish in our area have been using horses for as long as I can remember, and their houses are not powered by electricity either. As for manure, when we were working the dairy, they took out manure and spread it every single day the weather allowed it. However, I do admit that here in Pennsylvania Dutch Country things may be a bit different than the places with the corporate owned farms.

[HEyHEY]

14. I see the problem being growing the food to feed these things

[Indenturedebtor]

31. Not a problem at all. Hay is essentially a weed.

And mules aren't clydesdales or anything. It would certainly have less impact than a tractor!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

18. I watched "Crude Awakening" the other day...

and Amish Country was featured. It all looked so peaceful and wholesome and very much near where my mother lives in southern PA. I'm not sure if I'm going to sound like a crazy person or as a person with a firm grasp of reality, but I can honestly see moving back with her, and riding my bike to the various Amish/Mennonite farms for whatever we need. Dairy, beef, corn, peaches, watermelons... become true locavores. Grow what veggies and fruits we can in our yard. It sounds oddly appealing. Get some sort of a commune thing going with the good 'ol boys around town who can keep the elderly McMcansion neighbors supplied with hooch. Weed need rivers for fishing -- how's the Susquehanna holding up?

[Born Free]

22. how's the Susquehanna holding up?

It's sad, they warn against eating too many of certain types of fish from the Susquehanna, apparently it has problems.

[HEyHEY]

13. Wow, so, whether its oil or mules, we'll be getting our energy from jackasses

[Barrett808]

15. See, the Cornucopians are right -- substitution is happening!

We're substituting ourselves back to the 19th century.

[cambie]

16. This vehicle of the future could be called a bush-buggy.

[Ptah]

20. .

[Gman]

25. "It's the way of the future"

He said it all.

[NashVegas]

28. I Bet It's a Lot Easier on Their Ears, Too

[NuttyFluffers]

33. i don't see how changing shoes will change anything.

oh wait... :think:

[blindpig]

34. Been going on in Cuba for a while now.

Since the 'Special Period' and extreme oil shortages Cuban farmers have made the obvious choice. Saw both mules and oxen being used to plow and pull carts when I was there. No gas bill and dung to substituite for petroleum based fertilizers. Makes sense to me.

I'm looking around to figure where I could pasture the riding mule that's in my future even now.

[woo me with science]

35. They should start doing this in LA. nt

[ckramer]

36. Everyone forgets - bring back the bicycle! n/t

[many a good man]

44. Farmers won't be the only ones!