Pull Together and Look After Your Herd

An ox is any cattle over four years of age that has been trained to do work.  Oxen are adult male bulls that have been domesticated or tamed to do farm work. They were used to help with plowing, planting, cultivating and harvesting.  

Oxen are considered to be adults around the age of four years old and they can live up to 15 years of age. 

Any breed of cattle can be trained to become an ox.  Most often they are steers.  A steer is a castrated male cattle.  Oxen are castrated male bovines that have reached the age of sexual maturity.  This gives them the muscle development they need to be able to do heavy pulling.

Female cattle are called cows and cows are rarely trained to be an ox. Females can be trained to be oxen, but they are usually smaller than the males, and are more valued for producing milk and calves.

Oxen are large, strong-looking animals.  Ox trainers favour larger animals for their ability to do more tasks requiring great strength. Oxen are selected and trained based on size, brawn, and their ability to learn. Originally they were domesticated for use in logging and in building railroads.  

Before the arrival of machines, work that was too hard for a man to do was carried out with the help of these trained animals. Ox power was used by pioneer settlers because of their strength and affordability.  In rural areas, thrift was a way of life.  Oxen were cheap to feed.  They were able to graze most of the year and required a limited amount of grain.  When oxen were too old to be worked, they could be slaughtered for beef and sold or eaten.

The power of these docile animals could be harnessed by the use of the yoke.  A yoke was fashioned out of wood from the deciduous trees that were nearby using simple tools.  Most ox yokes were designed for two animals. Oxen are more easily trained to work in pairs than alone.  In Canada, it was estimated that there were four oxen for every ten farms in Quebec and New Brunswick and seven for every ten farms in Nova Scotia.  

Tens of millions of oxen are still used in Mexico, South and Central America, India, China and throughout Asia. Nearly everywhere that large numbers of people live, cattle or Water Buffalo are used as oxen. Today only a few thousand oxen are used in the USA.  

These are the sayings I found on the bookmark called Advice from an Ox.

• Take life by the horns

• Work hard

• Stand your ground

• Look after your herd

• Pull Together

• Don’t take no bull!

Here are my comments about each of these sayings.

• Take life by the horns - One definition I found for an ox was a strong animal with two horns. I guess that’s why this saying was on the bookmark.

• Work hard - Oxen are strong hardworking animals.  Definitely advice an older oxen would give to a new trainee.

• Stand your ground - Stand your ground is a metaphor.  Keep your position when you are being challenged or under pressure. 

• Look after your herd - Take care of your tribe.  If you have a group or team look after them. 

• Pull Together - I added this one to the list.  Just as the oxen are yoked together to do a task, we need to work together with our team to complete the tasks that need to be done.

• Don’t take no bull! - It’s okay to have boundaries and standards.  It’s okay to be honest and say no. 

Have you herd?  The largest ox on record weighed about 5,000 pounds!

Have a great day everyone.  Pull together and look after your herd.

# living life abundantly  # published author  # travelling tuesdays