Rural Heritage December 2025/January 2026

HEALING AN ABSCESS•LOSING A FOAL•US PLOWING CONTEST•STARTING AN OXEN TEAM

Dec 2025/Jan 2026

HORSE PROGRESS DAYS 2025 FORECARTS & POWERCARTS

BORROWING FROM YESTERDAY TO DO THE WORK OF TODAY SINCE 1976.

Unwrap the

holiday

at Lehman’s

years of selling history

Bring a little Holiday Magic to your gift list with treasures from Lehman’s! From practical essentials to delightful surprises, you’ll find something special for everyone. Visit us and make your holiday shopping truly joyful!

Let’s Be Social

@lehmanshardware

Shop anytime at LEHMANS.COM

On the Square in Kidron, OH • 800.438.5346 • Open every day except Sunday

VOLUME 50

DECEMBER 2025/JANUARY 2026

NUMBER 6

Editor/Publisher Joe Mischka editor@ruralheritage.com Advertising ad@ruralheritage.com Editing Susan Blocker Subscriber Services subscribe@ruralheritage.com Regular Contributors

Departments

5 Publisher's Post 48 J.C. Allen Archives 82 Calendar of Events 85 Associations

90 My Card 95 Breeder's Directory 97 RH on RFD-TV

Rob Collins Ralph J. Rice Anne & Eric Nordell Donn Hewes Jerry Hicks Dick Courteau

Features 6 Developing Scotty Spring.................................... Jennifer Morrissey 14 Treating Duke.............................................................. Donn Hewes 12 Sodbusters Day. ............................................................. Joe Mischka 22 Christmas Gifts.............................................................. Jerry Hicks 26 HPD 2025 Powercarts and Forecarts....................... Rural Heritage 38 What Can Horses Do? ............................................. Dick Courteau 50 The Pocketknife: Use & Care..................................... Dick Courteau 52 Starting Joe & Mack...................................................... Mary Osmer 59 Draft Cattle Symposium................................................. Rob Collins 60 And He Died Anyway................................................... Ralph J. RIce 64 2025 U.S. Plowing Contest........................................ Rural Heritage 70 2025 ABA Rendezvous.................................................. Joe Mischka 72 2025 Suffolk Gathering.................................................. Joe Mischka 74 Tracy Allen — Ox Puller..................................... Anna Knapp-Peck 80 Cedar Creek Plow Day.................................................. Joe Mischka

RURAL HERITAGE ™ (ISSN 0889-2970) is published bimonthly. Periodical postage is paid at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and additional mailing offices. ©2025 Mischka Press. All rights reserved; reproduction of any material in this publication without written permission is prohibited. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $34.95 for one year in the USA and possessions; US$58.00 for one year in Canada, US$83.00 overseas. POSTMASTER send PS Form 3579 to: RURAL HERITAGE PO Box 2067 Cedar Rapids IA 52406-2067 CONTRIBUTORS: We welcome manuscripts, photographs, and drawings for possible publication. Email submissions are preferred. Guidelines are available on our website. Rural Heritage 3421 Mount Vernon Road Cedar Rapids IA 52403-3736 (319) 362-3027 www.ruralheritage.com

3 Cover Photo: Andrew Nidy drives his team of Suffolk horses at the 2025 NASHA Gathering Above: Andrew plows with three of his Suffolks at the same event.

December 2025/January 2026

The next issue will be the Feb/Mar 2026 edition which goes to press early January. Contributor and Advertiser Deaadlines for the next issue are December 20, 2025. Your Subscription We want you to enjoy uninterrupted service to your favorite magazine, Rural Heritage . If you have any questions you may contact us by: email:subscribe@ruralheritage.com; Cedar Rapids IA 52406 Remember, magazines are not automatically forwarded after an address change. The US Postal Service not only destroys your magazine but charges us for the notification. An issue lost because of failure to report an address change will not be replaced for free. We publish 6 issues per year: Jan 15 (Feb/Mar) Mar 15 (Apr/May) May 15 (Jun/Jul) Jul 15 (Aug/Sep) Sep 15 (Oct/Nov) Nov 15 (Dec/Jan) The US Postal System takes as long as 18 days to deliver to some areas, so please be patient. To Canada can take as long as 4 weeks and to overseas as long as 6 weeks. The expiration date above your name on your mailing label represents the abbreviated month and last two digits of the year: JAN26, for example, represents January 2024. If you renew within 25 days of the next issue date (July 5 for the Aug/Sep issue, for instance) you will get the next issue in the mail. If you miss that deadline you will need pay extra postage to get the missed issue. phone: (319) 362-3027 or mail: Rural Heritage PO Box 2067

Rural Heritage

4

Publisher's Post T here is a lot to talk about this issue. To begin with, we are thrilled to welcome back to our magazine a couple of writers who have been absent for a while. Jenifer Morrissey began writing for us in 2009 and has taken a year-long hiatus. We are so pleased she is back writing for us again. In this issue, she tells the story of one rancher's work to bring water to his part of the world. In the next issue, we'll have a story about seeds: Seeds planted in the hearts and minds of young people, and the amazing variations among seeds due to their environment. Needless to say, they are great stories. We have to go back a little farther to find the last story written for us by Anna Knapp-Peck. Her last contribution was in 2015. In this issue, she launches a new series about oxen teamsters and how they train and use their animals. We expect it to be a fascinating collection of articles. Speaking of oxen articles, we have a great one in this issue written by Mary Osmer, a senior at the University of New Hampshire, where she selected and began training a team of steers as a final project before graduation. In her article, she covers how to choose, care for and train a young team of cattle. We are delighted she plans to send more stories our way about using oxen. • • • • I f you haven't purchased your Rural Heritage Draft Animal Wall Calendar yet, there is still time. You can find them on our bookstore page (page 83) and in our advertisement on the back cover. As I explained in last month's column, we've decided to combine our three wall calendars (draft horses, mule and donkey) into one — and throw in oxen for good measure. We've been very pleased with the feedback we've received. Most people appreciate the diversity of animals on the calendar. • • • • I n his column about all things MODA (Midwest Ox Drovers Association) and TIllers International, Rob Collins lets us know that Tiller's International has hired a new Executive Director. I ran out of room to put her picture in Rob's column, so I am putting it here. Megan Yankee was hired last summer and has hit the

Megan Yankee

ground running, Rob says. Tillers has always been a leader in bringing resources to farmers in developing countries as well as offering classes to teach heritage skills and crafts such as blacksmithing, woodworking, working with draft animals and much more. We look forward to seeing Megan's impact at this important organization. • • • • I spent a lot of late September and most of October on the road, visiting the ABA Rendezvous in Wisconsin, setting up and manning a booth at the Waverly Midwest Horse Sale, then to Tennessee for the Cedar Creek Plow Day, Wisconsin again for the Suffolk Gathering and Northern Minnesota to spend time with Tim and Doreen Carroll at their Carriage Service Operation in Duluth. I finished the month heading to Steve Haste's Open House in Liberty, Ky., and the US Plowing match in Olympia, Ky. I have a trip coming up soon to Ralph and Connie Rice in northeast Ohio, where Ralph has made a lot of improvements to his farm setup. Some of these stories are in this issue. Watch for shows on RFD-TV featuring most of them. — jm

December 2025/January 2026

5

by Jenifer Morrissey S cotty Springs Ranch, in a normal year, receives 17 inches of moisture. Other than cattle, dryland hay is the only crop. Drought has been a common occurrence, making water a crucial and scarce resource. There is no surface water, so all over the Developing Scotty Spring The development of Scotty Spring has made this ranch. - Bruce Murdock

An early water pump on Scotty Springs Ranch is evidence of the ongoing development of the available water resources. Precipitation and surface water are scarce, and drought is common. The historic use of this pump is unknown.

Rural Heritage

6

ranch there is evidence of the efforts undertaken over the years to water stock. Bruce and his late wife Linda purchased the ranch in 1975. They asked the previous owners what one thing they would do to improve the ranch. The answer was, “Bring Scotty Spring water to the house.” At that time, it was an arduous trip each

direction to fill jugs at the springs and bring them back home. The springs watered more wildlife than anything else. The goal of bringing Scotty Spring water to the house never left Bruce’s mind, but it took nearly 20 years before he could start to see how it might be done, and then it took another 20 years to achieve the goal.

A US Geological Survey map annotated with ownership of ranches (in blue) in the vicinity of Scotty Springs Ranch circa 1975. Two canyons dominate the area: Hell on the right and Chilson on the left. Flat topped divides between canyons provide grazing. The Scotty Springs ranch house is upper center in Chilson Canyon. The springs are the blue dots far right in Hell Canyon. The yellow line indicates the rough and, in places, steep trail from the ranch house to the springs. The brown dotted line indicates the approximate location of the modern pipeline. The tan lines indicate elevations; the closer they are, the steeper the terrain. Elevations of key parts of this story are shown.

December 2025/January 2026

7

Bruce Murdock looking toward the head of Hell Canyon from a flat-topped divide. His pipeline comes from out of sight around upper right and continues mid-left to go over the breakdown into adjacent Chilson Canyon.

Scotty Springs Ranch is located in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota. A 1971 US Geologic Survey bulletin describes the area where Scotty Springs Ranch is located as being “in the lower, more arid part of the Black Hills characterized by intermittent streams occupying narrow canyons separated by flat-topped divides. Sparse growths of pine trees are concentrated in locally favorable environments such as rocky slopes and north-facing canyon walls…. Local relief is as much as 600 feet in some canyons.” Scotty Springs Ranch is dominated by two canyons: Chilson and Hell. The main part of the ranch is in the bottom of the upper reaches of Chilson Canyon at about 4,050 feet in elevation. Seasonal grazing on the flat-topped divides between Chilson and Hell

Canyon is at 4,600 feet or higher. The two Scotty Springs for which the ranch is named are in the upper reaches of Hell Canyon, at elevations of roughly 4,450 feet. Some of the ranch’s grazing is on higher plateaus to the north of these canyons, including The Terraces, an area named for berming that was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps. As shown on the map, the distance to the springs from the house and the elevation of the springs below the flat-topped divides made it infeasible for previous owners to bring spring water to the house in anything but a jug. To fully understand the accomplishment of bringing spring water to the house, it’s helpful to understand how stock and the house were watered 50 years ago. Bruce says, “When we first got here, to water stock we had pumpjacks on wells with Briggs & Stratton gas

Rural Heritage

8

motors on them. If cattle were in a pasture, including winter, you had to go and start the pump to fill stock tanks.” Stock and wildlife in upper Hell Canyon made use of both Scotty Springs. Other places where there weren’t wells with pumps made use of dams and natural ponds and seeps. The dams seasonally held water but only in years with good precipitation. Seeps dried up by July. Bruce says, “Dams quit being a reliable option around 2002. Drought years from 2001-2010 meant there wasn’t much water in any of them. Even the wells started drying up because the water table dropped from drought. When the dams and seeps and ponds dried up, before we got it fenced, everybody’s cattle came in from all over to the Springs. “When we came, there was a pipe that came out of East Scotty Spring then into a tank then the overflow from that tank went into a pipe that went downhill to another tank, all on top of the ground. We used it that way from 1975 until about 1990. In the summer, cattle in Hell Canyon would come into these spring tanks to water. “I put in a pipeline from our log house to a nearby well in 1978 and also hooked up the line to the corrals to it.The well had an electric pumpjack so it was easier to start. Then we put a submersible pump in there. Before that, the house and corral were serviced by the well house, and that well went dry; plus it was heavy in Epsom salts. So, we had to do the pipeline up to the well because the well went dry and the water was better. Electric service was at that well when we got here. It was nice to be able to go up there and turn a switch rather than start a darn pump. “Even after that first pipeline to the well, we were still using Briggs & Stratton gas-powered pumps because the pipeline wasn’t to the stock waterers. Eventually, I ran the pipeline all the way to and under the highway to the Gadiant pasture that we leased and then purchased. But if cattle were in pastures with no pipeline, we had a big tank and a pumpjack and motor and we chopped ice in winter. “When we got the pipelines from the well in, to stop having (frozen) tanks to chop, we put in waterers with electric heaters in them where we had power. They were a step up, but the electric bill was pretty tough. Then we started putting in Mirafounts that used ground heat to keep the waterers ice-free. They have an insulated tube 5 feet down – corrugated culvert. The top had a little 4-inch hole for the pipe.

Heat came up from the ground to keep the waterer from freezing. We had to kick the float to break ice or pour hot water in them. We had them freeze solid if they weren’t being used. Now I’m putting in Cobetts to replace the Mirafounts. They don’t freeze up as bad. They also have a deep tube into the ground, but it goes down 10 or 11 feet, so that ground heat keeps the water from freezing solid as long as there’s stock drinking daily.” At this early point of the Murdocks owning the ranch, they were relying on dams and seeps and electric or gas-powered pumps on wells for stock watering. The spring water was being shared with neighboring ranchers’ cattle. Bruce wanted that water for his stock, and several key junctures helped turn that desire into reality. The first was when Bruce and Linda’s former neighbor in Colorado bought the Marty ranch adjoining Scotty Springs ranch. Ellen Trevarton became a collaborator until the end of her life in both livestock and land. An early project together was adding the adjoining Miller ranch to their collective holdings in 1979. There isn't much to see at East Scotty Spring because it has been completely enclosed to preserve the water's high quality. The spring is at the base of the corner of the rock walls shown here.

December 2025/January 2026

9

Drought conditions have made historic stock watering strategies on Scotty Springs Ranch such as dams, seeps, and natural ponds unviable, leading to the development of the Scotty Spring resource.

Cisterns have been a key part of water development on Scotty Springs Ranch. This one has been placed and is awaiting being backfilled.

Rural Heritage

10

The Miller ranch included access to the breakdown, a low passage at 4,350 feet elevation from Hell Canyon to Chilson Canyon. After all the years of dealing with electric and gas-powered pumps, Bruce saw the opportunity to gravity flow water from east Scotty Spring (4,450 feet) to the breakdown to the Miller ranch and through Ellen’s to his corrals, pastures and home (4,050 feet). Another juncture was learning the role cisterns could play in the water system. Bruce says, “In 1978 when I put the pipeline into the well, we had the old barn and corrals and the house on a pressure system. The pressure tank was at the well. I soon learned I didn’t want to wear out the pump with the turning on-and-off, on-and-off that the pressure tank switch was doing. So, I identified a high spot above my house and put in my first cistern. Then I put the well on a timer so that it would fill the cistern and then turn off. I put in an overflow on the cistern so that any excess water could be used to water trees around the house; their shade has been a huge asset in the summers ever since.” The next juncture was learning about SDR pipe. When he pondered laying the pipe he had been using in pipelines around the ranch over in Hell Canyon, he thought, “this is going to be a sprinkling system; it’s going to be a huge joke. The ground was so rocky that it just eats up pipe. We would never have been able to do the pipeline without SDR pipe because it is so tough. When I heard it had been used in Desert Storm in the Middle East and tanks were rolling over it without damaging it, I thought we might have a chance. The white pipe we’d been using was so sorry; that’s why I call it eggshell. Even when you use thicker white pipe, it’s still glued together and, when things settle, the joints pull apart. You don’t have that problem with SDR pipe which is butt-welded/melted together.” Another juncture was learning the quality of the water at East Scotty Spring. A US Geological Survey project had tested the quality of water sources in the Black Hills. It was several years before Bruce heard the results of the project. It turned out that East Scotty Spring water had the highest quality of all the water sources tested. Learning that provided even more impetus to bring the water to the houses. The first pipeline was shallowly buried so could only deliver water during the warmer months. Bruce

says, “It was only in the summer time because we’d only ripped it in 18 inches to 24 inches. So, it would freeze in late December, and we’d have to go back on wells with water that wasn’t quite as good until the pipeline thawed out in March or April when it warmed up enough. When we first started thinking of burying it 5 feet, I had two different pipeline contractors look at it and they both said ‘no way!’ “In 2001, I realized the pipeline was better off either buried 5 feet or staying on top of the ground. We had a massive forest fire that year, and a big dozer, a D10 that was the National Guard’s, came in to fight fire. It made a sprinkling system out of my pipeline, even though it was SDR. It was so close to the surface and against rocks, and the cat was so heavy, it just pushed it down and punctured it. I was fixing leaks then because it just wasn’t deep enough. We’d find a leak and say, ‘Eureka here’s the leak.’ We’d fix it then there’d be another leak. Obviously, we needed A trackhoe, with its stability on steep slopes and ability to remove rock, was a key piece of equipment for completing construction of the Scotty Spring pipeline. SDR pipe, laying at right awaiting burial, was another key.

December 2025/January 2026

11

In order to bury the pipeline 5' deep to provide water year-round to the houses and stock, Bruce needed to move rocks that approached the size of a small car. Bruce is on the pipeline road in the background.

“About the last year we bought a track hoe and trenched in the roughest part from the spring to the divide/breakdown; I dug it 5 feet deep. I worked on that the entire month of October. I didn’t do anything besides that. Ride the track hoe the entire day until too dark, then jump on 4-wheeler and come home. That last leg was pulling rocks out, some as big as a Volkswagen, and rolling them down the hill, huge rocks. When Linda asked about what I would do for the day, my answer was ‘I‘m going to work on my legacy.’ She was worried about me, so she admitted she went and peaked at me a few times to make sure the track hoe was still moving. I wanted to be finished before November 1 before it froze up because it got really slick with the track hoe on the side hills. That took the entire month of October to bury a mile 5 feet deep. That was in 2016. “So, then we had fresh spring water year-round to Ellen’s and our new house that we built in 2011. Then I piped to my mom’s house in 2018 and to our old log

to bury the pipeline deeper. That’s when we bought equipment to wear out.” The equipment was the final juncture enabling construction of the pipeline that has made a huge difference on the ranch. Bruce continues, “I bought a trencher and starting in the bottom, closest to the houses, I put pipe in 5 feet deep that first year, a mile probably. That initial pipeline proved the overall concept. So, we worked on it every year a little stretch at a time because it was tough digging, not full time, over the course of 10 years. The last few years of the 10 we trenched it in to a cistern part way up Marty hill on the Gadiant place. It was for winter time capacity: it would go through the winter without freezing because it was buried. When the houses and cattle weren’t using all the spring water, then it was captured in the cistern. Then we added a summertime cistern 4,400 feet high on top of Marty hill but still below the Spring so still gravity fed. That cistern fed a line on top of the ground to the north to the Terraces.

Rural Heritage

12

vision of piping Scotty Spring water to the ranch house, persistent drought has required ongoing water development. In 2020, Bruce realized that a high point on the Gadiant was still lower than the spring. He and his crew installed a cistern there. They also buried the pipeline to that cistern. These additions enabled multiple enhancements to the system. There is now more storage capacity for spring water to supply the houses year-round when cattle also are on the system. The changes also enabled the last of the houses on the ranch to have gravity flow water from the spring. In addition, there is now year-round gravity flow water for the pastures to the north and west of Chilson Canyon if needed. With the capability of solar pumps today, it is fascinating to ponder how West Scotty Spring, at its lower elevation, might someday be integrated into the pipeline system. Bruce is always watching how his cattle utilize the available grazing on the ranch. Where other ranchers might use fencing to encourage cattle to change their grazing habits, Bruce adds waterers to spread the grazing out better across the landscape. Bruce says, “Ultimately this is a love story about water, wildlife and cattle. I love seeing turkeys and elk and deer and other wildlife utilize the water we’ve made available for our cattle.” 1 Bell, Henry, III, and Edwin V. Post. Geology of the Flint Hill Quadrangle, Fall River County, South Dakota, Geology and Uranium Deposits of the Southern Black Hills, Geological Survey Bulletin 1063-M. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1971, p. 506-7. Jenifer Morrissey writes from Scotty Springs Ranch where she admires the dedication that brought Scotty Spring water to the homes and livestock.

house in 2019. At our new house we have 140 pounds of pressure in the basement. There’s a reducer at our old log house so it wouldn’t pop the pipes there. There’s so much capacity in the pipeline from the spring that the houses rarely run off a cistern, just water in the pipeline, unless there’s lots of cattle on the system. I used to run a rainbird on the lawn just off water in the pipeline. It would eventually run out, then during the night it would start again. It’s surprising how many cattle the spring will water, the spring plus the cisterns.” Today the East Scotty Spring pipeline covers 9.1 miles. It serves five houses, 25 waterers, and seven hydrants. Since Bruce achieved the previous owner’s Bruce demonstrates the water pressure in the spring pipeline that results from 400 feet of fall.

Elk and other wildlife make use of the extensive water system on Scotty Springs Ranch that also serves cattle and people.

December 2025/January 2026

13

Treating Duke

to harnessing and driving with a bridle and bit, he got a bad injury. My wife saw him get cornered and kicked by another horse. HARD. Since we weren’t able to continue training him for a couple months, I thought I would write a little about his injury and how it was treated. First, let me say I am surprised we haven’t all seen these injuries more than we have given the number of horses we have all seen kicked. I recently heard of another young horse (6-month-old filly) with almost the exact same injury. I think perhaps the older horses are a little more self-protective and also maybe a little tougher under the skin. Duke got kicked on the left side of his chest, just above the left leg and just below his neck, near the

by Donn Hewes

Editor's Note: In the last issue of Rural Heritage , Donn Hewes began documenting his training program to teach a coming 2-year-old Suffolk gelding to drive. The plan was to update readers each issue on the horse-training progress. Unfortunately, that plan has been temporarily paused while Donn and Duke take care of other business. W e were making great strides in training Duke, an 18-month-old gelding and having a lot of fun working with him. Just as we started to make the transition

About three days after he was kicked and it is getting hard and warm.

Checking Duke’s temperature was part of our daily routine

Rural Heritage

14

A handy liquid antibiotic that is easy to give.

point of the shoulder. He was a little sore and slow to lead for a day or two but was never lame. At first, I didn't think much of it. About the third day it started to swell and was quickly quite a bit bigger than a soft ball under the skin. I eventually had a veterinarian look at this injury twice. The first time was less than a week after it started. I would have waited a little longer, but the vet was already coming to look at another horse for a pregnancy check, and I never try to waste a vet visit. At this point, the skin had not broken, but it was a little warm to the touch and getting tight and firm. He was also running a fever of 103 degrees F. Here is one of the first things I learned while treating this. Our vet told us that a horse will increase in body temperature from a pain response alone and it does not automatically mean the injury is already infected. The vet looked with an ultrasound and found that the large mass was fluid filled. As it was less than seven days since injury, our vet concluded It was pretty ugly for a couple weeks. It looked like he was hit with a cannon ball.

Running the hose straight into the wound was great. Kept it cool and clean.

December 2025/January 2026

15

After the hose we sprayed it well with weak iodine.

this was likely a hematoma, not an abscess yet. We treated his pain with Banamine for a few days, as well as cold hosed the injury for cryotherapy. We also watched his temp closely. It came down over a couple of days and stayed at or near normal (99 to 101 F) after that. One of the difficulties I found in treating this is the basic question of do you drain it, and how, and when? Initially the basic premise of the treatment is don’t touch it, especially if it's not an abscess yet, because if you open it with a needle or a blade, you introduce bacteria. The blood in a hematoma will usually reabsorb; monitor the horse's temp closely and any other changes. A horse's general demeanor and energy can also be good indicators if the situation is stable, getting worse, or better, and should be noted every chance we get. Of course, because of the location of this injury, this gelding was eventually going to rub it on something and get the wound open, and that is what he did. Once the wound opened, the strategy changed to

Silver Honey spray: I don’t know if it made a difference, but it didn’t hurt.

Rural Heritage

16

keeping it clean and letting it heal from the inside out. The opening the horse made was not nearly big enough to let it drain or for us to keep it clean. I had the vet help me make an incision that was over an inch long and, by the next day, it had opened further on its own to a circular hole about 3 inches across, and it appeared just as deep! It was a gaping and ugly hole in the chest. Now that it was open, it was up to us to take care of it. And we were just about at the height of fly season. Our vet prescribed antibiotics, and that continued for more than three weeks. We had a routine that we used twice a day. One thing that surprised me was how well he would tolerate the direct contact of water from a hose right on the open wound. We did not use any pressure, no thumb over the end or any nozzle

for example, but we could run the hose right into the cavity for five minutes while the horse grazed on a lead rope. After this flush, we would soak the whole site with weak (the color of tea) iodine solution. Applied from a pump spray bottle. I used half a bottle at time, soaking it well and getting all the way inside. Again, on the advice of our vet, after we dried around the outside of the wound, we sprayed a couple pumps of “silver honey,” which is a topical spray made of Manuka honey, micronized silver, shea butter, calendula flower extract, neem oil, vitamin E and B5, among other helpful skin promotants. This was just a little added insurance for fast healing. After experimenting with several ways to cover the wound enough to keep flies away from it, we settled on a highly modified XL tee shirt that he

Duke’s Tee shirts didn’t always look this good, but they did the trick of keeping flies off.

December 2025/January 2026

17

wore around his neck. A hair tie kept at the base of his mane kept it in place, but he could tear it off if he needed to. This actually worked surprising well, and I got rid of a lifetime of old tee shirts. We also continued to check his temp twice a day while the open wound existed, but he never ran over 101 degrees F again and mostly stayed in the normal range. At first it seemed like it would never heal, but after a couple weeks the swelling started going down, and after about three weeks the hole started to close. Finally, about six weeks after he was kicked, it was closed and healed. Now, we can get back training him! More on that in the next issue. I would like to thank Alex Schaff and all the vets at Mid State Veterinary Services in Cortland, N.Y., for all their help caring for Duke and all our horses. More and more horse people today do not have easy access to good equine vet services, and it is becoming an added challenge to keeping and working horses on a small farm. In the future, I hope to intersperse a few more articles about horse health and care (with the help of my vets!) that might be of use to folks that are not as fortunate as us to have great vets so close by.

Asking the vet “What if?” One question I asked my veterinarian was what we would do if we had a large mass that just kept getting larger, tighter and maybe warmer for weeks with no sign it would open on its own. How and when is the right time to open it? This is very much what happened to a young horse that belongs to a friend of mine in Vermont. Here is his response: “If an abscess doesn’t open on its own and continues to enlarge, tighten, or persist for weeks, with or without heat, it’s important to assess whether it’s beginning to affect the animal’s eating, behavior, or overall health. Those are strong indications that it needs to be opened. If the concern is more about appearance or convenience, we should pause and consider the animal’s comfort and best interest before inflicting an open wound. Location and timing are just as important as the decision itself. The incision should be made at the lowest and most superficial point of the abscess, and finding that site safely takes both skill and experience. I wouldn’t recommend opening an abscess without veterinary direction or oversight. If it does need to be opened, the area should be clipped and cleaned thoroughly, then incised with a sterile blade, wide enough to allow pus (and ideally not blood) to drain freely, but no larger than necessary. This procedure is best performed by your veterinarian under local analgesia and mild sedation. Afterward, the site should be managed as an open wound following the Donn Treatment Protocol, as outlined here.”

Rural Heritage

18

Small Farmer’s Journal Championing Human Scale Farming Since 1976

Full Color • 100 pages $47 per year or $15 each Published 4 times per Year Check for Special Offers!

Small Farmer’s Journal • PO Box 1627 • Sisters, OR 97759 • 800-876-2893

Ten Acres Enough A Farm for Free

Allis-Chalmers “60” All Crop Harvester $30.00 • order #M-161 De Laval “Sterling Series” Cream Separators $10.00 • order #M-145 Frick Steel Thresher $10.00 • order #M-174 John Deere Model “A” Tractor $10.00 • order #M-158 John Deere Model “HH” Spreader $10.00 • order #M-171 John Deere No. 4 Big Enclosed Gear Mower (High Lift) $10.00 • order #M-127 John Deere No. 999H Corn Planter $10.00 • order #M-114 Massey-Harris No. 5 Binder $10.00 • order #M-142 McCormick-Deering Farmall-M Tractor $20.00 • order #M-175 McCormick-Deering No. 7 & Big 7 Mowers $10.00 • order #M-108 McCormick-Deering No. 9 Enclosed Steel Gear Mower $10.00 • order #M-101 New Idea No. 10A Manure Spreaders $10.00 • order #M-162 P&O No. 2 Diamond Gang Plow $10.00 • order #M-138 Van Brunt Plain High Wheel Drills $10.00 • order #M-137 SFJ Equipment Manual Reprints Over 175 Manuals Available! Call or write for the full list, or see it in the Journal.

$25.95 + $7 s&h U.S. • Hardcover • 222 pages ISBN: 978-1-885210-38-8 The 1864 classic, Ten Acres Enough , by Edmund Morris, details his family’s move from the city to the farm and how they made it work. It is accompanied by Lynn R. Miller’s strategies for becoming a small farmer in today’s reality, A Farm for Free . Together they create an informative and entertaining manual for attaining a farming life.

Small Farmer’s Journal • PO Box 1627 • Sisters, OR 97759 • 800-876-2893

December 2025/January 2026

19

by Joe Mischka T he Fall Sodbuster Days in Fort Ransom, N.D., has a lot going for it. For starters, it is located in Fort Ransom State Park in the heavily wooded Sheyenne River Valley, giving it a gorgeous backdrop. Secondly, the Fort Ransom Sodbusters Association volunteers have built and maintained an amazing farmyard with house, barns, sheds and more that is worth visiting even without the horses. And that brings us to the third compelling feature of the event: the horses and their owners. I go to a lot of these kinds of events, and almost every one of them has a great group of teamsters. Sodbuster Days is no exception. It is very well organized with a list of activities involving horses and a particular teamster assigned to the job. Those activities include digging potatoes, cleaning the barns, binding corn, raking and putting up loose hay, horse-powered threshing and corn grinding. The Fort Ransom Sodbuster Association hosts an event in the summer and fall. Go to fortransomsodbusters.com for details. Sodbusters Day

John Kaline hauls some of the manure cleaned out from the horse barns each morning using a team owned by Rodney Lugert.

Rural Heritage

20

Brady Rinehart uses his Percheron/Belgian cross team to haul a bundle rack through a field as it is loaded by hand with forks.

Brody Nordick uses Rodney Lugert's team to disc a plowed stretch of ground.

December 2025/January 2026

21

Bryan and Denise Laymon and their team provide rides from the parking lot to the activities.

Lori Steadsman uses her team to operate a grist mill grinding corn.

Rural Heritage

DE-ii

Brody Nordick takes his turn binding corn.

Rita Bergh rakes hay with her draft horse team and side-delivery rake.

December 2025/January 2026 - Digital Edition

DE-iii

Mike Schmidt digs potatoes with his four Percherons.

Volunteers had recently rebuilt a horsepower sweep to power a threshing machine.

Rural Heritage

DE-iv

John Kaline takes a break while his partner spreads out the hay coming off the hay loader.

A load of loose hay is lifted to the hay mow door where it will travel on the hay trolley line before being released.

December 2025/January 2026 - Digital Edition

DE-v

Christmas Gifts TALES FROM CARTER COUNTY

Not what was in the boxes or the stockings. The earliest Christmas I can remember, after opening a box containing a cowboy outfit, complete with vest, sheriff's badge, cap pistols and cap rifle, my cousin, Philip, and I spent the rest of the day chasing each other around his basement, taking turns being the bad guy, and snapping off caps at each other. Those were the days when more and more trees where silver in color and could be popped up much like an umbrella. Artificial was just coming into its own, and everyone had to have one. The next Christmas that comes to mind, I must have been about 6. It was the year I learned that it was important to think of others. I was enrolled at the school on Clark Hill in the Head Start program, sort of a kindergarten for poor kids, but we learned a lot and had a lot of fun just the same. Class was held in the same one-room school building that my grandparents attended in their school days. My grandparents did a lot of volunteer work with Head Start, and I remember my Mammaw being adamant that there should be fundraising for Christmas. She wanted every student there to get a present because she knew, as did others I'm sure, that many of the kids would not get any presents for Christmas at home. She and my grandpa spent many nights at the school with other parents, piecing a quilt that they raffled off to raise money. I know there must have been other fundraising projects, but the quilt is the one that stuck with me. It was a pattern called Cathedral Windows and has since become my favorite pattern. When I see one of the quilts I always think of mammaw. I don't recall how long it took to piece and quilt, but I remember Aunt Mary watching us kids at home while the grandparents went to the school to quilt with the other parents. The proceeds then went to buy Christmas gifts for

by Jerry Hicks I 've been thinking about Christmas as it draws closer, whether I'm ready or not. I think we all, at some point or another start saying that “it just don't feel like Christmas anymore.” Why is that? On the one hand, it's easy to say no one keeps any sort of tradition anymore and lay the blame at others. It's easy to say it's the marketing folks’ fault. They start advertising Christmas earlier and earlier every year until we have Santa hiding eggs with the Easter bunny. And by the time the Yule tide rolls around, we're sick of the whole shebang. A lot of folks like to point fingers and say it's because we've forgotten the “reason for the season,” and maybe we have, if we ever knew. Maybe as we get older there are fewer and fewer of the faces we shared past Christmases with. I don't know, and I'm probably a poor one to ask. I was born waxing nostalgic and tend to be the first to say that nothing is what it used to be and rather than go forward we should leave well enough alone. As a self-professed Luddite and free-lance curmudgeon, the past holds most of the answers I need, not to mention the feeling of familiarity and security. Maybe that's so and maybe it's not. Maybe as we age, we just become cynical and jaded and forget the wonder of not knowing what's in those odd-shaped boxes under the tree or just how Santa visits every house in the world by midnight using only an old sleigh and an eight-up hitch of reindeer. Maybe we've explained away all the miracles by adulthood, and therein lies the problem. I can't say, but I, like everyone else, can sit back and recall Christmases from long ago. I remember favored presents and time spent with favored people. The older I get, the more I realize it was the time spent with people, family and friends, that was important.

Rural Heritage

22

the students. Each boy got an electric train, and every girl got a tea set. I had a friend ask me not too long ago if I remembered that Christmas. He told me how much that train set meant to him, and that he still had it tucked away in an attic somewhere. I look back on that Christmas, and maybe I don't still have the train set to remember, but I do remember my grandparents and how much they cared about me. I also remember how they cared about others and did what they could to brighten the lives of those less fortunate. The next Christmas that comes to mind, I'd have to jump ahead four or five years. I must have been about 10, maybe 11 at the most. My sister and I were now living with our dad and new stepmother in Ohio. Through an odd twist that is amazing to me now –

because I know people and understand grudges and spite – our stepmother still had a good relationship with her former in-laws from her first marriage. Apparently, when she had divorced their son, they chose to keep her in the family, and from what I could gather, they let go the son. At any rate, they accepted us into the family as well, despite the fact that we were the children of their son's replacement. We were told we could call them Grandma and Grandpa, and I feel they were as good to us as a kid could expect grandparents to be. Grandma Parcher loved to bake, and she did a lot of volunteer work. She spent a lot of time volunteering for the local fire department. The Christmas that comes to mind, she and our stepmother spent several days baking cookies and making candy for

December 2025/January 2026

23

distribution by the fire department. While Bing crooned on the turn table, the smell of fresh-baked sugar cookies filled the house. Us kids got to help with the decorating, and we spent a lot of time making sure the sprinkles and frosting were just right on each gingerbread man. We dipped pretzels in milk chocolate, white chocolate and pink chocolate. We sampled chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, molasses cookies, sugar cookies and cookies I'm sure I've forgotten. I remember butter cream mints, pressed into festive molds and dyed Christmas colors. There were all sorts of candies, in every shape and fashion. I know we worked on Christmas treats for three days at least. When it was all finished, mixed bags of treats were filled and boxed to go to the firemen who distributed them door to door throughout town. Between baking, decorating, bagging and boxing cookies, us kids worked on craft items to give out as Christmas presents to family. I remember making faux stained-glass ornaments that were baked in the oven to melt the “glass.” My project was a black-and white spotted horse; no reindeer or Santa Clauses for me. I still think back to that Christmas and the fun

we had listening to carols and making treats with the whole family. We still try to recall that year with the occasional cookie swap here at the farm. It was the second Christmas we spent in Ohio that Oma and Opa came to visit from Germany. They were the parents of our stepmother, and Oma and Opa were not their names. In our attempts to learn German, we learned that Germany had hill folk, same as Kentucky. And while city kids might refer to their grandparents as Grossfater und Grossmutter, we were told that closer to the alps, German farm kids used the equivalent of mammaw and pappaw, which was Oma und Opa. Anyway, that first taste of a German Christmas made our eyes pop. My sister got a nearly life-sized doll that would walk and talk in both English and German. She had a small record player in her back. For those of you who don't recall record players, I'm sure you can wiki something on your electronic device and look it up. But this doll came with a series of plastic records, just slightly bigger than an Eisenhower dollar, (again, go look it up!) and one side was in English the other in German. My gifts are probably what set me on the course for my current career. Opa was a carpenter by trade.

Rural Heritage

24

For me, he had made a scale model of a German style hay wagon. Two plastic Breyer horses made a matched team of sorrels, in matching harness, and were hooked to the wagon. The bed of the wagon was filled with bars of Swiss Chocolate in purple wrappers bearing pictures of Brown Swiss cattle wearing large bells and standing in mountain pastures. The labels were unintelligible to us, but chocolate is universal, and it was the most amazing chocolate we had ever tasted. In addition to the wagon and team, Opa had made a small barn with one side open to give access to a series of tie stalls. In each of the stalls, cast iron replicas of various breeds of horses stood as if they were awaiting someone to throw down the hay. I had never seen anything like it. That was the year we also learned to sing “O Tannenbaum” and “Stille Nacht.” It was also the year of the great blizzard, and it certainly looked and felt like Christmas with the snow drifting over the house and blanketing the yard. These are only a few of the Christmases that hang on in my memory. They are moments in time that I will never see again but were special. I had no idea how special at the time but only came to know by looking back.

December 2025/January 2026

25

Forecarts and Powercarts HPD 2025 Equipment

2025 Horse Progress Days Forecarts and Powercarts

W e covered plows, harrows, cultivators, combines, hay mowers, rakes, tedders, produce equipment, spreaders and sprayers in our last issue. In this issue, we finish with the forecarts and powercarts that pulled a lot of that equipment in Clare, Mich., last summer.

At the end of this story, we list the various manufacturers that brought these pieces of equipment to demonstrate at the event. If you contact one of them, please let them know you learned about them in Rural Heritage Magazine.

Miller Equipment Sales & Services manufacturers and sells this Farmboy Power Unit. It has a 45-hp Kubota torsion axle, torsion seat, dual hydraulic rear steering and rear brake. This unit is lightweight and will run a discbine and some round balers. $17,400.

Rural Heritage

26

The Trail Farm Supply 46-hp diesel PTO cart is lighter than many competitors’ carts and features a sliding axle that allows the operator to easily adjust tongue weight. Hydraulic steering and dual hydraulic outlets are standard. $18,500 .

Gateway Mfg ., of Clare, Mich., demonstrated their 35-hp PTO cart which features a sliding axle for weight variation, brakes and steering and two sets of hydraulic outlets. $8,900 .

December 2025/January 2026

27

HPD 2025 Equipment

Forecarts and Powercarts

Surrey Welding showed their PTO powercart fitted with a 60-hp Cummins engine and four remote hydraulic ports. They also offer 35-hp and 80-hp models. No price listed. Phone: 989-487-4722.

Rural Heritage

28

Springside Power Carts demonstrated their 4-wheeled PTO (540/1000) cart sporting a 95-hp Cummins engine. The cart pulled and powered the Agri-Flex 184 pull-type combine. Options include steel or rubber wheels, torsion suspension and raised tongue. (717) 327-9550. $27,995 .

December 2025/January 2026

29

Forecarts and Powercarts HPD 2025 Equipment

Above: Miller Equipment Sales & Service put their 152-hp power unit in the field. The unit has a dual PTO torsion axle, torsion seat and dual hydraulic outlets. Rear steering and rear brakes. The flotation tires help the cart pull more easily. $26,300.

The Trail Farm Supply brought their model TFS35PTOC powercart which operates its PTO with a 35-hp gas engine. Like its more powerful cousin on page 27, the Trail Farm cart is lighter than many of its competitors and has a sliding axle to adjust tongue weight, hydraulic steering and dual hydraulic outlets. $13,200.

Rural Heritage

30

Miller’s Repair Shop’s Farmer Forecart was used to pull a variety of equipment. It may be hitched on top or bottom for weight adjustment and the tongue may be moved to the side for a three-horse hitch. Options include air tires, torsion axle, yellow cushion seat, brakes and

raised tongue. Pictured here: $940.

Mid State Manufacturing displayed their draft horse cart with rubber torsion axle and mechanical brakes. $2,624.

December 2025/January 2026

31

E-Z Trail’s regular forecart on air tires with brakes, raised tongue and guard sells for $1,706.

Millers Repair Shop showed their model M202A forecart with footsteering. It has hitch points on the top or bottom for tongue weight adjustment, on the side for three horses, raised tongue and cushioned seat. $1,285

Rural Heritage

32

Miller Sons Equipment showed their heavy duty basic forecart with a movable hitch and Reese hitch receiver. $1,100.

E-Z Trail’s regular forecart model 1101 on air tires with raised tongue and guard sells for $1,421.

Family Farm Innovations showed their standard forecart with self-leveling seat and raised tongue. $2,530.

December 2025/January 2026

33