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| Sweet
Retreat is Home to Heritage Ox Farm |
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Joker,
Ace, Jack and King, are Brown Swiss steers, all born in April, 2004
at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont - www.shelburnefarms.org
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located about an hour from the guesthouse.
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The
“boys” at one-year old. |
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We
got the four bulls when they were eight weeks old and had them
castrated at six months, rendering them steers. At nine weeks
old, we started training them in yokes using voice commands.
In the past two years, the two teams have become “handy”
steers. They respond to “gee” and “haw” commands,
navigate a course of cones, pull logs, a stone boat, and our
oxcart as a two- and four-ox hitch. At age four,
they’ll weigh between 3000- 3300 pounds each and will earn
the right to become oxen. |
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Four-ox
hitch with cart.
The teams at 27 months weighing 1650 to 1700 lbs each (July
2006)
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We
show our steers at fairs in New England in competitions for
best-trained teams and best-matched pairs. At parades and
festivals, they pull the cart as a four-ox hitch. |
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September 2005, Ray took his two
teams to the annual Tunbridge World's Fair in Tunbridge, Vermont,
for their first competition.
Ace
and Joker took first place in Best Matched Team and third in
Best Trained Team. Jack and King took third place in Best
Conditioned Team.
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Rachel Gendler of New Jersey fell in love with Joker at the 2006 Green Mountain Draft Horse Field Day held at Shelburne Farms.
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Our
2007 Show Schedule
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May
6: Billings Farm Plowing
Contest, Woodstock, VT
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June
25: Shelburne Museum, Special
Invitation Demonstration, Austin Healey Conclave,
Shelburne, VT
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June
30: Independence
Day Parade, Roxbury, VT
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July
1: 5th
Annual Strawberry Festival, Cedar Circle Farm, East
Thetford, VT
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July
20-22: Teamsters
Meet, North
Haverhill Fair, North
Haverhill, NH
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August
28-Sept 3: Lancaster Fair,
Lancaster, NH
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Sept
13-16: Tunbridge
World’s Fair, Tunbridge, VT
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Lulu
Blau, 6 years old, of Hanover, NH, with Joker and Ace at
the 5th Annual Strawberry Festival at Cedar Circle Farm &
Education Center in East Thetford, VT
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Kids love the oxen and the oxen love kids!
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The
“boys” are very friendly and love visitors. While staying
at the guesthouse, we hope you will stop by the barn and get
acquainted. If the
spirit moves you, we are happy to take you for a ride in our
custom-made oxcart through our trails in the woods. |
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Sweet
Retreat Guesthouse
and Sugarworks