The horse in forestry operations

by Michael Smith (Veshengro), RFS, RFA, EcoFor

Horses were very valuable to farmers and gave the farmer extra income by hauling timber in the winter. This was when the horse was in general use on farms but today the horse still should have a place in forestry for one and will, of this we can be sure, soon also have that place again in farming.

The horse, from heavy horses to lighter drafts ones, were a common sight until the Second World War and a decade or so after until the tractor and winch replaced them, though not and never entirely. Some areas carried on using the horse and some do again.

Aside from pulling wagons the horse in forestry was primarily used to pull tree trunks from the felling area to the roadside and such like and has a much lighter footprint on the ground than does the tractor or today's tree harvesters. Thus, our four-legged friends are much better for the forest environment as they do not churn up the ground and destroy the new growth.

With few of protecting the environment and the forest floor and natural regeneration the use of the horse in forestry operations has a future for sure and, in fact, it should be reintroduced at a larger scale right now, before we have destroyed the forests further with the heavy machines.

When it comes to energy-savings then the horse definitely has a lot going for it and the future of forestry definitely will have to consider its use on a large scale again. The large timber harvesters are not sustainable in the long run and not even in the short one.

While it is true that the harvesters replace many men in the woods with chainsaws and even more with crosscut saws those machines are (1) only suitable for complete clear-cutting operations and (2) their heavy fuel use makes them simply unsustainable on all levels. The cost of running them will simply soon be too great for them to be viable and thus a change will have to be considered.

The future of forestry is four-legged and human power, as it once was, as there is simply no other way when it comes to sustainable forest and woodland management. This is also especially true when it comes to woodland management in Britain and elsewhere where we are talking of smaller tracts of land and of coppicing and small scale felling operations.

The horse and its handler are by far more beneficial to the woods as is any machine and without its use, as is the case very often today, the wood from thinning operations simply is left where it falls, as habitat, as it is often claimed, instead of being utilized as it should.

All too often even large trunks are left on site after thinning operations simple because they cannot be extracted with a tractor and winch or in any other motorized way. And this is due very much and often to the fact that draft horses are no longer about in the vicinity and often getting a horse and handler who still work the forests somewhere is too costly.

Those trunks, however, represent wasted resources and should be recovered. Not only do they represent financial value their decay sets free both CO2 and methane, with the latter being an even more potent and dangerous greenhouse gas than the former.

© 2013

Downsizing from Tractors to Camels

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The world is finally, even in the developing world, waking up; in Rajastan, India, at least.

There farmers are giving up on their gas- and diesel-guzzling tractors and are returning to using their trusty camels for haulage again, as they have done in times not so long ago.

Due to rising fuel prices farmers are rediscovering the "ships of the desert", and this is good too. Why they ever gave up the use of the camel for haulage is a question that can only be answered by them, but I would assume that they encountered the kind of salesman that can sell refrigerators and freezers to the Eskimos.

The price of a good camel has gone up sharply as a result: two years ago camels, good camels, were almost the same price as goats, now they are three times the price.

A good male camel will live for 60 to 80 years and costs about £500.00 while the cheapest tractor is £2,500.

This is good news according to the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development because the camel population has been falling over the past ten years and this could lead to a revival of this age-old usage. So, let's hear it for the camel!

Camels have a long and regal history in India. They were, traditionally, used by Maharajahs and had great status and so did their breeders. Now decreasing amounts of grazing land and lack of investment in the existing lands have resulted in inadequate nutrition and lowered the resilience of the herds. Camel slaughter is forbidden in India but in fact sources believe that it is rampant, with the meat exported to Bangladesh. Not only is the use of camels being promoted but also its by-products such as camel milk, camel leather handbags and camel bone jewellery.

Well, this is in Rajastan, India. What about the Arab countries for camels and some of our countries, such as the USA, the UK, and countries in the EU for horses, mules and donkeys, once again?

The Amish in the USA still use the horse and many of their farms and businesses are, in their way, far more productive than many of the modern ones. In the UK in a number of areas the horse is making a comeback as a foresters timber moving animal and its use is beginning to spread. While a horse, alas, does not live as long as a camel, it nevertheless, I am sure, beats a tractor in acquisition and running costs.

Fair enough, you do not have the power of a tractor, but then you neither have the noise, the cost of fuel and maintenance – not that a horse may not need the vet or the farrier at times and neither of them are cheap – and neither the other associated problems you have with running a motor vehicle.

In Egypt and some other countries thereabouts the donkey is still in use as a means of haulage and in some of the new EU member states so is the horse, and not just by the Romani People in those countries. In Poland in the rural districts the horse and wagon are still a normal sight and they can even, at certain days, be found in the larger towns.

This might be something that we all should look at again. We also must not forget the ox and the bullock and others...

© M Smith (Veshengro), May 2008