Prairie Home Carriage Festival at Dakota City Heritage Village in Farmington, MN.
Did you know there are still many people in North America who use horses – not tractors – to farm their land?
The Amish, have been ploughing with horses for centuries. Many small farmers have also found it more convenient to use equine rather than turbine power, said Vernon Yoder, the general coordinator of the 20th annual Horse Progress Days.
Horse Progress Days has been held annually for the past 20 years. It rotates every six years between sites in Ohio, southern Indiana, northern Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois.
1. 2013 marks the 20th annual event. In what year did Horse Progress Days put on its first event?
2. This year the event is being held in Arcola, Illinois. In what year will the state of Illinois host the event again?
3. The two-day event begins on Saturday at the time indicated on the clock below. What time does it start? Include a.m. or p.m. in your answer.
This year is the third for a program to teach teamster and horse handling skills to those who wish to explore the possibility of working with horses.
Students from Russia, Germany and Canada also attend to learn to start farming with horses, Yoder said.
A team of draft horses works to get the Sky Meadows Pumpkin Patch ready for planting.
For beginner’s it is recommended they plow a rectangle about 50′ wide by 100′ long.
4. If you were to build a fence around this field would you need to calculate the area or perimeter to know how much lumber to buy?
The event also promotes new horse-drawn machinery, Yoder said. “There are a lot of businesses doing nothing but horse machinery and repair,” he said. “Smaller farms really need this kind of work.”
Athens Treadmills will be showing draft horses at work on a specially designed treadmill to power tasks such as log splitting and water pumping. The benefit most people see is how the process conserves energy and saves money on electricity.
Amon Weaver of Athens Treadmills said the horse benefits from the exercise, too, if done properly.
“There are too many horses not used the right way,” Weaver said. “They have to get used to it. It’s like if you haven’t been jogging, you’re not going to go 10 miles your first day.”
Working with horses or oxen makes farmers more connected to the earth, Yoder said. His own farm has 100 tillable acres, and he said he would never need anything but horses.
Before checking your answers, check out this video taken at Horse Progress Days 2012 and you’ll see all different kinds of work horses can do around a farm.
Horses Still Work on Farms Answers:
1. 2013 marks the 20th annual event. In what year did Horse Progress Days put on its first event?
Answer: 1994
2. This year the event is being held in Arcola, Illinois. In what year will the state of Illinois host the event again?
Answer: 2013 + 6 = 2019. The next time Horse Progress Days takes place in Illinois the year will be 2019.
3. The two-day event begins on Saturday at the time indicated on the clock below. What time does it start? Include a.m. or p.m. in your answer.
Answer: 7:45 a.m.
4. If you were to build a fence around this field would you need to calculate the area or perimeter?
Answer: Perimeter
Photos:
Whips and Wheels Prairie Home Carriage Festival: Horse Drawn Plowing by Pete Markham; CC BY-SA 2.0
Plowing the fields by vastateparksstaff; CC BY 2.0
