draft animal
A draft animal is a farm animal for carrying out pulling transport work. In Central Europe, mostly cattle , especially cows, were harnessed , which had a negative effect on milk yield. Horses were only used for work on larger estates in the extensive plains . For example, at the beginning of the 20th century there were 3.4 million draft cattle, 2.4 million of them cows, and 2.7 million draft horses in agriculture in Germany. Dogs were harnessed by small traders and to transport small loads .
In other areas, regional domestic animals such as donkeys , mules and mules are also used. In order to move loads, however, cattle , water buffalo , yak , llama , trample or dromedary , as well as elk and reindeer as draft animals are possible. Elephants perform particularly well as towing and transport animals.
Pulling is done by means of harnesses and tensioning devices with ropes or chains , which are influenced by the species and their physique. Draft animals are used for work in the fields with agricultural implements such as the plow . The transport equipment can be moved on wheels, such as wagons, horse and ox carts. Sledges are used in the snow , and when transporting wood, for example, grinding for tree trunks, which is also known as rear animals . Draft animals were also used to tow barges and boats.
The pulling power of an animal exceeds its use as a pack animal many times over. Dogs could be considered the oldest draft animals as they were domesticated way before other animal species . Cattle were probably the first large animal to be used in front of the plow, in some areas and in the Middle Ages mainly by poor farmers only the cow. It was not until later that horses were added to cattle as draft animals. In 1797, the move of the publisher Göschen's print shop from Leipzig to Grimma with its presses, paper supplies, furniture and type boxes with lead letters was managed with 17 wagons, each pulled by four oxen. Draft horses , which are suitable for use in front of a carriage and which have been specially bred for this, are called body horses. In the early days of rail transport in the 19th century, horses were often used for local public transport as draft animals for horse-drawn trams . Horse bus lines that existed in many cities have been replaced by motorized buses . Draft animals are also used to move a round gopel , for example for the operation of irrigation or mill systems .
In western industrialized agriculture , draft animals were almost everywhere replaced by motorization . What remains are sports such as driving , tourist haulage companies such as the Fiaker in Vienna and car-free holiday resorts ( Herrenchiemsee , Hiddensee , Spiekerooger Inselbahn ). In the natural forest management are increasingly re- skidding horses used for skidding.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernd Erhard Fischer: Göschen and Seume , in series: Menschen und Orte, Edition AB Fischer, Berlin 2015, p. 15 ISBN 3-937434-07-0
- ↑ Comparison of Rückepferd Seilschlepper, BfN 2009 ( Memento from October 20, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Strong Horses, Issue 64, 2012 ( Memento from November 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 5.0 MB)