Description

Stories in this issue:

• Sustaining Progress: Ralph Rice gives brief history of how Horse Progress Days started – to give voice to the few manufacturers of horse drawn equipment once the big guys stopped making it. And how it has progressed to become a place for draft horse farmers, equipment manufacturers and designers and farm families to gather, discuss, demonstrate and learn.
• Horse Progress Days Field Demonstrations – Haymaking, Produce Equipment, Field & Tillage Equipment
• American Brabant Hay Day: 
• HPD – A View from Holmes County: Mary Ann Sherman’s annual synopsis of the event including the Pony Express Parade, Thursday bus tour of neighboring farms, farrier demonstrations, produce equipment, auctions, old friends and new.
• HPD: International Meeting: Visitors from Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, France, Germany, Mozambique, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland were present at HPD this year. Some came to show and sell their equipment, most to learn more about farming with draft animals.
• A few minutes with Ray Ludwig:
• HPD Seminar – Beekeeping: Terry Klein who runs a commercial honey operation, presented a workshop on beekeeping. He gives advice on purchasing your first setup including equipment, bees, queen and what other equipment one needs. He advises on location, overwintering, pest mitigation and more tidbits.
• HPD Seminar – Round Pen Training: 11-year horse trainer Andrew Weiler gave a demonstration on horse training. He worked with a 2-year-old horse showing how to gently teach with touch and pressure, all the while rewarding with touch.
• HPD Seminar – Composting: Turning a 500 head herd into DairyDoo, a major composting company, was the subject of this seminar. Brian Morgan explained how he manages the composting business explaining everything from testing, blending, and turning to transportation logistics.
• HPD Seminar – Equine Chiropractic Care: Dr. Kallie Ashcraft DVM demonstrated equine spinal manipulation to correct alignment. She emphasized keeping the horse calm and explained the various locations that are commonly the cause of pain for the horse.
• HPD Seminar – Grass Finished Beef: After Nathan Hochstetler of Mio, Michigan realized his steers gained just as much weight being finished on grass as on grain, he changed his feeding regimen. Nathan explained his process including the changing diet as the year progresses. He also gave some advice on finding a market for your grass finished beef.
• HPD Seminar – Maple Syrup Business: Veteran maple syrup producer Abe Schumucker showed the prices he gets for the various syrup products he sells, such a maple syrup, maple cream, maple cream and maple candy. He explained the differences in syrup bags vs. tubing, ratios of sap to syrup, sugar content and more.
• HPD Seminar – Responsible Horse Use: Norman Hochstetler of Mio, Mich., has spent a lifetime of working with horses and years of operation a harness shop … enabling him to build a vast storehouse of knowledge. He had a number of handy tips, from how to treat a horse’s sore shoulder to how to cure a skittish horse
• HPD Seminar – Tour of the Tomato Greenhouse: Leon Herschberger and Jay Stutzman gave a tour of the tomato high tunnel on the grounds. They gave advice on growing greenhouse tomatoes from transplant size to soil fertility.
• HPD Seminar – Lamb Production: Leon Kuhns, who has been raising sheep for 20 years, explained the increase in market for lamb. He gave advice on breeds, breeding, shots, feed, fencing, worming, and more.
• HPD Seminar – Trailer Loading Horses: Horse trainer and farrier Wilmer Schlabach and his son Mark demonstrated training a 2-year-old mare. He gave many tips and in the end was able to get the horse to go into the trailer.
• Train to Deadwood: Joe spends four days on this ride from Cheyenne to Deadwood for Rural Heritage on RFD-TV. Here are some photos and short explanation of the logistics.