I have tried thick stair step vinyl and tire tread cut to ox shoe size and shape. The vinyl and tire tread shoes stayed on only an hour up to a day or two. They are too flexible, and walking on them breaks them from the hard acrylic glue which is harder than the hoof material. Metal shoes glued on do work on horses, and probably would for oxen. However, the epoxy glue is very expensive, and the hoof must be absolutely free of foreign material. Metal shoes might work on oxen with practice.

On three adventures on trails in the West, I have shod my oxen with regular iron shoes nailed on (see Rural Heritage Spring 2000, p. 57, article entitled “Traveling With Oxen”). The wooden blocks glued on is an easy way to get through a gig for a week or more should a shoe be lost.

Of the 16 shoes we glued on Luke’s team, one front shoe came off in five days. The rest were still on after one and a half weeks. During the next two weeks, four more front shoes came off by themselves. At three and a half weeks, Luke wanted to remove the eleven remaining shoes. All eight of the rear shoes were still on, as were three of the eight front shoes.

The front shoes remaining showed most wear on the outside of the outside claws. At three weeks, one ox hoof showed some separation of glue from hoof. This separation may have contributed to some soreness in the oxen’s hind foot and beginning signs of minor hoof rot visible on removal of the shoes at three and one half weeks. For the final removal, Luke worked his oxen heavily on pavement for half–hour intervals for a total of one hour for each ox, turning frequently. This procedure not only was a good schooling exercise, it also loosened the shoes enough so that two came off on their own. The other 9 came off easily from a hit with a hammer and chisel between the glue and hoof. Some of the acrylic glue clung to the hoof wall, but most of the glue stuck to the wood and left the hoof bottom free from glue.

One unexpected problem Luke experience happened when loading his oxen into a wet slippery trailer floor. They slipped and became loading shy until Luke put straw down on the floor. Moral of that story: Keep your trailer floors dry. On my trips west with my oxen, the metal shoes I had on them had cleats, so even if the gooseneck floor got a little slippery it was not a problem. But with six inches of sawdust and eight inches of straw for the cross country trip, the potential problem only occurred a the rear of the gooseneck where the bedding was scuffed out with frequent unloading.

Note: Need to trim: When does an ox need hoof trimming? Not being a favorite part of the hobby, I try to avoid trimming their hooves as long as possible. I rarely have to trim my oxen’s feet before 8 to 10 years of age. The secret is in picking calves showing a tendency for strong pasterns. As soon as the pastern becomes weakened, the ox will start to walk more on his heels, allowing the toes to grow out. Brown Swiss are known for strong pasterns, probably because they are large cattle and natural selection encouraged the genes for strong pasterns to hold up their weight. Any breed can show weak pasterns at birth, so try to choose calves showing strength to start with. Proper pasterns are not too straight, nor are they too “giving.”