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NEWS FROM THE FARM

NEWS FROM HERE

November, 2007

To Our Valued Customers,

       It is the fall of the year once again and we are getting ready for winter. Our firewood is cut, split, and in the shed. We are wintering Duke and Dan, our four-year old Milking Shorthorn cattle, one beef critter, and a Morgan gelding.

      With a couple of days carpentry left to do, we will have our new workshop closed in and ready to heat. This will be a change from building ox yokes and logging equipment in a three sided pole barn.

      It has been a busy year. We traveled to Virginia in March and spent time on the set of the movie, John Adams, The First Fifty Years of America.  Our team, Duke and Dan, were on the set for the five months of filming. It was a great experience for our family to see the huge production.

      We spent the next few days at Colonial Williamsburg. This was our first visit to Colonial Williamsburg. We sold them a team several years ago and we build ox yokes for their teams. The team we sold them, Red & Rusty, are getting a lot of use, as are three other teams. Our good friend and Colonial Williamsburg oxman, Darin Tschopp, gave us a tour and a behind the scenes look at the Coach and Livestock Department. The stables are beautiful and the horses and oxen are of the highest quality.

      On the final day we met with Coach and Livestock director, Richard Nicoll, and his staff and began planning a large ox enthusiasts gathering to be held at Colonial Williamsburg in the fall of 2008. Richard is putting together an exciting event which includes lecturers from as far away as Europe. We will post details about the event on this site very soon.

      Drew Conroy, Tim and family and staff conducted a two-day workshop for training teamster and team at Sanborn Mills Farm. The August event had a full class with participants from New England, New York, and Texas. We had two days of fair weather and great food and lots of ‘oxen’ information and hands-on work.

      The First Annual Northeast Animal Powered Field Days held on the last weekend of September was a success. We set up a 20’x40’ tent and displayed our ox yokes, logging equipment, stoneboats and more. Wendy, our fabricator and nephew Rich Huppe, and yoke maker Greg Wright were there to answer questions about our products and also fielded ‘ox’questions. Tim was quite involved in the daily schedule of the event. He was the commentator during the equipment demonstrations, co-facilitator during the round table discussion, and answered questions during an ox panel session.

      It was our pleasure to share some tent space and get to visit with Howard and Betty Van Ord. They brought beautiful single yokes, horn knobs, and many more items to sell.

      Rob Flory of Howell Farm and his family traveled from New Jersey to offer his expertise during the panel discussion and to all who had questions.

      Drew gave a great slide show of his ‘ox’ doings around the world and was a participant in the round table discussion.

      There were scores of ox, horse, and mule enthusiasts looking at equipment, sharing stories, and having a genuine good time. It was really nice for us to meet many of our customers we have only spoken with on the telephone.

      A highlight of the event was having Small Farmers Journal owner and publisher, Lynn Miller, present for both days. He worked hard! He gave the keynote address on Saturday, sat on the panel of the round table discussion, gave a talk on the #9 mower and visited with hundreds of his friends and subscribers.

      The round table panel of teamsters was made up of Les Barden, Bob Crichton, Jerry Courser, Jason Rutledge, Jay Bailey, Lynn Miller, Drew Conroy and Howard Van Ord.

      The ox panel consisted of Tim Huppe, Terry Chamberlain, Drew Conroy, Rob Flory, and Howard Van Ord.

      BerryBrook Ox Supply will be at the Second Annual Northeast Animal Powered Field Days next year.

      Our thanks go to event organizers Carl Russell and Lisa McCrory. Great job!

      Lynn and Tim spent the following Tuesday at the Fryeburg Fair. Lynn had never seen so many oxen in one place. He enjoyed the fair and paid it a high compliment as one of the finest agricultural exhibitions he had seen.

      On October 28 & 29^th, we conducted a Logging with Horses workshop at Sanborn Mills Farm. Again, a full class of seventeen participants and ten staff enjoyed good food and good work with horses. The class braved heavy rains on Saturday and enjoyed a beautiful day on Sunday. Despite the weather on Saturday, the smiles never went away.

      Tim is getting firewood out with Star and Lion at Sanborn Mills Farm and getting the buildings ready for winter.

      Wendy, Tim and family thank you, our friends and customers for another great year. We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Keep their heads up and the chain tight!

                                          Happy Holidays,

                                          The Huppes

June 26, 2007

To Our Valued Customers,

As our oxen supply business has grown over the years, we have made adjustments to better serve and supply the needs of our customers.  The fastest growing portion of our business is yoke and equipment manufacturing.  To meet the increase and demand and to deliver in a timely manner, we will be focusing on manufacturing.

We regret to inform you, our loyal customers, that as of July 15, 2007, we will no longer be operating our BerryBrook Ox Supply retail store in Farmington, New Hampshire.  This change in service includes the discontinuation of sales and shipment of oxen supplies other than those listed below:

 *New Equipment Only*

- Ox Yokes (double and single)

- Logging Scoots – 8’, 10’, 12’

- Forecarts for logging and farming

- Steel stoneboat heads – 24” and 36”

- Completed stoneboats with oak planking

- All steel stoneboats

- Go devils

At present, our store is well-supplied, however, we will not be restocking our inventory. After July 15, most of the products that we will no longer be carrying will be available from Matt Scruton at Scruton's Oxen Store in Rochester, NH.  Tel: 603-312-2142.

Be watching our website for the Scruton's Oxen Store e-mail and website address. 

Thank you for your past business and we will do our best to serve you in the future.

                                                 -  Tim and Wendy Huppe and family

March 1, 2007

             After a mild and almost snow-free December and January, February is delivering us winter weather.  Most of the month has been very cold and windy.  We have a decent snow base on frozen ground, making conditions for log twitching and scooting very good.

            Our cattle are wintering well.  We purchased a very nice pair of dark red Durham calves in January.  They are nine months old and have had a good start.  They show a lot of promise.

            Duke and Dan will turn four in June and are currently on movie duty in Virginia.  Tom Hanks is co-producing a seven-part, mini-series for HBO about John Adams and the first 50 years of America.  Many ox scenes, including Henry Knox’s trek hauling cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston at the outset of the Revolutionary War, will be filmed in Richmond and at Colonial Williamsburg.

            Wranglers, Doug Sloan, Billy “Butch” Frank and Ryan Marshall are caring for and teaming the oxen during filming.  Last week, Duke and Dan were hooked with Red and Rusty from Colonial Williamsburg for a scene in the movie.  Durhams, Red and Rusty, were trained and shown for two years by our Katy.

            Tim built a period-correct yoke complete with hand-forged staple, ring and bow pins for use in the movie.  Butch and Ryan spent three days at BerryBrook getting familiar with the cattle before trucking them to Virginia.

            Yoke building is keeping us busy.  Logging equipment is a growing business for us.  Construction of the new workshop is going well.  The last week has been warmer weather.  Sap lines and buckets are going up throughout the countryside.

            Be watching the website, as we will be adding several more vintage photos and many more consignment items.

            We wish you all well.  Keep their heads up and the chain tight!

                                                                        Tim, Wendy & Family

November 2006 Farm News - We welcome you to read a brief highlight of some of our news as we reflect on a successful summer and fall season.  (Updated November 2006)

            The leaves are off the trees and we are getting ready for winter.  Our firewood is dry and cut to length.  All we have to do now is fill the shed.  Spring and early summer saw heavy rains and much flooding in our area.  Property damage was extensive along rivers and in low-lying areas.  Our farm is at 800 feet above sea level, and aside from the stretch of Meaderboro Road between us and Scruton’s Dairy which saw severe washouts, we were minimally affected. 

            Again this year farmers got a late start haying.  It rained for most of June and early July, but we had a good stretch of weather after that. 

            The fair season went very well.  Our girls showed at a few fairs in the open classes and did quite well.  Tim judged the open oxen classes at Deerfield Fair and the

4-H classes at the Remick Show and Fryeburg Fair. 

            Our oldest daughter, Alyson, married Jake Bronnenberg in September.  Matt Scruton performed the service at the Meaderboro Community Church.  Alyson and Jake rode from the church to BerryBrook Farm in a beautiful wedding carriage pulled by a handsome team of Clydesdales owned and driven by our friends, George and Lorraine Nolan.  Over 175 family and friends joined us at BerryBrook Farm for the reception.  Great food and music was enjoyed by all.  Alyson manages Meader Draft Horse Supply and Jake, who will soon be a licensed forester, is a partner in a logging business with his father.

            The first week in November we conducted a “Logging with Oxen” workshop at the Sanborn Mills Farm in Loudon, NH.  Ten participants from five states joined us for three days of advanced use of oxen in a woods environment.  Our knowledgeable instructor staff included Tim & Wendy Huppe, Drew Conroy, Brandt Ainsworth, Leon Sharp, Rocky and Bryan Tasker, Bob Farnham, Ken Barton, Jake & Alyson Bronnenberg, Mark Boucher and Greg Wright.  Our hosts, Colin and Paula Cabot, did everything possible to make our three days comfortable and enjoyable.  Colin, Paula, and Leo LeBlanc prepared three fantastic meals each day.  The instructors showed the participants how to twitch logs, load scoot, use a forecart and go-devil, and many of the finer points of chaining to a log and maneuvering it out of the woods.

            At BerryBrook, we presently have Duke and Dan, the three-year old Milking Shorthorns, and a pair of six month old calves, and two Hereford beef critters.  Star and Lion now live at Sanborn Mills Farm where Tim works four days each week.

            The store is busy!  Wendy ships on almost a daily basis.  Single and double ox yokes are the fastest moving items, followed by all sorts of logging equipment.  We recently poured a cement floor in two bays of our equipment shed and will be closing in those bays from the weather.  These two bays will be heated and will be our year-round workshop area.  This will give us more merchandise space in a room that now serves as a small workshop adjacent to the store.

            We are always in the market for used oxen equipment and good cattle.  We played a role this year in placing several well-trained teams into working farm and living history farm situations.

            Be watching our website for more information about the Sanborn Mills Farm.  We are planning to conduct an “Introduction to Working Cattle” workshop at the Remick Farm Museum early in 2007.  We are also in the early planning stages of an oxen workshop to be held at Colonial Williamsburg in 2008.  Stay tuned!

            Thank you to all of our customers and friends for a great 2006.  Please come visit us at BerryBrook Farm.

January 2006

            With winter coming into full swing, we look back onto another busy and event-filled year.  The total precipitation here in New Hampshire in 2005 was great enough to surpass any year in recorded history.  Hay making, logging, working corn ground, and planning outdoor events became difficult to say the least.  But, we got through it all.

            Attending Horse Progress Days in Pennsylvania was a good investment of our time.  I met many folks interested in training and working a pair of cattle, but had not known where to get information and equipment.  Many stories were exchanged and new friendships were made.  It was great to meet, in person, so many people from throughout the draft animal industry.  Gail Damerow from Rural Heritage magazine, Lynn Miller from Small Farmers Journal, Jason Rutledge from Virginia, Wayne and Mrs. Wenger of Pioneer Equipment Co., Brandt and Earle Ainsworth from New York state, Doc Hamill, and many others.

            As always, we saw high quality cattle and competition at the New England fairs.  Even better than the good cattle is the quality and caliber of the people who care for, train, work, and exhibit these cattle.  We are fortunate at BerryBrook to speak daily with folks from around the country and throughout the world about draft animals.  I have come to the conclusion that teamsters around the globe speak a common language.

            The Ox Teamsters Workshop at the Remick Farm Museum in Tamworth, NH went very well.  Drew Conroy, myself, and our staff had the pleasure of teaching oxen basics to twenty people from all over the country.  The states represented were Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Virginia, New Jersey and California.  We covered such subjects as choosing and training calves, yoke making, hooking to a variety of farm implements, plowing with a team and a four-ox hitch, health issues, husbandry and much more. 

Again this year, we’ve had the opportunity to match prospective buyers of steers and oxen with those looking to sell well-trained teams.  We are quick to encourage buyers to shop for 4-H trained cattle.

We always enjoy visits from our friends and customers.  Among our well-traveled visitors this year include the Eby family from Pennsylvania, Mark & Vicki Solomon from Ohio, the Wracks from New Zealand, David and Anne Farmilo of Australia and so many more.

As our business grows, we are making every effort to provide more information as to what we offer.  Our daughter, Alyson, is assembling a catalogue which will be sent out to customers upon request.

            We will be wintering three pair of cattle, five-year old Milking Shorthorns, Star and Lion, 2 ½ year old Milking Shorthorns, Duke and Dan, and year-old Holsteins, Jack and Bud.

            We invite you to come visit us at BerryBrook Farm.  Have a good winter.

                                                                                    Happy Holidays,

                                                                                    Tim, Wendy & Family

June 2005

           As it has since the beginning of time, the spring of the year brings an exciting energy to the farm, forest and the use of draft animals.  Ox teamsters are looking back at a good winter in the woodlot and a decent year in the sugar bush. 

            4-H teamsters have purchased their bull calves to train for the upcoming show season.  Those folks who compete in the pulling matches are making their early choices as to which cattle to pair up and are beginning to work their cattle on exercise loads.  Plowing competitions are being held throughout North America and on other continents.

            Here at BerryBrook Farm we are making an attempt to keep up with all that needs to be done.  Dodging rain showers and black flies, we finished fencing a new pasture.  This pasture, will double our grazing capacity.  We turned our four-year old oxen and a beef critter into this area.  However, I am sure that Star & Lion do not need additional body fat.  They are easy keepers and put weight on quickly.

            Our two-year old team, Duke and Dan, look great.  Over the winter I weighted down a high horn on Dan making the team’s heads match closer.  Danielle is working this team quite frequently and will show them this year.

            Wendy has purchased a nice pair of Brown Swiss/Holstein bull calves.  They are thriving and Marissa and Wendy are doing very well with their early training.

            Our ox supply business and store traffic is increasing at a steady pace, as is our consulting and teamster training portion of the business.

            Tim will be attending Horse Progress Days in Lebanon, PA this July.  He will be traveling with friends and horsemen, Les Barden, also of Farmington, NH, Paul Welch of Epping, NH, and Don Faulkner of Vermont.  BerryBrook Ox Supply will be represented with an informational booth in the indoor exhibitor area.  Tim looks forward to meeting many of our mail order customers from that region, as well as making new contacts.  Les will be available to promote and discuss his newly released D-Ring Harness video.  Tim and Wendy are considering making Horse Progress Days a yearly trip.

            At the end of October, Tim and Drew Conroy will be conducting the 3^rd Annual Ox Teamsters Workshop at the Remick Farm Museum in Tamworth, NH.  This workshop will focus on the many uses of steers and oxen on the small farm.  Participants will be instructed in basic training of working steers, building an ox yoke, building a stoneboat, hauling firewood and logs, plowing, harrowing, and much more.  Details of this program will be available on this site soon.

            Our show season will begin very soon.  Cattle are being worked daily.  Please check out our events page for a variety of upcoming ox events.

            Please come visit us at BerryBrook Farm.  The coffee pot is always on!

                                                                        Tim, Wendy and Girls

ARCHIVED NEWS

March, 2005

We are having a good winter here at BerryBrook.  I hope you are all experiencing the same.  Our farm is 25 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, which makes for some interesting swings in the weather.

            We are working cattle on weekends.  Alyson recently sold a pair of Durham calves to a 4-Her from New Hampshire and another pair is heading to Martha’s Vineyard. The yearlings Duke and Dan are putting on a lot of height.  Danielle will be showing them this season.  Star and Lion at four years old, now weigh a ton a piece and are doing duty on the heavy work.

            The New England 4-H Working Steer members are buying calves for this next show season.  Moms and Dads are logging hundreds of miles, traveling to farms searching for the ‘right calves’.  We are very fortunate to have so many dairy farmers committed to supporting the youth.  It would be easy for them to simply send the newborn bull calves to market, but most of the farmers, for the same dollars, will hold the calves and phone families in the search.  There is a substantial added expense to keep these calves on the farm and these farmers often keep them several days and weeks.  They get great pleasure and satisfaction in knowing their calves have gone to such great homes and futures. 

            Our Les Barden built logging scoots are selling well and Les is currently custom building an ox sling for a customer from Maine.  Les’ knowledge of draft equipment and implements is a great asset to our business and its growth.

            For those of you who have not visited our farm and store, you may enjoy a trip up Meaderboro Road.  As you turn on to Meaderboro Road, you first come to Meaders Heritage Farm.  Four generations live and work on the farm.  That includes a healthy Grandpa Meader who is well into his 90’s.  Bud and Bob keep the buildings and grounds immaculate.  Their beautiful barns house registered Belgian horses, a good pair of Holstein steers, and light horses.  Wagons and sleighs, tractors and equipment, are stored in the many barns.  They have a fully equipped 19^th century blacksmith shop.  The sugar house built of Spruce logs is second to none.  It has a large arch with stainless steel pans, tile floor, packaging area, and is well sun lit with many windows.  Meaders Supply is the ‘candy store’ of draft horse supplies.  The large show rooms are filled with harnesses, shoes, anvils, wagon parts, poles, books, and videos, and everything else you may need for draft horses.  The friendly and capable staff will do their best to meet your needs.

            A couple of miles up Meaderboro Road, is Scruton’s Dairy.  This farm is home to one of the finest herds of registered Holsteins in New England.  It is not uncommon to see Frank and Art working their oxen.  They may be hauling firewood or exercising the cattle getting them conditioned for pulling competitions, held in the summer and fall.

            A half a mile up on the road is Butternut Farm.  This beautiful farm was home to the Huckins family and their high quality Milking Shorthorn herd.  Les Barden purchased the farm in 1960.  He milked shorthorns and Holsteins for many years.  Much of the woods and field work was done with oxen and horses.  Les sold the buildings and approximately 20 acres to the Stevens family and they have built a thriving small fruit business.

            Just beyond Butternut farm is the Les Barden Tree Farm.  Several years ago, Les built new buildings on 160 acres.  The new buildings include an attached house, woodshed, and horse barn.  There is a large workshop.  A long pole barn covers his many pieces of horse and tractor drawn equipment.  Behind the pole barn is the sawmill, edger, and chipper building.  A hen house and pigeon roost also dot the landscape.

            BerryBrook Farm is a half mile beyond the Barden Farm.  I have named a few of the beautiful places along Meaderboro Road.  There are many more.  Vickery Apple Orchards, Hens Nest Farm, and the Gregoire Farm are equally as handsome. 

            So come visit us and spend a little time looking at the farms along Meaderboro Rd.

                                    Tim, Wendy, and Girls

November 2004

What a great summer and fall!  We have seen many new faces, both young and not so young, at the New England fairs.  But, the increased interest and involvement in the ownership of working steers and oxen is far reaching.  With a recent contact from a gentleman from Hawaii who has started training a new team of cattle, there are very few states that we have not done business with or exchanged information with.  Adding provinces in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia to this long list of “ox owner sites”, gives credibility to the statements that working steer and oxen use is on the increase.

        Here at BerryBrook Farm we have been busy fencing in a new pasture, cutting saw logs and firewood and increasing show room capacity in our store.

        We currently have four pair of milking shorthorns.  Our four year olds, Star & Lion, yearlings Duke & Dan and four new calves.  We would like to thank those who purchased cattle from us this past year – Steve Freeman of Bridgton, Maine, Tom Mulea of Oxford, New Jersey, and Bill Peternel of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

        Yoke making has been good this year.  A good source of yellow and black birch logs and more available shop time has allowed us to increase our output of ox yokes.

        Our neighbor and friend, Les Barden, is building logging scoots for sale at BerryBrook.  Available in 10’ and 12’ long, the scoots have ash runners and oak shoes and oak bunks.  All irons and chains are included.  The scoots are outfitted and ready to go to work.  Also available is an optional 4’ cordwood rack.

        For those customers shopping for a lighter weight, but strong and capable logging scoot, Tasker Farm is building us 8’ and 10’ scoots with hemlock or spruce runners and hardwood shoes and bunks.  All iron and chains included.

        Both logging scoot manufacturers have designed the equipment to be easily disassembled for loading onto truck or trailer.

        This winter we will be working closely with a wheelwright/ wagon maker to build our new wheeled vehicle line of equipment.  Our plans are to stock traditional and heavy duty steel reinforced ox carts, training wheels and axles, as well as other wheeled vehicles. 

        We would like to thank all of our wonderful customers, old and new.  For those of you that have yet to visit us at BerryBrook, please consider stopping in on your next visit to the area.  You are always welcome.

        If there are any ox related items or services that we do not presently offer, please do not hesitate to contact us and let us know.  We will do all we can to meet your needs.

                       Have a wonderful holiday season,

                       Tim, Wendy, Alyson, Katy, Danielle & Marissa

July 2004

All is well here at BerryBrook Farm.  Over the winter we built up our inventory of ox yokes, bows, and related equipment for the start of farming and fair season.

Our sales of single-ox equipment is increasing at a steady pace.  Many folks have found that the power from a single ox is all they need on their small farms and woodlots.  Also, some of those teamsters that have lost one of their team are putting the mate to good use.

The number of working steers and oxen being trained and worked throughout North America is on the increase.  Availability of reliable information is responsible for this increase.  Much of the credit for the increased availability of information goes to Dr. Drew Conroy and his book, films, publications, and workshops.  Also, to be credited is Dick Roosenberg and the staff at Tillers International for their hard work and dedication to teaching teamsters at their farm in Michigan and the world over.  Associations, such as the New England Ox Teamsters, the Midwest Ox Drovers, the Maine Draft Horse and Ox Association, the Midsouth Ox Drovers Association and the newly formed Prairie Ox Drovers of Alberta, Canada, are responsible for giving support at a regional level.  Working farms such as the Howell Farm of New Jersey, Sauder Village in Ohio, and Remick Farm of New Hampshire offer daily examples of “real” work with oxen.  These are just a few of the many!  Let’s not forget the many 4-H working steer club leaders who “keep the bar raised” helping to train some of the finest young teamsters in the world.

Fair season is upon us.  If you do not have oxen competition events in your area, try to come east for a visit.  You can watch dozens of 4-H teamsters competing in the challenging cart and pulling contests. These well-groomed and fitted teams have been trained to a level of accomplishment that will amaze you.

Watch the youth and adults compete in the log scoot obstacle courses.  You will see the teamsters load their own scoots and then maneuver through cones, barricades and over ‘bridges’.

The large crowd draw and exciting event is the ox pull. These well-conditioned and well-trained cattle can pull great loads.  The teamsters spend many hours exercising the teams on light ‘walking’ loads to build up their strength and stamina.  It is a thrill to see a teamster hook his team to a load, lift his goad stick in the air, and the team pull the load the required distance.

January 2004

We would like to thank our customers for a great 2003.  Our sales more than doubled that of 2002.  We are busy making and selling yokes.  Our new  ‘steel’  line is keeping our welder/fabricator, nephew Rick Huppe, very busy.   The stoneboats, stoneboat heads, go-devils and forecarts have become the second fastest growing facet of our business.  First being the ox yokes.

The First Annual New England Ox Training Workshop was a success.  Our nine class participants, most representing living history farm museums, had the opportunity to work cattle in a variety of locations. Drew Conroy and I are planning our next workshop, which will focus on logging with oxen.

We take this opportunity to thank Andrew Ingram and the Remick Farm Museum of Tamworth, New Hampshire, for purchasing our daughter, Marissa’s team of twin Durham steers.  Marissa had a great show season with this team.  Andrew is working them daily in the woodsland on the farm.

Wayne Welch of Epping, New Hampshire, purchased Danielle’s team of yearling Durhams.  He is quite pleased with his new team and will be using them on his small farm.

This year’s BerryBrook teams are a very well-matched and mated pair of dark red Durhams, a pair of twin black Holstein calves, and of course, Star and Lion, our 3 ½ year old Durham steers.

As soon as mud season is over, we will begin a fairly extensive firewood harvest from our own woodlots.  It’s a good way to keep the cattle in shape and the family warm.

Again, thank you to all of you, our valued customers.  So many of you travel a long distance to come to BerryBrook Farm.  Come by and visit.

                                                                          -  Tim, Wendy & Family