At the end of the last blog post on the little oxen team I promised you a story about them doing morning chores. CW and JW1 have been using the little team to do the morning feeding for awhile now. I just haven't been able to document it for you because we do it at 6 o'clock in the morning. It's dark at that time and my camera doesn't do well taking night pictures. A few weeks ago we slept in a bit and ended up doing chores in the daylight. So my milking suffered while I trailed the team around trying to get some good pictures as it was still not quite light enough.

The first order of business is to yoke the oxen and get the sled hooked up. Next the oxen are walked to the haystack where CW loads a 77-pound bale of hay onto the sled.

First fed are the horses, bull, and bred heifer. The boys take turns holding the team and feeding hay.

Then it's on to feed the other ox team.

CW usually leads the team and gives the commands, while JW1 learns and helps to add a bit of encouragement from behind to whomever decides to slack on his duties.

The other day we again got a late start. And this time it was during a snowstorm. So I was able to get some really cool picturesque shots of the team during their chore routine.

The snow adds a little bit of slip for the sled, but we've also learned it can freeze to the ground. So you always want to "cut the load" or start it at a bit of an angle so the team has an easier time breaking the frozen runners free.

There are a few perks to being one of the younger boys. You help train oxen by adding your weight to the load. The team has now worked up to three 77-pound bales of hay, the weight of the sled, and two to three boys. Roughly 400 pounds.

We have developed a system over the years of feeding the milk cows first, letting them pick through the best of the hay, and then what they don't want we scoop out of their feeder. Next we feed the steers, bull, or horses. That way none of the hay is wasted.

Loaded with loose hay and smiles as they are headed back to feed the steers. A great confidence building job for growing boys.

I had to get a picture of them in front of the barn. So I stopped their chores and made them pose for a picture.

Every now and then the two older boys have to do something and MJW is left to hold the team.

Of course, once the chores are done, JW1 has to show off his snow surfing skills on the way back to the shop to unyoke the team!