Between Woodstock and Edinburg
One of the delights of springtime in the Shenandoah Valley is seeing baby animals. I felt fortunate that there was a place I could pull off to photograph these. I know of other roads named Ox Road, and there is a story behind it. Ox carts were the tractor trailers of their day. Oxen are large and strong and can pull a heavy load, especially when harnessed together as a team. Some roads were well suited for this sort of traffic and might become known as ox roads. Here in the valley, Ox Road ran parallel to the Valley Pike, which was paved in the 1830’s and was better suited for horse traffic than livestock.
Did you know that oxen have cloven (2-section) hooves and can be shod with split shoes, while horses wear single shoes (which are in a horseshoe shape, of course)? I don’t know how common it was to nail special shoes on oxen, but they were not as amenable to it has horses. In any case, paved roads are hard on animals like cattle and sheep, so they were walked along unpaved roads.
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| Saturday Critters |
I had not realized that oxen were shoed. It must have been a brave blacksmith who attempted the task.
ReplyDelete...many farms that always had cattle seem to be shifting to sheep here.
ReplyDeleteGosto destas fotografias tiradas nas quintas rurais.
ReplyDeleteUm abraço e tenha um bom Domingo.
Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
Livros-Autografados
Hello,
ReplyDeleteLove the sheep and their little ones. They are adorable. Great series! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy day and a great new week! PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.
Such sweet little lambs...I have loved watching them cavort around! They just seem to be having so much fun to be alive.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos of the sheep and lambs!
ReplyDeleteWe live not too far from an Ox Road and I never heard the origin story before. Thanks Linda, all very interesting information and I love your photos.
ReplyDeleteBaby lambs, awe
ReplyDeleteThey're curious about you.
ReplyDeleteHow pretty they are! And I love that red barn!
ReplyDeleteOh they are so sweet -- and such a wonderful sign of Spring. That was really interesting history -- thanks for sharing the research.
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