Feb
13
A draft animal is any domesticated animal used in drawing heavy loads.
Draft animals were in common use in Mesopotamia before 3000 BC for farm work and for pulling wheeled vehicles. Their use spread to the rest of the world over the following 2,500 years.
While cattle, usually in teams, have been used most often as draft animals, horses and donkeys have supplanted them in many areas.
Some horses-such as the Belgian horse, the Clydesdale, the Suffolk, the Shire, and the Percheron-have been bred to serve as draft animals; they weigh more than 725 kg (1,600 pounds) and stand at least 16 hands high.
The Asian water buffalo, however, is probably the most important draft animal in the world today. Many of the some 165 million domesticated water buffalo worldwide are used as draft animals, particularly in tropical Asia, where they assist in the production of rice.
However, here is the most unique draft animal I have ever heard of.
A man in Alaska raised an abandoned moose calf with his horses, and trained it for lumber removal and other hauling tasks.
Given the 2,000 pounds of robust muscle, and the splayed, grippy hooves, he claims it is the best work animal he has.
He says the secret to keeping the moose around is a sweet salt lick and that although he disappears for a couple of weeks during the rut, he always comes home.
Tags: Animals, Interesting
