Oxen show past way of life

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

MORTON -- For a pair of animals that either graze, stand still or plow fields, Buck and Berry grab a lot of attention.

The evidence was pretty clear out at the Lower Sioux Agency on Saturday, as the pair of 9-year old oxen reprised their role in recreating a plowing, circa 1860, for hundreds of locals, tourists and history buffs.

At one point, the hulking animals were common in Minnesota before it was settled as a state.

But these days, there are only five yokes, or teams of two, left in Minnesota and two of them belong to the Agricultural Interpretive Center in Waseca, including Buck and Berry.

"The phrase 'As dumb as an ox' is a misnomer. These are actually smart animals," said ox driver Scott Roemhildt to a small crowd of onlookers dressed in khaki pants and flannel shirts.

Buck and Berry are so smart that they know how to get out of work, Roemhildt said. He reminds the crowd that if oxen are pushed too far too fast, they become disenfranchised, which is the actual term used on oxen that refuse to work.

Roemhildt managed to get Buck and Berry to plow one row with a walking plow, but they quit on the second row. Roemhildt tried to get them to move, but couldn't, so he unhitched them from the plow, took them off the field and hitched them up to a harrow, which was slightly smaller.

"We've seen steady crowds," explained Tim Talbott, site manager for the Minnesota Historical Society of both the Lower Sioux and Fort Ridgely. "They're a part of our interpretive process. The biggest function of this agency at one point was to teach farming to the Dakota."

Roemhildt points out that there were a total of 200 oxen on the Lower Sioux Agency at one point. He told curious visitors that oxen were more popular than horses because they were cheaper, hardier and were less likely to get stuck in mud because of the shape of their hooves. He said oxen are still used for farming in some parts of New England.