Our oxen website:

Home	Oxen Overview	Harnessing Ox Power	Choosing Animals	Getting Started	Ox Health
Oxen in Scripture	Oxen Questions	Ox Stories	Talking Oxen	Oxen Resources	Related Links	Contact Us

Our other websites:

Our Farm	Cozy Country Cabin	Mural Mural on the Wall	More Art by Gloria	About the Artist

Barry and Gloria's Story:

My name is Gloria Nesbitt, and my husband's name is, Barry. We are Albertans who love oxen.  We want to make available to everyone - youth to adult - the information necessary to enjoy, raise and train cattle, to encourage and help them succeed in this endeavor.   Our mission is to help others discover the joy of working cattle.

We live on a farm near Rimbey, Alberta. We have been ox owners and trainers since 1994. We would like to tell you about ourselves, and look forward to getting to know you, and the sequence of events that brought you here. Do you have oxen, or would you like to? Are you interested in the historical aspect of oxen?

Barry and I, during the past 10 years, have trained three Hereford/Galloway teams, one 4 year old Holstein, and are presently working with a young Brown Swiss team. We use our animals for hauling in firewood, giving friends and families rides, and participating in local parades.

It was an exciting idea for us, when we first started thinking about having oxen on our farm. The area we live in has many horses, and horse enthusiasts, but no oxen. Barry started thinking about oxen many years before, when someone who had been to Eastern Canada told him about the oxen he had seen there.

When we decided go ahead and pursue this unusual dream, we hunted long and hard for information. We also hunted long and hard for other people with oxen that we could swap stories with. We could not find any information, or ox owners, anywhere in western Canada. Finally, through the library system, we found a book about training oxen, from Nova Scotia. In it, we read that oxen are not a special breed of cattle, but are steers of any breed that have been taught to work. We learned how to begin to train a young team of steers. Having read it, we wanted to know much more, so we hunted down the American author, Drew Conroy. He directed us to Rural Heritage (www.ruralheritage.com), a magazine produced in Tennesee, about oxen, mules, and draft horses. That led to a wealth of information, and the discovery of other ox enthusiasts, including those at Tillers International (www.wmich.edu/tillers/) and at Midwest Ox Drovers Association (modaox.us). We were away!

We have had our struggles with making the yokes, as the wood necessary to make the bent bows does not grow here naturally, but we have discovered other ways to achieve a similar purpose. Bows made with straight sides and connected together under the animal's necks with a horizontal bar, was one solution. Bows made of bent black pipe was another solution. As well, we had the option of buying pre-made bows from various suppliers in the States.

Recently, we were very pleased to discover another ox enthusiastic family right in Alberta! The LaRoques found out about us through the Rural Heritage's web page, the "Front Porch". They contacted us, and we found a kindred spirit! What fun it was to talk to others who shared the same interests, and who lived close enough that a visit was a realistic possibility! They have had their own struggles with harnessing ox power, and decided to go with a collars and harness. To read their story, go to: Amanda's Story.

Because of the difficulty we, and the LaRoques, have had finding information, and other ox enthusiasts to talk with in western Canada, we have, together with the LaRoques, decided to create a website (www.prairieoxdrovers.com) to make it easier for others in the same position. We hope you find it very helpful and enjoyable. We hope that even those people who are not able to own a team of oxen, will find this page a delight to browse through. If there are questions you have, that we have not addressed here, please let us know about them. (See contact list below.) Since we began to advertise The Prairie Ox Drovers, we have been delighted to discover others interested in oxen across Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC!

Our other websites:

Our Farm	Cozy Country Cabin	Mural Mural on the Wall	More Art by Gloria	About the Artist