In today's world, where technology advances in the blink of an eye, we sometimes fail to appreciate how tasks were accomplished in the past. At the same time, we may not recognize that “old” and “new” can marry to create a system that solves a current challenge. Enter Horse Progress Days and no-tilling with horses.
Horse Progress Days, an annual summer event that travels among five states, has it roots around the time large-scale implement manufacturers stopped making equipment to farm with horses. This left many Amish and horse farmers without proper farming implements, so they began manufacturing what they needed themselves. The idea that everyone should gather to showcase the equipment was not far behind. And so, each summer for the last 15 years, Horse Progress Days has served as the only trade show in the world to display newly designed and manufactured horse-powered farming and logging equipment. Numerous draft horse breeds are represented at work in various hitches, from one horse up to 12, demonstrating plowing, hay making, produce planting and other farm-related activities.
Over the two-day event, 50 different types of horse-drawn machinery were demonstrated. But one that proved quite popular in 2007 was the Douglas County, Illinois, Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) no-till demonstration. With funding, in part, from Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act Grant, the SWCD acquired a no-till drill and forecart for landowners and farmers to try their hand at no-tilling. “Douglas County SWCD is proud to say we had the only no-till drill at the 2007 show,” says Butch Fisher, Resource Conservationist for the SWCD. “With an estimated 9,500 spectators in attendance, it was an opportune time to promote the benefits of no-till.”
This is the second year the drill and forecart have been available for county-wide use and Richard Miller, an Amish business man and an associate director on the Douglas County SWCD board, is grateful the SWCD provides the implements for the Amish and other horse farmers. “I am in my second year of utilizing the equipment. I can rent the drill and forecart for $6 per acre—$5 for the drill and $1 for the cart. The drill comes with a manual that is very easy to use, but if I need assistance, the county directors will help with setting and running the equipment. It's been an easy transition.”
As a result of the Progress Days demonstration, 22 Amish farmers utilized the drill and forecart to no-till nearly 250 acres in Douglas County—from a one-acre lawn to a 20-acre hayfield. Fisher fondly remembers an Amish gentleman who sought him out and thanked him for bringing equipment just for horse farming. “That made my day,” he says with a smile. And Fisher is rightfully proud that his SWCD was the only governmental agency demonstrating a horse-drawn implement at the event.
Most technology will continue to speed ahead, barely slowing for most of us to take notice. And occasionally we'll get a chance to hitch it to the back of a horse and appreciate its beginnings.
The Horse Progress Show travels between Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. This year's event, the 15 th annual, will take place July 4 and 5 in Mt. Hope, Ohio. For more information visit www.horseprogressdays.com .
Many thanks to Douglas County, Illinois, SWCD for providing the information and photos for this article.
