Mini Mag Mar 1 2021

Tree Cutters Find Draft Horse Teams Best For Moving Logs Out Of Timber By Frank J. Buchman

“Horses still work best for modern day logging crews.” While sophisticated technology and elaborately designed machines seem to dominate progressive industry today, that’s not always true. Two teams of Percheron geldings were pulling big walnut logs out of the timber last week west of Williamsburg. “Horses are much more efficient and easier to work with than other methods we’ve seen,” said Eli Troyer.

It was dinner time when Troyer and his sons Jonathan and Alvin along with Freeman Gingerich visited about cutting logs. They had been working several days in Franklin and Osage counties cutting mostly walnut and some oak logs. “We’re from New York but moved near Scranton when my other son Raymond bought a farm,” the senior Troyer said. The Amish family does carpenter work during the summer and saws logs during the winter. “That’s what we did in New York and it’s worked well the same way here in Kansas,” Troyer explained. As carpenters, the men typically do pole barn construction, roofing and other building renovation projects.