Hitch-in Farm
Profile:
Hitch-in-Farm is a thirty five acre farm in the shadows of Dartmoor. It is managed using real horse power we currently have 20 working horses on our farm who perform a huge range of tasks using modern and antique machinery. They manage our 2 acres of vegetables and grain, ploughing, cultivating, drilling hoeing and ultimately bring in the harvest in our wagon. We also grow grain and fodder crops and keep various poultry, sheep, pigs and cattle all of which are managed usingbour working animals. We have thankfully nearly banished our wheelbarrow altogether in favour of horse drawn sledges and trailers. We are hoping to become more or less self sufficient in food and fodder in the next 24 months, having bought the farm in October 2015. We train and break all our own horses, and provide training for other horses and people alike.
So why do we advocate the use of working horses in modern farming? - preserving heritage skills and equipment - reducing the reliance on fossil fuels - it reduces soil compaction in comparison to using tractors which improves soil flora and fauna - its ecologically friendly and in small scale farming is economically viable We firmly believe in using horses in a modern farming context. We use a range of machinery imported from America, where the Amish continued to work with horses and innovate with horse drawn equipment and harness. We have an I and J hit cart with ground dive, when the horses walk at 3 and a half miles an hour it generates 540 RPM out of the PTO shaft at the back of the cart. Put simply it means we can power conventional tractor machinery such as bailers and turners without a tractor! The horses can bale all of our hay and our yearly input cost is just the cost of the twine. In 2016 we produced 700 small bales without a drop of fuel. We also have an Amish plough which is ride on and saves a lot of walking!!