Toolbox Tuesday - Yoke

Yoke

         A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or sometimes other animals (horses, mules, donkeys etc.) to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs. The yoke pictured above is called a neck yoke because the large beam sits on top of the neck with two bows that come down around the neck.This type of yoke requires the animal to push with their shoulders, neck and chest. Oxen were used across early Canadian history for breaking land, logging and transportation. Yokes needed to be fitted to each individual oxen to maximize the comfort for the animal which in turn produced a harder working oxen. Ill-fitted yokes could create sore spots and even open wounds that could potentially be very harmful. Oxen were more popular than horses because they could live off the land and could be turned into food when they became too old for working.  Overall, oxen's had a lower cost when it came to their upkeep. Eventually they were replaced by horses and then horse were replaced by machinery.