Review: Global Oxen Report

Last year we ran the announcements on the pages of SFJ. In 2024, close to hundred and fifty people came together at UNESCO’s Lorsch Abbey site for the premiere World Draft Cattle Symposium. On the left is the cover of the print version of the proceedings included in which is a comprehensive overlook of all that occurred.

An electronic version of this work is permanently available at www.propylaeum.de
(https://www.propylaeumsearch.de/propylaeumsearch/search?id=kxp1961798514&sid=43397361)
ISBN 978-3-96929-489-5 (softcover) ISBN 978-3-96929-488-8 (PDF)

The editor and publisher of this important document is Claus Kropp. He is also the main force behind what is quickly becoming a fresh, well-organized, global campaign to advocate for, to preserve, and to educate about, working cattle for the future.

The concept of working cattle is ancient. Until recently, the idea of working cattle was not exotic, it was accessible, it was a firmly ingrained part of regional cultures. Common people worked cattle. Though those people were, or may have been, common they also were exemplary guardians of a long heritage of symbiotic relations with plants and animals. They knew, and know, how to do the work, how to train the animals, how to care for them. Several people from different academic, industrial and agricultural backgrounds understand the challenges of beneficial interface with the traditonal ox teamsters of Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. This first ever World Draft Cattle Symposium is a bold, intelligent and courageous effort to gather information in a sharing manner and without the acidic judgements of applied commerce. Time will tell if Claus’ grand approach works. Time has already told anyone who looks and listens that in the future a young boy or girl of limited means will be able to raise a calf or calves to become practical working companions. It is an approach and a way that remains available. LRM