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As Amish (“plain”) people, we live in a culture in which we do not drive motorized vehicles.

Vehicles provide convenience and a fast-paced lifestyle. We believe a slower pace of life brings more connection with God. As Christian folks, we also believe that we are are to set ourselves apart from the world. We do this not because we believe the world is wrong, but because we want to preserve our church.

With this in mind, we’d like to share with you our solutions for managing our farm without motorized vehicles…

With 200 acres of pasture to manage, we needed to find a way - other than on foot - to make fence and to move cows. Since horse and buggy is our primary means of travel, we adopted a similar model for our farm.

To carry our supplies, we built a two-wheeled cart which hitches behind a horse. Using the horse and cart, we can make a fence very quickly, using step-in posts and spools of wire that unwind as we drive along.

To wind fence back up, after the cows leave, we just jump on the cart behind the horse. We have taught the horse to trot along the fence, so it is easy for us to pull the step-in posts out as we drive past each one. When we get to the end of the fence, we wind up the wire with a cordless drill, and move on.

We also have taught these horses to stop on command, and to stand still while we are off the cart.

When driving though a paddock with fences strung through, we will simply lift the fence up, using a post, and the horse will walk under the fence.

When moving cattle from one field to the next, we first holler at the cows. The cows will then follow the horse and cart until we get to where we want the cows to go. The cow herd will follow in this manner for a mile, or more, at times.

Although hitching up a horse does not have the convenience of jumping into a vehicle, it does add a certain charm to the act of farming.

We also get very attached to these horses, who are a part of our everyday life, and we would not want to farm without them.

Since we are big fans of anything grass-fed, we call this our “grass-fed ATV”.