Northland farmer trains oxen to replace tractor and quad bike and slash use of fossil fuels

Northland farmer Claire Ganantchian has gone back to the basics, using a pair of oxen to plough the fields and horses as transport to achieve her goal of living without using any fossil fuels.

The French-born horsewoman, who farms 40 hectares at Haruru, sold her car two years ago, gets about on her horse and is training two young oxen to replace the need for a quadbike and tractor.

The oxen – a steer called Pebbles and a heifer named Bam Bam – are getting used to wearing collars and harnesses and pulling a cart and a horse arena leveller.

When the siblings are old enough, they will help Ganantchian achieve her dream of zero carbon emissions.

“It’s total freedom,” she said. “You’re connected with everything, it’s healthy and very rewarding.

“I take my showers outside in the winter and I’m never sick.

“Everything I do is for a purpose, but it’s also for fun. Everything becomes an adventure when you live like this.”

Ganantchian, who has a postgraduate degree in ecology applied to agriculture, moved to Northland from France 30 years ago.

She initially ran a horse trekking business and was also a skipper and sailing instructor.

She started becoming aware of the environment early on; she recalls her grandfather telling her about getting away from fossil fuels when she was 12.

For three years in her late teens to early 20s she lived without a car and went to the supermarket on horseback.

“In the 80s I travelled across France with my horse and dog, trying to encourage people not to buy cars and stop building roads and burning fuel.

“I took my horse everywhere with me.”

Fast forward to 2021, when Ganantchian got rid of her old Mazda Familia, leaving her with only her horse to get around.

She usually rides Dancer to the Haruru Falls dairy and sometimes further afield, though prefers to stay on the farm where she’s growing kūmara, yacon, bananas, avocado and a variety of nuts and other vegetables.

She makes cheese from her goats, while her chickens provide eggs.

When Pebbles and Bam Bam are fully grown in a couple of years, they will be used to pull loads of hay around the farm for the retired racehorses and Angus cattle that graze there.

The pair – who are Santa Gertrudis crossed with Charolais – will also be used to plough the kūmara and yacon fields and to pull the cart to the Paihia market if Ganantchian has enough produce.

Ganantchian is learning as she goes, getting information about working with oxen from websites touting the cultures that still use them, in Africa, India and Nepal.

“A lot of what I’ve learned comes from these places,” she said.

“In Western culture, we have been on the wrong path for way too long.

“We should have listened to indigenous cultures, and we would have done better with looking after the planet.

“I’m going back to the skills that have been lost along the way.

“We should never have stopped working with animals.”

Having oxen was an “economic way of farming on a small block”, with fewer costs, no insurance and no fuel.

“It’s the future of farming.

“Because one way or another, we’re going to have to stop using fossil fuels.”

Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering health, food, lifestyle, business and animal welfare issues.