A donkey and an ox were donated to the DNR for demonstrations at Hickory Hollow Nature Center.
An 18-year-old ox named Andy was donated this winter for use with the Leavenworth-Lang-Cole haypress at Wyandotte Woods' Hickory Hollow Nature Center.
Andy, the ox, was donated by farmer Jim McEwen of Dunkirk, Indiana. McEwan's family are known for their ox training and performances. The companion ox to Andy recently died and the McEwans sought to place Andy in an appropriate environment.
So they contacted the late-Gov. Frank O'Bannon and his wife Judy about donating the ox to the nature center for use on its 1850 haypress.
The haypress was inaugurated at the nature center last summer, and uses animal and human power to press very large bales of hay. The haypress is an agri-business machine that was constructed down the Ohio River a ways from Wyandotte Woods and was last used on a farm in the early 1900s.
Oxen need companions for optimal happiness and a local couple donated Jack, an 8-month-old miniature donkey, to provide company to Andy, a 2,500-pound Durham Shorthorn ox.
Many individuals from the Harrison County community offered to donate hay, materials, and labor to get the nature center ready as Andy's new home. A volunteer work crew built his new paddock in one day.
Not only will Andy and Jack provide a unique atmosphere to the haypress facility but they will also be used in providing old-time log skidding demonstrations for forestry events.
The majority of care and feed for the animals is being promised from volunteers and friends of the nature center.
Demonstration dates for this summer include pioneer activities and haypress operation for the afternoons of May 29, June 12, July 3, Aug. 14, Sept. 4 and Oct. 2.
More information: Jarrett Manek, interpretive naturalist, 812-738-8234.
A standard entrance
fee at the Harrison-Crawford State Forest is charged, but all regularly scheduled
activities are free of charge.
