Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
The design and construction of the double-neck yoke and harness for animal traction was based on findings from series of discussions held with staff of the National Animal Production and Research Institute (NAPRI), staff of Agricultural Engineering Department at I. A. R., Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, villagers involved with the use of animal draught technology in Kaduna State as well as literature and published articles on animal traction. Some disadvantages which reduce the performance of draught animals are heavy weight of yoke which results to bending of the animals' neck, wounds inflicted on the animal's neck due to persistent rubbing of the yoke on the neck, difficulty to fit and remove the yoke on the animal thereby causing delay in the time lag for work among others. Field observations and measurements of body size, bulls' weight, neck size and hoof size were carried out on thirty-seven bulls used for animal traction at Salanke, Madubi, Karfe, Nasarawa and Fulani villages in Kaduna State. The developed yoke eliminated the short comings of the existing yokes. It has a three-point linkage system which effectively distributes the load on a pairs of working bulls. It eliminates the use of nose ropes for controlling the animals during work and has allowance for adjustment thereby making it easy for the same yoke to be effectively used for different sizes of bulls. Also, excessive yoke weight and obstruction to movement of the bulls is minimized. The weight of the yoke is 20kg as compared to 25 and 30kg for existing yokes. The strength of the yoke is 78N/mm2 while the length, width and thickness are 300mm, 100mm and 70mm respectively. Cost of construction is N=4,710.00.

Keywords: design, construction, yoke, harness, animal traction, bull

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