The Saskatchewan Working Teamsters Association promotes the practical use of draft animals for pleasure and profit. This includes everything from sleigh rides at Christmas time and putting up hay, to plowing in the spring and hauling bales for livestock. Draft animals are everything from larger breeds like Belgian and Clydesdale horses and mules to smaller breeds like the Norwegian Fjord and the miniature horse, or even a team of oxen.
Various seminars and classes are held throughout the year, where the inexperienced can learn the basics, and the seasoned teamsters can share stories and advice. The emphasis of these sessions is on learning and growing as a teamster. In addition, the SWTA releases a newsletter three times a year, with information about upcoming events and other interesting related groups around the province.
The main event is the annual Saskatchewan Working Teamsters Field Day, held every summer in Bjorkdale, Saskatchewan. Every Father’s Day weekend, teamsters and spectators alike gather at the Campbell farm for demonstrations of plowing, discing and driving. Competitions for fun, such as log skidding, bale racing, and plowing, take place on both Saturday and Sunday, and there is concession and room to camp. We hope to see you there.
The Ploughman
To and fro this autumn day,
See the ploughman take his way,
Guiding with a steady hand
Patient horses o’er the land.
Blessing on their noble toil!
Blessings on their fruitful soil!
For our bread they labour now,
Man and horses at the plough.
On they toil till set of sun,
Then the ploughman’s work is done;
Like the waves upon the sea
Are the furrows on the lea.
Soon the sower wide shall fling
Seeds that sleep until the spring;
Winter, when the wild winds blow
Wraps them in a robe of snow.
But the sunshine and the rain
Wake them into life again;
Then the thankful fields are seen
Bright with blades of shining green.
Through long days of summer heat
Upward shoots the growing wheat,
Waving pennons free and fair
In the scented July air;
Till, to crown the circling year,
Golden harvest doth appear.
Bind the sheaves and fill the wain;
Blessings on the goodly grain!
Poet: Edward Shirley
The Canadian Readers Book III, 1927
