draft animal, any domesticated animal used in drawing heavy loads. Draft animals were in common use in Mesopotamia before 3000 bc for farm work and for pulling wheeled vehicles. Their use spread to the rest of the world over the following 2,500 years. While cattle, usually in teams, have been used most often as draft animals, horses and donkeys have supplanted them in many areas. Some horses—such as the Belgian horse, the Clydesdale, the Suffolk, the Shire, and the Percheron—have been bred to serve as draft animals; they weigh more than 725 kg (1,600 pounds) and stand at least 16 hands high. The Asian water buffalo, however, is probably the most important draft animal in the world today. Many of the some 165 million domesticated water buffalo worldwide are used as draft animals, particularly in tropical Asia, where they assist in the production of rice. The role of draft animals in agriculture in less-developed regions of the world continues because of the advantages they offer: their feed is easily grown and commonly available; little maintenance of the animals is required; their manure is a valuable resource for the farmer; and the animal itself may become a source of food or other products at the end of its useful life.

A harness is necessary in using a draft animal efficiently. Such harnesses must allow the transfer of the animal’s muscle power to the task at hand. With oxen and similar animals a yoke that rests on the back of the animal is used to attach the harness, while with horses and other equines a rigid, padded collar is used. The harness itself may be a simple arrangement of ropes connecting the yoke or collar to a plow, or it may be a complex arrangement of strapping to support the shafts of a cart, wagon, carriage, or sled and to allow the animal to pull the vehicle in comfort, either singly or in concert with others. Long teams of draft animals, used in pairs and numbering as many as 24 animals, were common in the 19th century for pulling especially heavy loads, such as large machine parts or bulk commodities.

In many places the use of mixed teams, as with one horse and one mule or one ox and one cow hitched in tandem, has been common among small farmers. Draft animal power has also been used to pump water, thresh grain, draw barges, and haul logs out of forests in lumbering operations. In addition to bovine and equine species, reindeer, elephants, camels, llamas, sheep, goats, and dogs have been used as draft animals.

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