They call them extracting mules, these honest and hardworking giants of the forest. Being over the age of 30, they know their jobs by heart, having spent their lives pulling logs from the felling sites to the stockpiles in the forestry plantations of Mpumalanga.

I have been studying these mules for quite a few years now, and it seems as if this is a dying operation, as no young mules are being trained to take over from the veterans. Many of these mules have been trained by the then South African Forestry Company (Safcol) at their Jessievale plantation between Amsterdam and Chrissiesmeer in Mpumalanga.

Seeing them in action is quite a sight. They are hitched to the logs with a chain and the way they respond to vocal commands, is truly amazing. They immediately react to "forward!", "left!", "right!" and "stop!".

From the felling site they pull the logs to the stockpiles, where they neatly put their logs alongside the other logs and the handler removes the chain. From there they move up the hill to the next log, without being given any orders.

In good hands

Being between 30 and 35 years old, the first impression may be that these mules are being exploited. They are, however, in excellent condition and obviously being looked after very well, with regular feeding and watering during working hours.

The legs and hooves are in excellent shape and the tack is well looked after. Most of the mules are to be retired soon. I visited the paddocks where mules as well as horses have been retired to, and they are all healthy looking and happy in their lovely green pastures.

Mules are still being used in the Nelshoogte, Graskop, Pilgrim’s Rest and some forestry areas of Limpopo. I came across handlers at the end of their shift, where they rode both mules and horses without any tack through the forest to the paddocks – natural horsemanship at its best.

Working your animal

Some people believe that these animals are being overworked. I firmly believe that a horse (and mule) must be worked every day, and then you will have a happy and healthy animal. What is of importance, is not to overdo it.

Start off slowly and know your horse. Once he is fit, try and keep him at that level. When he is ill, or during his horsesickness vaccination, do not work your horse. Once recuperated, start off slowly until he reaches his fitness levels again.

There are a lot of myths surrounding the mules in the plantations. According to the handlers the mules will, if they are mistreated, without ceremony dish out a kick while being attached to the chains.

One of the mules even lies down on the spot when he reckons he has done enough. They know the exact times of feeding and watering breaks, and will not continue to work until they are fed.

Over the years many guidelines have been developed by Safcol for their work animals. The shift lengths have been calculated on a productive six hours per shift, with the remaining three hours in the shift allocated to non-productive work such as setup, walking to and evaluating the racks.

Table 1 reflects the productivity of mules over various distances.