2
Sale of rejected
stallions.
7. The Sale Roll (Table IV) is unusually large this year, owing to orders
having been received from the Government of India to dispose of all stallions
not taken over by the Army Remount Department or by District Boards.
Castration.
8 Table XI shows that the number of colts castrated during the year by
Veterinary Assistants was 1,457 against 2,485 in the previous year. This large
decrease is entirely due to the transfer of selected districts and Veterinary
Assistants to the Army Remount Department.
Number
of
branded mares.
9. A reference to Table X will show that the opening balance of the
year under report was 21,911 branded mares for horse breeding. Only 68
were branded during the year by Officers of this Department, and after deduct-
ing those sold, died, and transferred to the Army Remount Department, the
closing balance was 5,574 branded mares in non-selected districts. The ques-
tion of providing a sufficient number of stallions for these mares, and of continu-
ing the system of branding approved mares, is now under the consideration of
the Government of India.
Number
of
mares covered
by stallions.
10. The particulars embodied in Table V have been confined to non-
selected districts. The number of mares covered by stallions during the year
under report was 3,190 against 4,127 in the previous year; the reason for the
decrease is the withdrawal of stallion power from non-selected districts for
transfer to the Army Remount Department. A perusal of the table will show
that, with the exception of Rajputana and North Punjab, the number of stal-
lions previously located in the non-selected districts of all the other Provinces
was less than in the preceding year.
Average cover-
ings per stal-
lion employed.
11. As a result of the insufficiency of stallion power, the average cover-
ings per stallion employed exceeded those of the previous year, being 54.34
against 47.75 in 1902-03.
Produce.
12. The reported foalings in non-selected districts, as shown in Table V,
amounted to 907, giving an average of 10.48 head of produce per stallion
employed in the previous year, which is less than the general average of
1902-03, viz., 13.83 per stallion, but compares favourably with the general
average of the preceding year.
13. The unreliability of these statistics, due to the insufficiency of the
district staff, has in almost every Annual Report been fully represented; but
since the transfer of Imperial horse breeding to the Army Remount Depart-
ment has been effected, the staff has been correspondingly reduced, and it is
feared that greater difficulties will be experienced in the future as regards
the collection of these necessary statistics unless some arrangements are made
by District Boards or other local District officials to organize a proper agency.
Country - bred
remounts pur-
chased.
14. The particulars on this head will be furnished by the Army Remount
Department, as the annual rolls of all country-bred remounts purchased have
been supplied to that Department. Table VI has therefore been omitted from
the appendices of this Report.
Relative
suc-
cess of different
classes of stal-
lions as aires.
15. The number of prizes awarded at Horse Fairs and Shows to produce of
Government stallions, will be found in Table XIV. The produce of Australian
sires again head the list with a proportion of 2.8 followed in order by half
and three-quarter-bred English, Thoroughbred English, Arabs and Stud-breds.
General state-
ment of the cost
of the Depart-
ment.
16. Table XVIII, as furnished by Comptroller, India Treasuries, shows
that the cost of the Department during the year under report debited to India
Estimates, amounted to Rs. 3,50,838-3-7 against Rs. 6,87,191-14-11, show-
ing a decrease of Rs. 3,36,353-11-4 on the expenditure incurred in the
preceding year. The decrease is due to the transfer of Imperial horse
breeding in selected districts, to the control of the Army Remount Depart-
ment, and the consequent reductions effected in the expenditure incurred
under that head, in the Civil Veterinary Department.
17. The prices paid for imported horse and donkey stallions during the
year under report, will be furnished in the Annual Report of the Army
Remount Department.