Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-04-16
CARE OF BROOD MARES IN COLD
CLIMATES


have good box stalls 12Xl4 and l4Xl4.
Opposite each one of these is Il paddock.
large enough for the mare to exercise in:
as supposed. small enough so that she
can not get under such Roadway a. to
slip and lose Il foal in winter. As the
stable is situated half mile from the
timber. | found that when the cold winds
prevailed, the brood mares became chilled
by these winds so that | was often COM
PEELED to put them back in their stalls
again. The next day very likely it would
snow. so that it would be necessary to
keep them in box stalls. The third day.
if the weather happened to be pleasant,
they would be turned out in the paddocks
again. The result oftcntimes was that
having been confined 50 long in the box
stalls they would naturally feel playful,
and would begin to jump around more or
less, and by doing so they were liable to
accident by slipping, and to the danger
of losing their foals.
found that with the number of brood
mares | had that it would be necessary.
in order to obviate this danger, to change
my mode of handling them, and as | re-
membered | had been down in the timber
when the mercury was 30 degrees below,
but was compelled to take off my buffalo
overcoat, owing to the change of temper
allure in the shelter of the woods, made
| m, my mind that This uaS rho plopn IN keen
brood mares in winter time, for here they
would be protected from the winds and
storms. | therefore at once erected sheds.
| first cut out three acres from this
shine into the opening. In the center of
this opening | placed the shed, which
faces the south, and is boarded up on
three sides, with a rack on the side and
to accommodate about forty brood mares.
After completing it moved all my mares
from their box stalls. as above described,
to this shed, and there keep them now
during the winter and have done so ever
since.
The result has been that | have never
lost a colt from the dangers that feared
and experienced when the mares were in
: their box stalls and paddocks. The
mares have their exercise every day in
this lot, and are protected from the cold
chilly winds and Billiards, and do not
t breathe foul air As they did in the box
stalls, although they We're well ventilat-
ed. These mares keep in better cOndi-
ton than they did before. They are
stronger and their foals are larger and
stronger when they come. These mare,
are never put in the stable winter or sum
mer, and never brought to the barn eX-
cept when bred, and from two to three
weeks before foaling time.
Then they are brought up and placed
in a large paddock of one or two acres,
nicely set into blue grass. Each mare
has paddock which is set apart for thi,
special purpose, and has IA box stall four
teen feet square in which the mare and
foal can run out at will. The mare i,
kept there till the ninth day after foalins
and then bred, after which she is turned
out to blue grass pasture set apart for
mares with foal by their side. At the
, proper time these mares are looked after
8 and when safe in foal are turned out into
another blue grass pasture. There they
remain till fall, when the colts are taker
up and weaned. The mares are then re-
, turned to the open shed, in the timber, a
above described. | have never lost IA col
by this method of handling them.
: BY placing her in the paddock before
= foaling, she is brought under the eyes o
, the stablemen all the time. This boz
stall in the foaling paddock is for mares