Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-05-11
To the Farmers Of Iowa County.

One of the secrets of success in
farming is to know what the market
requires, and what our climate and soil
will the best produce, and then to
raise that which will bring us the most
money for the labor, money or feed
expended
1t has long since been established
as fact among our best farmers, that
stOck-raising is much more profitable
than raising grain for the market.
Then comes the question of what kind
of stock is the most profitable. Our
native blue grass and Oat producing
horse raising districts in America, and
our soil is not washing away as in
raising corn to fatten beef or pork.
1t costs no more to raise colt than
a steer or heifer until fitted for mar
ket, the former bringing from $3.50 to
$3.50, the latter from $40 to $50. 1t
costs no more to keep a mare than it
does COW. With the mares we keep
we can do all the work upon the farm
and raise a colt from each, with an oc-
casional loss now and then. "Our
farmers have no use for matured geld
ings or non-breeding mares upon the
the farm"
If we raise horses for the market.
we should aim to raise what the mar
ket requires. In doing this we will
attract to us the best horse BUYERS and
will have a ready market at our DOORS
1t is much easier to raise what the
market requires than to raise what our
own fancy dictates and then try and
create market for it," To accomplish
this it is to our greatest interest to
breed only to stations of the very best
blood of the very best families. The
breeder who succeeds has fully rec
ognized the fact that there is no place
for the scrub. The horse of twenty
years ago serves mainly to show the
great advance made in proper APP
probation of the principles of breed
ing within that time. One of the
most noticeable changes in the gen
eral requirements of the horse mar
ket is the call for greater weight. The
1900 pound dray pinery horse of
the past has given place to the more
popular weight of 400 to 1900 pounds
Our cities call for carriage horses
weighing 1900 pounds and upwards,
while the liveryman is no longer con-
tent with from 800 to 1000 pound nags.
The first requirement in the produc-
ton of good horse is good breeding.
We must be as careful in the selection
of our brood mares as in that of the
stations with which to couple them.
We must discard all unsound mares,
especially those with bad feet and
limbs. Be sure that they have clean,
sound, strong sets of limbs and feet
The mares shonld be good sized, strong
constitutional, with strong, deep bodies
deep and full through the heart,
from which the blood is disseminated
through the whole system for the sup
port of life and to supply the growing
fptuS.
The mare must have plenty of nerve
force and bottom, coupled with good
style and action. A sluggish, lifeless
sort of mare will never produce
much of a colt. BY the term action
| do not mean great speed, but the
pure, elastic, graceful movement which
always attracts the eye, and indicates
nerve, muscle and endurance. This
is fully as necessary in a draft
mare as in one designed for breeding
roadsters. The bold, prompt walk, the
index of the nerve, is all of the most
seIviceable gait. Without this quality,
any horse, for whatever purpose bred,
is at best a mere excuse
We are not raising anywhere near
the number of heavy horses our own
state requires in her cities, iron mines
and pineries. Horses from Canada,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa are
shipped to our pineries, car load after
car load. Some may say (wIthout even
giving the subject thought that
there is likely to be an over production
of heavy horses; but when we consider
that one hundred thousand heavy
horses are required around the chain
of lakes alone, and that this number
must of necessity gradually increase,
as the pine cut each year is further
from the rivers and their tributaries,
making further to haul the pine and
consequently requiring more horses
to do the work.
When we think of the iron mines
and the great Drawing system of
our country and the world at large,
we begin to realize that when the pine
is all cut, the minerals all exhausted,
the soil ceases to produce vegetation,
when all our life's work is done, that
then and not till then, will man be
through with his most useful and
obedient servant-the horse.
JOHN II. ELLswoTH.
Bees For Sale.