The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-07-06
HORSES.

necessary knowledge and ability for pro-
duction and handling, no other kind of
horse offers such handsome returns as
the coach horse; but the farmer will
find it is to his best interests to stay
with the heavy draft animal If he raises
half dozen colts in the season from
this noble stock they will net him more
at maturity in the aggregate than the
same of any other kind.
Do not wash down full feed Of hay
nor oats Immediately after feeding, but
form the habit Of watering the horses
little while before they get their
meals. The capacity of the horse stom-
sch is about three gallons, and a meal
will fill it, and must then have time for
proper digestion. No horse will refuse
to drink before eating. il properly man.
aged.
The horse has undergone a great
change since his domestication for the
pleasure and the necessities of man.
From the scanty supplies which he
could pick up in his wild state he is now
given rations of nutritious food, whole
some and palatable. Freedom can not
be given to his instincts in the matter
Of eating and drinking. He must lose
liberty with advancement.
The American horse export trade is
developing much faster than did the cat
tie trade to Europe. and yet our horses
take only second rank there. We can
not afford this. Let us get the best sires
of the English breed and raise the best
class of horses for home and foreign uses.
The world has the cash when we can
meet it with it's demand.
The evils of indiscriminate overpro-
duction have joined hands with the uni
versal wave of commercial and indus
trial depression, and the natural result
is condition of glut and stagnation
unprecedented in our time. Production
has, therefore, been brought up with
jerk, and he is the wise man who has
not been misled by the popular wall, and
will be ready for the harvest of profits
to come.
The carriage horse is luxury and
commands the fancy prices, but the
draft horse is an every day necessity.
The breeder of the latter has the advan-
tage, for he has fewer failures and mis-
fits; his colts will stand rougher treat
ment, and. if injured. their whole value
is not lost, even though somewhat de-
preciated.
Try feeding your horses on an exclu-
sive diet of bran and clover hay. The
cost of keeping will be reduced one
third, and they will look better than
when fed upon corn. oats and other
kinds of high priced feed. Four quarts
of the bran to the average horse, with
due amount of cut hay for an allowance.
Try. compare and calculate.
Better care will naturally follow an
improvement in quality of our horses
| There is no profit in outdoor winter
feeding. and farmers are learning that
they cannot afford to feed sgainst the
elements. 1t is the part of wisdom to
stable everything, for thereby we save
half the feed consumed,
With the American people there arose
confidence in horse breeding when
cattle sheep and hogs fell to an unremu-
nerative point. Unfortunately it did
not result in the stocking up with the
best grades, and from this overproduc-
ton of the unstable depends much of
the general depression today.
The glut in the horse market is work
ing out its own cure. We are wearing
them out fast in our streets and farms,
and thousands have been killed and fed
to the hogs in the West. Many have
restricted or abandoned breeding, and
the stock is low. Unfortunately we can
not catch up with the demand quickly,
like it is possible to do with sheep or
swine.
1t is not SO much the prices of today
which should influence breeding opera
lions as what will be the probable values
at the end of the century. 1t takes
about five years to produce a marketable
horse, so that the mares we now are