The Opelousas courier., 1895-08-17
FARMERAND PLANTER.
MULE BREEDING,
10 Secure the Most Profit the Farmer
Must Raise Good Animals.

10 Secure the Most Profit the Farmer
Must Raise Good Animals.
In raising mules. like the breeding
and raising of horses, if we expect to
secure the most profit we must secure
good animals. The cost of keeping
the mares, of feeding and caring for
the colts is as much with good mules
as with poor ones, but when they are
priced to sell there is a considerable
difference in the value. There is no
more erroneous idea than thatof think
ing "a colt is a colt" and hat it makes
but little difference how the horses
are bred. There are plenty Of good
jacks, and at the same there are qnite
a number that at best are very poor
for breeding purposes. In fact .they
are not worth breeding, and the farm
er makes a serious mistake in breed.
ing his mares to such an animal.
There is a good demand for we'll
formed, good-sized mules, and they
readily bring such prices as will leave
the farmer a good profit for the trouble
OF raising them. Poor mules, small
and not well built, are the1pgDr>~as
poor horses; they are poor property for
any man to own.
A good team of young mules can be
made to do considerable work for from
eighteen months to two years, and
then be sold at four years. just at a
time when they will, under ordinary
circumstances, bring the best prices.
With rood 40 a r,r1ac nn, lo h,ol-a orI
worked easier than horses, and farmers
who can not keep several teams profit
ably at work ell the time, and vet find
it necessary to keep several, will find
it will pay to keep two or three mares,
the number to be proportional to the
number of teams considered necessary
to keep up with the farm work, and
raise good mules, keeping the mares in
a good, thrifty condition so that a good
growth can be secured. Then they can
be used for some time on the farm
while they are growing, fully suffi-
Gent to pay their feed, and at the
same time have them gradually in
creasing in value, and selling at an age
"lCh ClICy WILL uSudlIy VI my JIG liiS IL
est figures. Of course care must be
taken of them SO that a good, thrifty
growth can be secured. Some breed
ers make the claim that raising mules
can not be done only on a scale sufi-
GENTLY large to pay the farmers for
making extra good fences in order to
keep them confined.
Tho "r1o Snnr,c 10 hovA a
natural propensity for Jumping fences,
but a good barbed wire fence will re-
strain them. They are a good deal
like all other stock; if they are kept
confined, it is easier to keep them in
than to allow them to get outside by
breaking through or jumping over. If
they once find they a get over or
through the fences it is a considerable
task to keep them up.
The difference in the cost between
good mules and poor ores is the differ
ence in the cost of service. 1t will
usually cost more for the service of a
real good jack than it will cost for a
poor one. and other things being equal,
the difference in them is a small item
in comparison with the value of the
mules when they are ready to sell. If
they are fed SO as to be kept growing
steadily in a good, thrifty condition
the cost is the same, or nearly the
same, whether the animal is a good or
poor one, and to secure the most profit
the best must be raised, and if the best
is raised it is very essential to have
the mares bred to good jacks.-South-
ern Farm.