Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-09-12
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A belief exists all over the east that
in the future the west can be depended
upon to supply horses at less cost
than eastern farmers can afford to
raise them. 4 months sojourn in the
west looking up the horse industry
leads me to the conclusion that such
belief is :nfounded, says c. u. Smead
in The National StOckman. The plain
facts are that the low prices of few
years past have more effcctually driven
the western breeder out Of breeding
horses than the eastern breeder. True
there are horses found in plenty in the
sale stables, but the quality of them Is
poor, in fact very poor in many cases.
Scarcely first class carriage, coach or
draft horse can l find. BY far too
many Of them are 100 pounds too
light for carriage horses, and when |
do find one large enough with a kind
disposition and intelligent l find him
with poorly formed limbs, too upright
| pasterns, weak at the knees and stiff
in the shoulders.
The drafters we find more of size and
lunk headedness than of intelligence,
nervous energy and conformation such
as will stand the work required of them
when put to use. The best horses Of all
classes have been picked up and the
Culls left, Is about the situation in the
west Many whom l find breeding
I horses are patrOnizing stations Of but
mighty poor merit. True, there are
here and there trotting sires which
have size enough and a record made on
some race track, and that IS about all
they have to recommend them. They
either have n willful or stubborn dispo-
sition, blemished limbs or thick wind.
Others are nice little fellows, kind
enough, sound enough, but have not
size adequate to produce a horse large
enough to draw n carriage.
In the coach class | have found stall
lions with goose necks, rat tails, meaty
legs and leggy action peddled about as
ideal coach horses and patronized by
! farmers simply because they were inn
ported. | know of no other reason.
True merit they were nearly devoid Of.
And we find many of the draft sireS
little or no better. Many have been
shown us with hollow backs, high hips,
crooked legs, tied in at the knees and
sickle hooks. They weighed perhaps
LOO pounds or more.
There are, no doubt, good sires In the
country west of the Mississippi, but
they are comparatively scarce. There
! are some very good mares left there yet
on the farms, which would if bred to
the right kind Of sires produce good
horses. But with the sircs at present
there no considerable number Of first
class horses will come to eastern mar
kets for some years. This can be de-
pended upon. The west has seemingly
been made the dumping ground for the
Gull stations Of the eastern states.
Shredded +, oder For Horses.
| think that shredded corn fodder
makes as good or better feed than hay
for horses through the winter, says A.
J. Daft In Prairie Farmer. One of my
neighbors has wintered about 800
sheep OH shredded fodder, and they
look better the two last winters than
they did when they were fed hay. My
experience has been that it makes one
Of the best feeds that one can have,
and the expense is not so great when
two or three neighbors work together,
But the fodder must be dry when it is
cut, as otherwise it will mold in the
bin or NOW and so prove worthless.
There will be large quantities cut this
fall on account Of the scarcity Of hay,
and there will be on increased demand
for fodder cutters and shrcdders.