Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-02-10
Good Dratters Scarce.

for some time it says:
"rhe growing scarcity of heavt DRAFT
horses is again cuasinE much col'cei II
among dealers. Proprietors % tue
small stables where stock Is pfoueu.
mands are finding it very ditilc"lt W
from week to week as the trade "e-
obtain first-class drafters, and even
the largest dealers. who conlfact ioi
the pick of horses on the breeding ana
feeding farms far In advance OF lhelr
readiness for marketing. are constantly
forced to pay higher prices for their
future supplies
"Tw,o or three things are at present
operating In the direction of higher
prices for heavy draft horses. one
is the fact that contractors who work
thousands and thousands of horses are
using much heavier teams than they
used a few years ago They nave
found that 1t pays to handle big 'oads,
and their trucks are now built to carry
two and a half yards of earth where
they used to carry one yard ana
o,nrter To do this work they re-
uuire bigger horses than before. For
merly contractors bought horses under
fourteen hundred pounds for their
work. but they won't look at anything
under fifteen hundred pounds now. and
most of them wu4 animals weighing
around. sixteen hundred pounds and
seventeen hundred pounds. 1t takes
tremendous number of big horses to
supply this new demand, and the worst
Of 1t Ia the breeders are not rnising
enough Of them.
High prices of beef seem to have
1vnct0rn ARM
ers to drop horses and go into cattle
raising, In the last few years. There
is no getting around the fact that
steers pay best as rule. They are
ready for market in two years, where
1t takes four to raise a horse. Iheh
again, the difficulty of raising heavy
drafters is not to be denied. Gut or
twenty colts not more then ten Will
develop into horses weighing over
fourteen hundred pounds. no matter
how big their sres and dams may be.
Then cut out the blemished ones and
the ones that get sick and die, and the
breeder has really only small per-
centaee of such drafters as the mar
ket now demands"
No doubt our contemporary is right
IN it's deductions, for from other sour
ces comes confirmation of its state
ments. We know that very few are
being bred in this state, and that 1T
is very difficult to secure a soun1 pair
of matched drafters weighing LOO or
1900 pounds. Few horses now being
raised will go over 1,400. withou: they
are loaded with flesh like fat steer.
A Chicago daily printed the following
last week:
"A firm of horse dealers in Chicago
has Just filled an order for pair OF
draft geldings at $1,000. These horses
are Clydesdales and weigh 4,4S0
pounds. With the exception Of the show
geldings owned by Nelson Norris. these
are the highest priced draft gtldings
ever sold in America.
This is another example Of the de-
mand for high-class draft horses. 1t
costs but little more to raise such as
these than the kind bringing $3.50 each.
The difference in profit is too apparent
to need comment OF course the de-
mand for show horses OF the draft
class is limited, but the supply has
never yet been sufficient to meet 1t,
and probably will not be soon-
"The demand for high class drafters
for business purposes Is practically
unlimited so far as the ability of the
present supply to meet it goes, and no
farmer need be afraid to engage In the
| production of this class of horses, as
| the market will certainly be good for
| them for years, at least"
| Now, why is there such shortage
in the supply of heavy drafters" Sim
ply because the business Of pre- ducing
them has become unremunerative.
There were too many being offered for
sale and the prices realized for them
did not return any profit to the rails
er. Four years feed and care, with
service fee, and the percentage of loss
from unsound or blernfshed animals
makes the raising of draft horses a
pretty costly and very often an UNI
profitable business. For some years.
about decade ago, prices were wholly
unrelnunerative. Buyers squeezed own
ers and breeders down to such low
figures that in this and other of the
middle agricultural states farers sold
out their breeding stock and began
buying what horses they required rath-
err than raise them. They could buy
cheaper than the horses could DE bred
and grown. The result of such con-
| ditions is now being felt.
al