The Lamar register., 1905-06-21
IIVE1
STOCK
Mating Mares IntellisentIy.

1t Is of vast Importance to breed
the mare to the right horse. and we
would strongly advise leaving her un-
bred unless the right horse can be
found And what is the right horse?'
1t may be asked. The answer Is that
the right horse to choose is the one
that Is OF pure blood. of that blood
Which predominates in the mare. Most
mares have some pure blood in their
composition, and the owner should
determine what blood predominates
and then breed her to a stallion OF
pure breeding of the breed represent
ed in the mare. By SO doing the re-
sultant foal will be purer than the
dam in that blood, and If filly is the
result she should in time be bred to
stallion of the same breed as her sire.
and SO on persistently in right line
until all of the scrub or ordinary
blood is bred out and that of the pure
blood is made the only possession of
the animal.
Five top crosses in this method of
breeding will practically establish
purity of blood, but the work should
not stop there, and few more top
crosses in the same direction will
produce the breed-prepotency possess
ed by animals long bred pure. Had
\ this idea been followed in our breed
ing operations for the last fifty or
sixty years the country would be Ill
of practically pure-bred animals gr.-d-
ed up from ordinary stock by per-
sistent and intelligent use of import
ed or home-bred pedigreed stations.
AS 1t is. all sorts of mixtures have
been made, and the resultant stock is
a conglomerate of all breeds and
representation of none. The time has
come to stop this foolishness in breed
ing, and the work on every farm
should start this spring by the in
telligent mating of the mares.
The trouble in the past has been
that the mare owner would not go to
the trouble of finding the proper stall
lion for his mares. He might desire
to breed to the right one, but could
not find him readily, so used the first
one that came along or the cheapest
beast to be found. He possibly start
ed grading up by using a Percheron
stallion upon his mares and used that
breed until it had no representative
in that district. Then he used horse
of different blood and even upon his
grade fillies. The result could but be
that the grade was altered and the
new one was a retrograde-a step
back to scrub stock and in no way an
advance over the first stock used.
This sort of work should not be done
this year.
Find out where there is a stallion
of the right blood and take the mare
to him, even If 1t takes time and mon
ey to do so. The result in the long
run will be profitable, If the same
course is pursued each year until five
or six top crosses of the same blood
are put on. And do not breed even
to the horse of right breed unless he
is sound and a good individual of his
kind. We want to see farmers boy
colt all scrub. grade and unsound stall
lions, and IL they will do SO for few
years such horses will Of necessity
become a thing of the past. And do
not breed an unsound mare. To-day
every mare owner should understand
that any old mare is not good enough
to breed from. Many have fallen
into the error of imagining that
mare that is no longer fit for use on
the farm by reason Of some disease
or another is still fit to breed from.
This absurdity has filled the country
with unsound or badly formed horses,
and 1t is high time to eliminate all
unsound stock from our breeding op-
erations.
Then there is another point of i'm
portance at this time of the year, and
that is to insist upon the stallion own
er showing the registry certificate for
his horse. " he has duly recorded
his stallion he will have and can show
a certificate signed by the president
and secretary of the stud book asso-
citation for the breed to which the
horse is said to belong. and IL he has
purchased the horse from some man
other than the original breeder or i'm
porter he should be able to show a
duly signed certificate of transfer
from the stud book secretary. There
is a great deal of fraud in the stand
if,s Of stations for public service, and
no mans word should be taken as re-
CARDS breeding when 1t is possible to
have him corroborate his statements
by exhibition of the certificates we
have mentioned. The time will come
when the stallion owner will also
have to show a certificate from quail
ified veterinarian showing that the
horse is sound.-A. S. Alexander in
Farmers Review.
The Feed Floor.