The Cook County herald., 1905-09-09
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STOCK
Unsound Brood Mares.

Unsound Brood Mares.
Driving through the country, in q
we4rknown horse breeding county, the
writer recently was surprised to see
many unsound mares going at pasture
with toals at foot. In one instance the
mare was afflicted with stringhalt and
nao also a markedly unsound hook
'olnt. Another mare with nursing foal
was so badly foundered that she could
scarcely walk. Her feet were badly
oeIormed and examination showed
that the soles were dropped" We
nave also seen of late brood mares af-
nlcted with side bones, ringbones,
spaVlns and curbs, and yet they have
oeen pred when thus unsound. It
seems strange indeed after all that has
Deen said on this subject that farmers
should still persist in using unsound
mares for breeding purposes. The
stallion usually receives the blame for
pad conformation and unsoundness in
MS colts, but the more the subject is
studled the more apparent will it be-
come that the brood mare is even
more commonly at fault. When it is
remembered that one stallion serves
from. t1tty to one hundred mares it
should be apparent that there is great
11kellhood OF many of these mares be-.
ing unsound, whereas much greater
care is taken as regards the sound.
ness OF the sire. There are too many
unsound stations, to be sure, but
tney are less common than unsound
mares, and while farmers go on breed
ing 10 unsound stock it will be sim.
ply impossible to improve our horse
STOCK at the rate possible under in
telllgent supervision and practice.
II is quite impossible to explain the
TACT that unsound stock is still sc
commonly employed in the breeding
operations of the farmer. Common
sense would seem sufficient to prevent
farmers from following such ruinous
pol1cy. Lack of success in selling un
sound horses should surely have TOLD
each breeder that it does not pay te
breed unsound animals. Farmers in
stltutes, stock and farm papers, teach
ers IN agricultural colleges, judges at
1a1rs-all have waged warfare against
unsound breeding stock and all have
tailed equally in duly impressing the
average farmer with the seriousness o1
the matter. What more can be sale
to arouse his interest and focus his
attention so strongly that he will give
heed to what he has heard preached
and what he has read. hundreds OF
times? Will it impress him to learr
that thousands of horses each yea1
prove practically drug upon the mar
ket Tor the reason that they are un
sound; that such horses sell at prices
that do not pay for the expense OF
raising and shipping them; that they
would if sound have sold for prices
giving a fine profit; that such trashy
beasts and the host of misfits anc
mongrels bred in an equally careless
way go south as chunks" at not owe,
$64 head. Most of these horses are
four or five years old, many of then
older. Evidently it is impossible fol
any owner of good farm land of aver
age value to market a horse at these
ages at the figure mentioned. Yet the
farmer proceeds year after year te
raise unsound, worthless horses, anc
seems to be perfectly unconcerned as
to the inevitable results On the con
trary, he might just as easily breed
and raise horses that will return gooc
profits in the market and it is high
time that he should make an effort il
this direction.
Many men have long been breeding
the right sort and reaping the conse
quent profit. They are few compare
lively speaking and the breeder OF
scrubs and unsound animals still de
presses the entire trade and by his
patronage of cheap sires makes it wei,
nigh impossible to free the country oi
grade, cross-bred and mongrel, un
sound stations. A strange feature OF
this business is that the very farmer
who pays no intelligent attention tc
horse-breeding gives great care to the
matter of og-breeding and seed selec
tion. He could not be persuaded into
changing the blood of his hogs by an
alien cross Of blood nor would he read.
lily change his seed corn experimental
ly, but he will mate his mare, sound
or unsound, to the nearest stallion
that stands at cheap fee no matter
what he may be as regards pedigree
breed or soundness. These are plain
statements, but they are true. Many
of our readers do not belong in the
category outlined, but we hope this
article will hit the "other fellow" good
and hard.-A. S. Alexander in Farm
ers' Review.