The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-08-18
THE HORSE ON THE FARM.

SlnCe we haQ SOmetnloS last mOntn
about the origin and development of
the horse, we have thought it might
be profitable to discuss that most
valuable animal in his relation to the
profits from the farm. There are a
good many farmers who work moth
ing but mules on the farm, on the
ground that they are less liable to
sickness than horses, eat less and are
disposed to thrive under rougher
care. There are other men who
work just whatever happens to come
along about the time they are look
ing for work animal, and they are
content to get out of the work stock
all the labor the animal can perform
without reference to any by-products
in the way of increase.
It has been said that the huge
combinations of industrial capital in
this country owe their tremendous
prosperity primarily to Dy-producrs.
Of course the people at large insist,
and I think correctly, that most of their
profits are due to their destruction of
competition, favoritism in. the way of
rebates from the transportation compa-
nies, but the insistence of the heads of
these monopolies that their successes
are due to the creation Of marketable
by-products has, I think, much truth
behind it.
Why then shall not the farmers of
the country take advantage of the
horse by-product of the farm? 1t
must be admitted that no class of
people is in such good position to
raise colts economically as the far
mer; he generally has pasture at
least large enough to accommodate
few colts at a time; he has a good
deal of unstable stuff such as fod-
ders on which, with small assis-
tance in the way of grain, colts will
do we'll through the winters, and in
the cold weather, about the only
time colts require any special atten-
tion, the farmer has more time than
at any other season of the year.
But even with these advantages,
colts cost about so much to raise to
salable age, and if a farmer intends
to take advantage of this opportunity
to make profit out of by-product,
he should figure the thing all out be-
fore he commences. A colt dropped
in April, at any rate in the northern
parts of the country, will give the
mother ample time to recover from
the ordeal before the heavy spring
work is at hand so none Of her time
is lost from work. The colt will re-
quire very little feed, in addition to
the mothers milk that first summer;
he can, after a couple of weeks, go
without sucking from morning to
noon and from noon to quitting time
if he is kept in darkened, cool barn
in the day time, so the flies cannot
bother him, and allowed to run with
the mother at night, he will thrive
we'll, if held along with a few pounds
of ground grain and the privilege of
nibbling at the hay in the manger,
which he will soon learn to eat.
The first winter he will have to be
given a pretty good allowance of
grain, if he Is to do his best in the
way of growing. The second sum-
mer he will do mostly on pasture.
The second winter he will have to be
fed pretty literally again, and so the
third year of his life he can be han
died in the same way. At three
years of age he is ready to take his
place in the farm work, or he is ready
to sell.
The cost of all this feeding and at
tention can be very readily figured
down to dollars and cents, so that
the owner can tell to cent what the
animal has cost him-or rather he
can figure beforehand just what the
colt will have cost at selling time.
Some one has stated that the average
colt raised on the average farm will
cost about forty dollars a year. Of
course this figure is speculative and
in most instances will be far above
the true cost of the animal, and I am
of the opinion that it ought not to
cost more than $500, at the out
side to bring a colt up to the time
when he can be realized on either in
cash or in work. But there are
thousands of colts raised on the
farms of this country every year that
are never worth this amount of
money, and their owners would be
money ahead if they were to knock
them in the head the day they came
And this brings us to the point of
real significance in this question of
colt raising.
1t costs no more to raise a good
animal than a poor one, and if the
farmer is going to raise colts at all,
he should raise those for which there
will be ready sale at good prices.
This talk about horses going out of
business because of the automobile
Is of course all nonsense. The same
thing was predicted when the street
cars of the land were transformed to
electricity and cable, and horses are
worth more money today than they
have been worth ever before-espe-
cially good horses. But there are
classes even in good horses, and each
farmer must adapt himself to the
conditions about him if he is to get
the best out of his intention to raise
colts. In the first place, he will
| have to take into consideration any
mares he may have on the farm.
Then he must look about for an
available and proper sire in the
neighborhood, then consider the
market he may have. 1t is always a
nice thing if several of the farmers
in a community can raise the same
general class of horses then buyers
will soon learn that they can get a
car lot around there, and will take
the trouble to make the trip period
ically for that purpose. Then there
will generally be some particular
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