The Florida agriculturist., 1906-03-14
The Farm Horse and the Market
Horse

the assertion that colt could De ra1S-
ed about as chcaply as a cali, while
at selling time the price would De
from two to ten times as great. why
do not more of our stockmen Dreed
horses instead OF cattle!
The editor of WallaCe's Farmer ur-
ges his readers to breed draft horses
and used the following arguments;
The farmer who expects to grow
draft horses for sale must make up
his mind that they are not exactly
the best type of horse Tor tarm WORK.
They are of no use IN gong to town
unless taught to walk brlSkly. lhey
are not the best animal for tarm work,
such as plowng corn or narrowing,
or any other kind of work that re-
quires rather quick action. For these
purposes the twelve or Thirteen hum
dred pound horse is better than the
heavier drafter of sixteen or seven
teen hundred pounds.
The unfortunate thing, however, is
that these horses under fourteen hun
dred pounds are not usually good sell
ers in the market. Hence the farmer
must make up his mind that he can
not have the all-purpose horse and
at the same time get draft prices. The
farmer who really likes the coach and
roadster horses and knows how to
work them will find these quite as
suitable for most work on the farm
as the heavy draft horse; for all kinds
of work, in fact, except heavy PloW-
ing.
For the farmer who has large
amount of work to do and wishes to
get the value of the full time of the
he
not to grow horses at all, but mules,
and not even to grow them, but buy
them when colts, yearllngS or two
year-olds, in order to keep up the
horse stock on his farm. Whatever
kind of horses he determines to grow,
however, he should go at it lntelli-
gently and with plans that run through
several years, taking into account the
character of the land. We don't ad-
wise persons ON poor land or on very
hilly, rough land, to undertake to
grow the draft horse. All the world
over the draft horse is found on the
richer agricultural lands, lands that
grow big grass.
The demand for these horses var
les, of course, with the periods OF
prosperity and adversely. When man
lhtSISolo oiN
there will always be a demand tor
draft horses. AS no one can tOreSee
these periods of prosperity, the only
thing to do is to breed right along
and take the fat years with the lean
The farmer on good land that grows
big grass can grow a draft horse to
two years old, barring the service tee,
considerable cheaper than he can grow
the steer calf to the same age, and
he can fit him for market at frac-
ton of the cost for which he can ht
the steer Hense there IS good money
for the man who can obtain the serv-
ices of a first-class stallion, or own
one himself, who will use brood mares
exclusively on his farm, keeping about
so per cent more than is necessary
to do the work, and grow these colts
from year to year. We know OF nc
surer or safer money than this; Du1
he must grow good ones. He must
have his farm fenced so as to reduce
the cost of damage from wire cuts
to the minimum, and must know how
to feed his colts during the trst WIN
ter SO as to carry out his own ideas
in selecting their parentage.
In connection with the above Il
will be we'll to remember that there
are other breeds, besides heavy drat
horceC that can be DrOfltably raised