The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-06
DOG DAYS ON FARM
APPROPRIATE TO
THE HOT WEATHER.
Men Who Check Horses Too High Should
Be Compelled to Wear Cuff Round
Neck-Drinking in the Fields.

Na FiA6 - - IN $3.50 80
cd upward n held in place by a severe
checkrein should be compelled to wear a
cuff around his neck In the place of a
low collar during warm weather. just
what is to be gained by such cruel prae-
tises is difficult TO see but one thing
sure, 1t shows a lack of horse sense on
the part of the driver
1t Is common practise for harvest field
hands and lawmakers to drink freely and
often from a fresh supply Of water, but
how many of the horses are given a r.
freshing drink during the same period?
Surely the few. OF course horses are not
human beings, but when it comes to work
ing very hard In warm weather at heavy
load hauling or pulling the binder, | am
sure an occasional drink OF water would
cool their systems and refresh their energy
equally as much as 1t stimulates the men.
1t Is not supposed, however, that any
horseman will allow his team to tank up
on cold water when in n very heated state,
but 1t is reasonable TO expect him to allow
them the privilege of taking a few swal-
lows to quench their thirst and drive the
burning impulses away.
A draft horse is unquestionably the ami
NAL for New Jersey farmers to produce.
He is in greater demafS than ever just
now, besides few farmers ever make the
light horse business pay out. You may
In a few cases produce high priced road
horses. but not with the degree OF regu-
larity possible where your whole atten-
ton is directed toward the draft horse.
Breed for size, weight. quality and good
action. Misfts don't count for much.
Light or road horses must be well
broken. clean limbed and strictly sound
with beauty, symmetry and high action
in order to command good prices. be-
sides mated in matched pairs and usu-
ally city broke. When you get this sort
of a specimen you are hardly disposed to
part with 1t for less than a fancy price,
but even then 1t is the exception for the
farmer or producer to get in on these
record prices 1t remains for some mid
dleman to make the ''find' of a prospec-
tive high stopper, or fancy reader, who
by special training and tireless devotion
is able to land such animals in rich mems
stables where price cuts little or no figure.
On the other hand there Is not so much
development or such as is possible with
draft horses but rather a ready and steady
market for the entire output. Slight
blemishes do not detract much from the
selling price and often youngsters ere
placed on sale green and unbroken. 1t IS
weight hat brings a premium with draft
ers anc with due attention to this one
I QhntiA II ~ RDE9ARA1 ~ 2tRRAt
a net profit. 1t is sure folly to mate a
draft mare with a roadster just to get
something that can go a little faster. 1t is
not speed nor high action that the farmer
wants. but rather weight and quality.
These qualities are found only In draft
stalliona of the low-down blocky type,
possessed of all the units necessary to
make up an ideal specimen
NJ. a1.,h4 a <o., raadaro uHfI fAOnhf the
statement that horse flesh Is worth fifty
cents or 81 per pound. / don't mean to
say that the animals are disposed OF by
scale weight. but do infer that additional
flesh or unfinished or half fat animals
would be worth that much money IL feed
ers would recognize the fact and feed
them out. The draft horse market has
always demanded heavy horses, but never
before has weight governed the price as
1t does at the present time. Horses
Weighing from / 800 to 1000 pounds sell at
q premium. while light chunks tipping
the scales Mt from 1.150 to 1.500 pounds
are proportionstely discounted. 1t is safe
to saw that four-flfths of the horses
marketed as drafters Weighing from 1900
to 1.500 pounds could be made to weigh
at least 200 pounds more per head, pro-
viding their owners would shove the fed
into them and sell them as finished
horses. Every pound of flesh added to a
/ 400 pound horse that has the frame and
conformation to carry 1000 pounds Is
we'll worth twenty-five cents per pound;
likewise. additional flesh on 1000 pound
horses possessing the above quality Is
worth fifty cents per pound. md, when
LOO pound horses in ordinary flesh are
finished and rounded out the value of
the extra muscle Is we'll worth 81 per
pound.
Feeders of cattle and swine are more
than satisfied when they receive six and
eight cents per pound for finished beef.
which comes well nigh paying seventy
five cents per bushel of grain when the
market Is rated at its present schedule.
Why. then. should not the inlsher Of
draft horses prosper. when. by exercising
a bit of common sense and judgment, he
can lain many times this price for his
grain fed to nothing else than growthy
drafters of his own raising, or by pur-
chasing those disposed of by some farmer
who fails to recognize the difference in
value between a finished and an unfinished
draft horse.
However, just as long as we have horses
we will have men who will fail to recog-
nize the difference between q mere margin
and n clear profit. The old plan of our
forefathers of selling off the animals that
would bring the largest amount of ready
cash, regardless of their future value, will
always find plenty of followers. And Just
so long as they continue this malpractice,
Just so long will there be an opportunity
for the feeders or middle men to reap the
harvest which they had no part in plant
ing or growing, realizing their entire
profits by buying both feed and animals
from the less skillful producer, and. add
ing shine and finish to the animals ex-
terror by a few weeks of generous feeding
and careful grooming, are able to dispose
of them as finished products on a market
where the supply exceeds the demand.
Common or ordinary products can be
produced by ordinary people, and are al
ways disosed of at ordinary prices, but
the man who ia not content to dabble In
discriminatory into a series of projects, but
who settles down and does one thing or
produces one product which is just a little
better than that produced by his neighbor,
is the man who is going to receive the
genuine profit, rather than a mere living
margin. If he makes up his mind TO raise
draft horses he must also make up his
mind to finish them through rather than
to dispose of them when they are merely
warmed up or half fat. The labor ques-
ton is almost checking the advancement
Of the dairyman. 1t costs no more to
raise a colt than 1t does a calf, and a 3 or
4-year-old grade draft horse is worth four
times as much as a grade dairy COW of
the same age, and the labor involved in
caring for the colt Is considerably less.