Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1911-12-29
WINTER CARE OF BROOD MARES
BY Earl Ewen, Iowa State College.

Bv Earl Even, Iowa State College.
AS q rule it is not possible to worl
brood. mares in the winter. This i
due to the fact that there is not mucl
team work to be done. Wherever pos
sible, however, brood mares shoulc
be worked, for it keeps them in q
more vigorous, healthy condition thar
where thay are allowed to remain
idle.
There are two precautions that
need to be observed in working preg.
nant mares. One is, do not cause
them to over-exert themselves pull
ing; the other, do not make them
back load. Subjecting a pregnant
mare to either one Of these conditions
Is liable to inJure her and may cause
abortion.
Where mares cannot be worked,
the next best thing is to let them
run in a good pasture every day ex-
cept when it is stormy. The best
pasture is blue grass, and where it
has been SLOWED to grow long, the
mares will relish it very much and
will paw the snow off in order to get
it.
It pays t. house the mares in dry,
we'll bedded barns every night. How
ever, where this is not possible, sheds
closed on The north, west and east
and opening to the south will do very
we'll. The sheds should be in we'll
drained lots. They should be provid-
ed at all times with plenty of dry
bedding.
Feed should be provided morning
and night for mares running on pas
ture. Each mare should have sep
arate feed box and not more than two
mares should be tied in stall. This
prevents fighting and every one gets
her share. Where barn room is not
provided, stalls can be made in the
shed and rope stretched across to
keep the mares from going into the
stalls except at feeding time. Each
mare should have halter and
short rope with snap can be put in
each stall. The mares will soon learn
their stalls and can be quickly tied.
Oats are the best feed and corn
the poorest feed for mares in foal.
Because rats are so high in price it
Is best to supplement them with bran
or use a mixture of corn, oats and
bran. Oats two parts and bran one
part or oats two parts, corn two
parts and bran one part bv weight
are very good mixtures. They can
be fed all they will clean up and still
come hungry to the next feed. Well
cured clover or alfalfa hay mixed
with an equal amount of timothy hay
makes a very suitable hay ration.
Not over one to one and one suarter
pounds per hundred weight should be
fed. Corn stalks are not very good
feed and it IL not advisable to feed
them.
Feeding Of the mare has to do very
largely with the size, strength and
vigor of the foal. Often large mares
fed mainly on corn and timothy pro-
duce smaller foals than smaller
mares fed on a more heterogeneous ra-
tion Farmers are often surprised at
this. One farmer wonders why his
big, fat, corn-fed mares, bred to the
same stallion as his neighbours
smaller mares, didn't produce as
large foals. The difference very
likely lies m the fact that he has fed
his mares plenty of fat forming food,
but very little bone and muscle form
ing material, and, in a sense, he has
starved the foetus.
Mares should be kept from fight
ing, especially in icy lots. The water
tank is usually place where great
deal of crowding, swapping and kick
ing is done. If there is an especially
ill-natured mare in the bunch she
should be kept separated from the
rest. A kick or slip might cause
abortion.
Mice In the Apple Orchards.
Hundreds of young apple trees are
destroyed annually in iowa by mice.
The stem is usually girdled just at
the surface Of the ground, hence their
work is likely to escape notice unit!
the damage is done. Weeds and trash
furnish a harbor for them and en-
courage their presence. The tree
wrapper recommended as a rrotec-
ton against rabbits will also serve
against mice if the lower end is set
an inch below the surface. Mice may
also be kept from the trees by sim
ply mounding up around the stem for
distance of four or five inches.
About three spadesful of dirt is am
pie. Care should be taken that no
openings are left. Mice have the pc
culiar habit of passing around rather
than over IN obstruction of this kind.
Mice may be poisoned by placing
sweetened grain treated with strych-
nine in the runways.