The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-08-10
MAINE GAN RAISE
DRAFT HORSES
History Gives Proof Of
Statement
This Industry Should Be More En-
cOuraged aud Breeders Ass0cia.
ton Should Take 1t Up.

tlOn buOuiu hAc Ae tP'
One of the best things In the whole
program at the meeting of the live
stock men in Waterville recently was
the talk on draft horses by Professor
George E. Simmons of the University
of Maine. Professor Simmons came
OF Maine last year from the Middle
West, where breeding heavy horses
is one of the big industries, and he
gave his hearers some mighty good
pointers on the business, in part as
follows:
These horses are generally raised
a few In a place, in connection with
mixed farm operations. and on reach
fng the proper age are broken. work
ed for a year and then sold to buy
ers. Before placing them on the
eastern market, the buyers fatten
them heavily, sometimes in their own
establishments, and at other times
by boarding them out with farmers
who make a specially of that sort OF
feeding. For at times the animals
are given only the exercise involved
in leading them to water and in
some cases are led as many as five
times a day. When finished they come
East
With the vitality lowered by the
forcing process through which they
have passed, cold, etc, are frequent
ly contracted en- route. But if so
fortunate as to escape these troubles,
there are others less easily avoided
Horses for farm use are mostly
purchased in the string, and they
reach their new homes just in time
to participate in the rush of the
spring work. Only the most skillful
handling could avoid straining under
these circumstances, and such hand
ling is very exceptional. This may
account in part for some of the pre-
yailing superstitions about getting
western horses 'acclimated.'
THE factors that go to make up
the price which is charged for the
Western horse in the Eastern market
are these: Service fee paid the owner
| of the sire; cost to the farmer who
raises the colt; profit made by the To-
cal buyer; expense of fattening;
transportation charges; and the COM
mission of the Eastern distributor.
Certainly the buyer is called upon to
pay for a good deal that has added
absolutely nothing to the intrinsic
value of the animal itself.
Maine soil will grow just as much
and just as good grass and grain per
acre as will the farms of the Middle
West. History affords ample proof
for the statement that Maine condi-
tons will develop the best stock in
the world. In connection with breed
ing of heavy horses on tbs farms
| there would be the work done by the
brood mares; the fertility made avail
able for the soil; and the saving OF
| transportation charges now paid in
sending hay, etc. In this as in other
times it is good policy to keep the
dollars at home.
Cup to 1928 buyers came into
Maine each year. and sent horses by
the carload into the big cities of New
England. But about that time prices
| fell, and the business of raising hors-
es was largely abandoned. Conditions
have since changed, however, and
the time Is now ripe for new era
of the industry. Much depends upon
the encouragement which only the
State is in position to give.
I'm both sections of the world both
in America and abroad, where the
breeding of draft horses has become
great industry. carefully drawn
laws encourage the individual to work
in harmony with sound ideals. France
particularly beginning with the rule
of the great Napoleon, has SO en-
couarged her farms In this line, that
buyers of breeding stock go there In
veritable stream, and leave behind
them immense sums in the aggre-
gate"
One of the first acts of the newly
formed Maine Live Stock Breeders
association should be the appoint
ment Of a committee to formulate and
present to the next Legislature a pro-
gressive act to encourage the rational
development of this great industry.
The experience of other states and
nations afford safe guidance for such
efforts as may be depended upon to
make Maine one OF the great horse
producing states.