Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1912-09-05

There are a number of considera-
tons for the farmers to keep in mind
in breeding horses for the draft horse
trade. Among these are that size,
weight, condition and character each
bear an important influence in de
termining the prices paid on the mar
kets and therefore that this influence
is reflected upon the prices which
they receive from the country ship
pers and buyers, says the Wisconsin
Agriculturist. Nothing that influences
the large central markets for the prod
ucts Of the farm fails to affect the
sale of single article directly on the
farm.
| Probably the one thing which the
general run of horses that reach the
markets lack more often than any
other is size and incidentally there
fore weight. 1t is stated from good
authority that there are more good
horses marketed in the Union Stock
Yards at Chicago than any other
place in the United States, and yet
Of the 100000 horses marketed there
not more than $4,000 would weigh
over 1850 pounds, and not more than
5000 were what would be termed AL
horses. First class draft horses for
the city trade should not weigh less
! than 1,600 pounds when in working
condition, and if they weigh 1850
pounds they will satisfy all the better.
To carry such weights horses should
stand about 16 hands high or over
and should have conformations in
proportion.
The condition of horse is all i'm
portant, both as to soundness and
thrift. Horses that have poor feet,
bad hooks, weak wind, or poor Shout
ders are sticklers on the market. They
sell very slowly and at very low
| prices. So also do horses that are in
poor condition Of thrift. Fat always
helps to sell horses quickly and at
| good prices, for it makes them look
good and the horses, moreover do not
need to be conditioned before they
can be put to work. A horse which
looks thin when it leaves the farm is
liable to look considerably thinner
after it has been shipped and arrives
at the sales stables. Fat horses ship
far better than thin, thriftless ones.
Then, too, the suspicion of being a
poor doer on the best of care is liable
to attach itself to the thin horse in
the mind of the buyer, whereas when
he looks upon well conditioned
horse no such suspicion occurs to him.
Character is valuable asset to
any horse that is placed on the mar
ket, and like size and weight is gen.
orally lacking in the usual stock of
horses to be selected from in the
country. A horse that shows intelli-
gence, good breeding and those quail
tiles that come through careful
handling and good training will out
sell the common, plain looking horses
by considerable margin; size,
weight and condition being otherwise
alike.
The man on the farm engaging in
horse production from the viewpoint
of dollars and cents and anxious to
make his acres earn the highest net
returns should breed his mares to the
best sires that are available combin-
ing size, weight, soundness and char
acter, and should breed to them con-
sistently. They should endeavor also
as soon as possible, either by pur-
chase or by breeding up, to possess
themselves of big drafty mares COM
bining those qualities. The only re-
grettable thing about the sale of the
dapple gray mares on the January
IL, 1912 Chicago horse market for
$1,000, is that the mares were not
purchased by some good farmer to be
used for breeding and farm work pur-
poses instead Of by a Chicago teaming
firm to draw big wagon. 1t is re-
grettable that they should ever have
gotten away from the farm, for if
they were worth $1,000 for drawing a
big wagon and heavy loads, certainly
they were worth that on the farm
where they could do work to earn
their cost of maintenance and raise
colts worth $1,000.
The economy Of the heavy mare on
the farm, both from the standpoint of
doing farm work and producing colts
compared with light and medium
weight mares is nicely summed up as
follows by Secretary Dinsmore of the
Percheron Society of America: "The
cost of maintenance under farm con-
ditions is about the same, the heavier
mares are more efficient in the work
of the farm, the colts are ready fer
work year younger, and If carried
to the same age, will bring about
twice as much as the colts from the