Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-06-11
Marked Decrease
OF Work Animals
Acute Shortage Seems Ger
tain Within Five Years,
Says Department.

prepared by the United States Department
of Agricultural
A marked decrease in the number
OF horses and mules of working age
that may amount to an acute short
age seems certain within five years,
says the United States Department Of
Agriculture. Unless more horse and
mule colts are raised during each of
the next five years than were raised
in 1924, the number of horses onl
farms five years from now will be only
GO per cent of present numbers and
OF mules IA per cent.
Larger Crops Expected.
While present requirements of colts
end Of young horses and mules are
entirely inadequate to cover decreases
in the present numbers of work ami
mails, reports coming to the depart
ment from various sources indicate
that increased breeding and larger
colt crops are to be expected. Re
ports from state stallion registration
boards especially emphasize this inn
proved confidence of breeders. A
rather marked advance in horse and
mule prices during the last few months
indicates that the shortage may al
ready be making itself felt This may
be expected to increase further the
interest in horse breeding
In order to get a picture of the
present situation the crop reporters
of the department were asked to re-
port the ages of all horses and mules
on their own farms. Nearly $4,000
reports were tabulated. From these
calculations the percentages of animals
of different age groups were computed
for the United States by states and
regions The above is the situation
If the conditions on the farms of these
reporters are typical of all farms.
The. study shows that the largest
age group of horses is now the eight
and nine-yearold group, this making
up nearly one-fifth of the total; on
the other hand colts under one year
make up only 3 per cent and colts
one year old only 2.3 per cent. If
horse production were on replace
ment basis colts under one year would
be the largest group.
OF all horses only la per cent are
under four years, 45.6 per cent are
from four to nine years and 43 per
cent are over ten years with the aver
age age 90 years of all mules 1873
per cent are under four years, 51.9
per cent are from four to nine years
and 31.6 per cent are over ten years
with the average age of 8.4 years.
Five years from now, for animals Of
the most useful age, four to nine years,
there will be only 191 head of horses
for every $50 head now on farms and
only 278 mules for every $40 at
present.
Pure BREEDS Increase.
While the reports of the stallion
registration boards show fewer stall
lions registered in 1924 than in 1923,
the percentage of pure breds in the
total shows an increase. Registrations
for 1925 are coming in earlier than In
recent years, and these are accom-
panied by comments that show that
owners are much more hopeful and
that there is increased inquiry for
good quality breeding animals
y
of horses and mules have been more
than adequate and prices last year
were the lowest in over 20 years, such
a reduction as here indicated seems
much too great Even with sub
5stitution of other forms of power for
work animals on farms, the prospec-
five numbers are probably below fu-
ture minimum requirements.
In planning breeding operations, the
department says, farmers should study
the present situation to determine re-
-gions where the shortage will probably
be felt the soonest and where substie
tuition of other forms of power will
be the least practicable. Types of
animals suited to these areas probably
will be In greatest demand. Brood
mares should be carefully selected and
should be mated with good stations
and jacks of the types best suited to
produce high quality colts of the kind
desired.