456 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



his kind disposition so desirable in. any horse, all combine to qualify 

 him for service, pleasure and profit on the Missouri farm. And 

 when the Missouri farmer comes to realize to what extent he can 

 increase his profits by weeding out his little mares of little or no 

 particular breeding and replacing with good big draft mares he 

 will have made an important discovery and his only regret will be 

 that he did not begin with the draft mares sooner. 



I was somewhat surprised recently to read a report of the 

 live stock values in Missouri as reported by correspondents 

 of the State Board of Agriculture, in which report spring colts 

 were, on December first, valued at $52.75 per head, yearlings at 

 $76.70, two-year-old's $101.95, and three years and over at $126.60 

 per head. This would not sound quite so bad were it not for the 

 fact that high grades and pure breds are included in this report 

 and their values being much higher than the average, would cut 

 down the value of a lot of these colts to a figure that means a loss 

 to their breeders, and this means that a lot of Missouri farmers 

 are not making the best of their opportunities, and the sooner they 

 discover their mistakes and get right the better off they will be. 



I would rather have one good big regular breeding Clydesdale 

 mare for use on the farm and to raise colts from, than to have 

 three of the ordinary little mares we find on the average Missouri 

 farm. Two good big regular breeding draft mares and one com- 

 bined saddle and driving mare or gelding, will do the work on an 

 eighty-acre farm and raise colts — either horse or mule colts — that 

 will sell for enough money at weaning time to support a small-sized 

 family. 



Clydesdale mares produce great mules; they give them size, 

 bone, style, action and snap, all of which are essential elements in 

 the make-up of a high-priced mule. 



I know of a grade Clydesdale mare up near Mexico, that has 

 been raising mule colts for a number of years. In 1909 she pro- 

 duced a horse mule that sold at weaning time for $150, in 1910 

 she had a mare mule that sold for $175 at weaning time, in 1911 

 she had another mare mule that sold for another $175 at weaning 

 time. The owner then decided to raise some Clydesdale mares for 

 his own use so he bred her to a registered Clydesdale stallion but 

 she foaled a horse colt and I bought him at weaning time for 

 $150. He weighed 720 pounds when five months and twenty days 

 old. The mare is in foal again, to the same horse and if she has 

 a mare colt I don't expect to buy it, for it will not be for sale. Of 



