Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 463 



fillies at maturity should be bred to a suitable Percheron stallion. 

 In a short time practically a pure-bred offspring will result. In 

 this way you will establish a class of animals demanding the high- 

 est possible prices in the market. 



Where I live we have been breeding Percherons for nearly 

 forty years. The very first horse brought in there was a splendid 

 type of the Percheron stallion. Since that beginning we have been 

 grading up until we have a class of horses there hard to distinguish 

 from the best pure bred, and they command a price from a buyer 

 who goes there every week in the year and takes away our sur- 

 plus that has made that the market center of that region of the 

 country, and the horse industry today in my town, as the result 

 of that system of breeding, has become the most important branch 

 of the farming industry there. It brings thousands of dollars into 

 our city and community every year. 



On our farm we aim to keep our mares in just ordinary con- 

 dition. We work them moderately. Every mare on the farm 

 is kept in the collar every day, when she does not have a colt follow- 

 ing her, I like to work them up to the very day that they foal, 

 working them temperately, not overdoing it of course, but keeping 

 them constantly exercising and giving them ordinary farm work. 

 If you turn them out in the pasture a great many times I have 

 found they will fail to take the necessary exercise. When they 

 get very heavy they will find a comfortable corner and stand there 

 for hours at a time. I find it better if we work them. As soon 

 as the mare foals she is taken out of the harness and given perfect 

 liberty. 



There are three important fundamental essentials in horse 

 breeding: First, the right kind of a sire and dam; second, feed; 

 third, care. Perhaps the two latter may be joined. Under the 

 head of care the most important of all is cleanliness. When our 

 mares approach foaling time we have prepared for them a clean, 

 bright, attractive stall, the best on the farm, and we keep it clean. 

 We keep it thoroughly disinfected, because this is very important. 

 I don't care how careful you are, I don't care how carefully you 

 observe the rules that may be laid down by the experiment stations 

 or the veterinarians as to the way you shall handle your mares, 

 you are going to lose a large per cent of the foals, and the principal 

 cause of loss is what we call infection of the navel. Much the 

 greater number of our colts that die, die from this disease, and 

 sometimes we cannot understand why they do. We thoroughly 

 disinfect the navel as soon as the foal comes and yet within a few 



