Lifespan of Cattle and Horses 67 



Table VII 



Ages of stallions at death 



53 thoroughbred and well-bred warm-blooded horses : 



Age group No. of stallions Percentage 



3-5 5 9-5 



3-10 22 40-6 



3-15 31 58-5 



3-20 42 79 



10 stallions attained an age over 20 years = 19-0 



52 heavy warm-blooded horses (Oldenburg and Friesian) : 



Age group No. of stallions Percentage 



3-5 9 160 



3-10 21 40-3 



3-15 84 63-3 



3-20 50 96 



2 staUions reached an age of more than 20 years = 4*0 



534 cold-blooded horses : 



Age group No. o' stallions Percentage 



3-5 63 11-8 



3-10 229 42-9 



3-15 434 81-0 



3-20 530 99-3 



4 stallions reached an age of more than 20 years = 0-7 



average age of 16-7 years. Konopinski and Detkens (quoted 

 by Flade) found an average age of 11 • 5 years for 598 half-bred 

 Poznan mares in Poland. 



The most important causes of the premature culling of 

 stallions are, according to Wussow and Hartwig (1956-57), the 

 diseases and constitutional faults shown in the table on p. 68, 

 which were observed in 390 stallions whose causes of death 

 were evident. 



In summary we can state the following points concerning 

 the average lifespan of cattle and horses : 



1. Research on living cows of 19 different breeds revealed 

 an average lifespan of 7-1 years (4 -7-9 -35 years). This 

 average is undesirably low, because the majority of the 

 animals are culled before attaining the years of highest pro- 

 ductivity. 



