508 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



action, condition or temperament as surely diminisli the value of a 

 horse in the market. Breeders, therefore, should carefully study what 

 has been set down elsewhere in this bulletin relative to conformation 

 of light and draft horses and learn to avoid defects that depreciate the 

 market prices of horses. 



Blemishes such as unsightly barh-wire wound scars, mutilated ears, 

 lips or nostrils should be avoided so far as possible and to this end 

 barb-wire fences should be done away with on every farm where horses 

 are bred and reared. 



MARKET CLASSES. 



The Draft Horse. — A typical draft horse, so considered in the mar- 

 ket, should stand 16 hands or over. Horses much over 17.2 hands in 

 height are not popular. Exceptionally tall horses of plain conforma- 

 tion and lack of quality that cannot easily be matched sell at very low 

 prices, but if excellent in every particular sell correspondingly high. 

 Light draft horses range in height from 15.3 to 16.1 hands. Drafters 

 should weigh 1.600 pounds and over in fair condition and heavy weight 

 in addition to desirable conformation, soundness and action enhances 

 value. Vigor and free, correct action, especially at the walking gait, 

 should be present in even the heaviest draft horses. Draft geldings 

 of the finest type, action, quality, weight and power are comparatively 

 scarce and always in demand. In the Chicago market during 1904 

 drafters of the latter class were sold for very high prices. A 2,210 

 pound roan Shire-cross gelding brought $660. The Pabst Brewing 

 Company paid from $350 to $500 per head for grey Percheron grade 

 geldings weighing from 1,900 to 2,100 pounds. Three draft teams 

 wefghing from 4.190 to 4.480 pounds and apparently of British draft 

 horse blood sold for $1,000 per team while Nelson Morris & Co. paid as 

 high as $1,000 per head for some of the Clydesdale geldings of their show 

 teams. The average price for drafters in the Chicago market during 

 1904 was $177 per head. 



Loggers. — Horses of this class are heavy drafters possessed of weight, 

 great power and strength of bone but blemished or slightly unsound 

 so that they cannot be sold to advantage for use in the cities. They 

 should be of docile, "level-headed" disposition, true workers, and of 

 hardy constitution as they are intended for hard, rough, racking work, 

 coarse diet and imperfect shelter. They should be sound in wind and 

 have good .middles, large, sound, powerful joints, tendons and muscles 

 and healthy coats of hair. Horses of this sort, the best draft horse 

 product of Wisconsin, are largely bought by our lumbermen for us in 

 the woods which partly explains the fact that our drafters are not bet- 

 ter known in the great horse markets. For the purpose mentioned our 

 lumbermen greatly prefer the sound, hardy, home-produced "logger" to 

 the overfed, blubbery horse of the dealer. Loggers sell in Chicago at 

 from $160 to $250 per head. 



Farm Chunks. — While not especially desired, many horses of this 

 kind find their way to the large markets and are sold at from $100 to 

 $175 a head. They usually are of mixed draft blood, stand from 15 



