604 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



WHAT HORSES MEAN TO IOWA. 



BY IIOWAKD VAUGHN, SECRETARY OF THE IOWA DRAFT HORSE BREEDERS' < 



ASSOCIATION. 



[From Profitable Breeding and Farming.) 



Forty-five per cent of the money invested in livestock in Iowa is in- 

 vested in liorses. Our horses outrank in value any other single agri- 

 cultural product or crop by nearly twenty per cent. Of late years we 

 have been making much ado about the extent of our cattle interests 

 and the great value of the pork that is produced in Iowa. While much 

 livestock has been of much importance, yet the draft horse is easily the 

 greatest single product contributing to Iowa's agricultural wealth. The 

 value of Iowa horses is 49 per cent greater than the combined dairy 

 and beef cattle interests of the state. We could ship out of the state 

 over half of our horses and still have enough left to represent more 

 capital than the total value of our hogs. The actual census figures our 

 horses are w^orth $60,000,000 more than our total cattle interests, $100,- 

 000,000 more than the value of our hogs, thirty times as much as the 

 value of our sheep and fifteen times the value of our poultry. 



Among the other states of the union, Iowa easily holds first rank in 

 horse production. The following table illustrates this statement by 

 giving the number and value of the horses in a few of the leading 

 horse producing states. 



RANK OF STATES IX HORSE PRODUCTION. 



Iowa 1,568,000 worth $177,184,000 



Illinois 1,497,000 worth 172,155,000 



Kansas 1,169,000 worth 112,224,000 



Texas 1,158,000 w^orth 85,692,000 



Missouri 1,095,000 worth 111,690,000 



Nebraska 1,059,000 w^orth 96,369,000 



There is but one state that records more stallions than Iowa. That 

 state is Illinois and undoubtedly a part of her lead in the number of 

 stallions is due to the fact that the stallion registration law has been 

 in operation longer in Illinois and would therefore be expected to be 

 more accurately enforced. The following table shows the number of 

 stallions, grade and pure bred, which have been registered in each of 

 eleven out of the fourteen states that now have stallion registi^tion laws. 



Qtato No. No. No. Percent 



^^^^^ Stallions Pure Bred Grade Pure Bred 



Iowa, 1911 : 7,866 5,461 2,405 69 



Minnesota, 1911 5,065 1,792 3,273 35 



Wisconsin, 1911 3,259 1,514 1,745 46 



Kansas, 1911 7,843 3,255 3,588 41i^ 



New Jersey, 1911 215 121 94 56 



Pennsylvania, 1909 2,254 " 823 1,427 36 



North Dakota, 1911 2,438 1,052 1,386 45 



South Dakota, July, 1912 3,217 1,588 1,629 49 



Montana, 1910 755 457 298 60 



Illinois, 1911 9,435 5,356 4,074 57 



Oregon, 1911 1,046 612 434 57 



