536 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



What is understood bj' the draft horse? Does it mean the 2,000 

 pound horse? Does it mean the Percheron, Shire, Clyde, Belgian or 

 any particular breed of heavy horses? No, it doesn't mean any one 

 breed but all of them. When we say draft horse we do not refer to 

 trotting horse, runner, or bucking broncho. We mean the horse that 

 every honest farmer loves best. The draft horse that we, as farmers, 

 think so much of, need not necessarily be a pure-bred horse, but he 

 ought to be a well fed horse. Well fed and not pure-bred is far better 

 than pure-bred and not well fed. 



As to the best weight for a draft farm horse, there is a wide dif- 

 ference of opinion. Some men prefer the heaviest horse they can raise, 

 from 1,700 to 1,800 pounds in weight. Others prefer those ranging from 

 1,400 pounds to 1,600 pounds; and still others cling to the 1,200 to 1,400 

 pound horse. In my opinion the last class when regarded as an all 

 around general farm horse has far more admirers than the heavier 

 types. 



There is very little if any work for horses on the farm that can not 

 be done by a good 1,200 pound horse and as a general rule when it 

 comes to making needed trips of a farmer to town or elsewhere on the 

 road the lighter draft horse has the advantage. But there is another side to 

 the question, viz., the selling value. Other points being equal, the man 

 with the heavier type of draft horse is hunted by the horsebuyer while 

 the man with the smaller type is hunting a buyer, and it is needless to 

 say that when a dealer finds a good heavy draft horse he will leave a 

 nice little sum of money. If a farmer has a surplus of good heavy 

 draft horses he need not be burdened by their presence as he can always 

 sell them to good advantage. This is not always true of the smaller 

 draft horse. 



There is another argument in favor of the smaller type. It requires 

 less feed to grow and keep a smaller horse. As a rule horses require 

 feed in proportion to their size and in feeding five or six horses for 

 a year with grain at present prices, a difference of a few ears of corn 

 to each horse every feed is no small item, although a farmer ordinarily 

 would not stop to consider these facts. All things considered I think 

 it is best to raise as heavy a draft horse as you can. 



As to the best breed of draft horses to raise, there is another wide 

 difference of opinion among farmers. Each and every breed has its ad- 

 mirers and good qualities. 



Personally I think that ordinary mares should be bred to a stallion 

 that will give the colt good heavy bone and limbs. I do not like to 

 see heavy horses with small bones in their limbs. They can not endure 

 with the heavy boned horse. I have seen some very good results from 

 crossing ordinary draft mares with pure-bred Shire stallions, also from 

 the same class of mares to the pure-bred Belgian stallion and in fact 

 the same can be said in reference to the other pure-bred draft stallions. 



I do not wish to be understood as saying that when you have made a 

 certain cross with a pure-bred stallion you have made the horse. The 

 colt must be grown. We should begin to grow the colt before he sees 

 the light of day. The way to begin is to take good care of the mare 

 and give her plenty of the proper kind of feed. For the farmer who 



