242 LIVE STOCK MANAGEMENT. 



by some that work is injurious to the brood mare is wrong. 

 Light, regular work is one of the very best things for such 

 an animal. Heavy, irregular work, especially during the lat- 

 ter part of pregnancy, must be avoided, else serious results 

 may be the result. All good horse breeders recommend light 

 work wherever it is at all practicable. 



In the largest and best established horse breeding dis- 

 tricts of France the majority of the horses are produced by 

 small farmers who do all their work with their brood mares. 

 The colts are sold when about twelve months old to the 

 dealers, who mature and sell them for breeding purposes to 

 other countries. In this way they claim to be able to pro- 

 duce the very highest type of horses. The mothers always 

 have sufficient exercise, thus, as a result, strong, healthy 

 foals are secured, which always make much better horses 

 than those reared from dams which have been irregularly 

 exercised and overfed. 



In most sections of the country spring foals are reared. 

 The fall foal seems to be the exception, thus in our treat- 

 ment of the feed and care of the dam it will be for those 

 which rear spring foals unless otherwise mentioned. Where 

 fall foals are reared it is very difficult to feed the mother 

 so as to have a liberal supply of milk. Another disadvan- 

 tage in rearing fall foals is the increased trouble during the 

 winter months, caused by teething. 



Where spring foals are to be reared the mother should 

 be liberally fed during the winter months. The ration should 

 be of such a nature as to keep the system in a good, cool, 

 healthy condition. This calls for more or less nitrogenous 

 feed stuffs, such as some bright, pure clover or alfalfa hay 

 for part of the roughness, and oats and bran for the grain 

 part of the ration. A strictly corn or other carbonaceous or 

 heat producing diet must be avoided. Where too much corn 

 is fed the mother usually becomes very fleshy and plethoric. 

 As a result, at foaling time the mother will be more or less 

 troubled with inflammation and the colt will be weak and 

 have little or no use of its limbs. 



Feed of a succulent nature should be supplied in some 

 form. Where roots can be had they rank first. Corn silage 

 when fed in limited quantities also gives good results, but 

 it must be fed with care else the same difficulties will be 

 experienced as when too much corn is fed. Where the foal 

 is dropped before the grass season has arrived, other feed 



