BREEDING THE TROTTER 



will require additional nourishment to what they 

 receive from their dams. As mentioned in chapter 

 three, feeding paddocks will be necessary for the 

 colts. They should be located in as high a spot 

 as possible. The paddocks should be thirty-two 

 feet long and sixteen feet wide. The pasture 

 fence will form one side of the paddock. To form 

 the other three sides set in posts eight feet 

 apart and along the top of the posts (about forty- 

 six inches from the ground) nail boards eight 

 inches wide, one and one-half inches thick, and 

 sixteen feet long. This will allow the colt to walk 

 under the fence and yet will exclude the mares. 



In the centre of the paddock should be built a 

 trough twelve inches wide, six inches deep and 

 about twelve feet long, raised about four inches 

 from the ground so that air can pass under. The 

 troughs should be lined with zinc. This will 

 enable the attendant to keep the troughs clean 

 and sweet and free from musty feed. 



The colts should be fed once or twice a day, 

 according to your own judgment, but do not feed 

 any more at one time than the colts will eat up 

 clean. I prefer a mixed feed of the following pro- 

 portions : oats, two bushels ; wheat, one bushel ; 

 corn, one-half bushel ; bran, fifty pounds ; oil meal, 

 twenty pounds. 



By oil meal I do not mean oil cake but ground 

 flax-seed meal. This feed should be thoroughly 

 mixed. If the colts should leave any feed, throw 

 that away or feed it to the pigs, and clean the 

 trough before feeding again. 



92 



