116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



HORSE BREEDING FOR FARMERS. 



L. L. RICHAEDSON, LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS. 



I have been asked to open up the discussion about the horse, 

 which I am very glad to do, and I see, in looking over the hall, 

 there are quite a few who have been at my place and seen the 

 class of horses that I have been trying to raise. Now the horse 

 that I raise would not necessarily be the horse that the farmer 

 should raise, but I believe there should be more colts raised on 

 the farm than have been in the past. Since the beginning of 

 the war many of the horses have been taken from this country, 

 especially in the west, and I am very glad to say, for one thing, 

 that they have taken off the poorest horses. I believe that if 

 a man is going to raise a horse he should raise the best, and 

 when I say the best, I mean that he must start with a stock 

 that is right. Now if a farmer is going to raise a colt, usually 

 he takes a mare that has been useful for a good many years, 

 and has been what any one would call a first-class horse in 

 every way, but which has passed its usefulness. Instead of 

 laying that horse away, or giving it a good home, they think 

 that is a good time to begin to raise colts. I would like to im- 

 press upon every one here to-day that you never can get good 

 colts from that kind of stock, and I believe you should use the 

 best mares for the dams and then breed to the best sires that 

 can be found. 



I suppose the greatest question here to-day is the question 

 of what type of horse is most suitable to raise for the farm. 

 As to this point there is much difference of opinion. Some 

 farmers like horses that weigh from 1,600 to 1,800 pounds; 

 others, horses that weigh from 1,200 to 1,400. On my own 

 farm I prefer a horse that weighs from 1,200 to 1,400. One 

 reason is that a horse of that weight can get over more country ;, 



