1058 THE COMPLETE GEAZIER. BOOK xn. 



MAY. 



For remarks and recommendations as to foods, feeding, and general 

 care and management see last month, to which the following may be 

 given as supplementary. If carrots are still to be had, or parsnips, 

 they should form part of the daily food, as also green cut forage. 

 Where grass is cut fresh to add to the food, it should not be mown 

 till the dew is off the ground, or till the rain has dried up when 

 rain has fallen some time before. The work being this month 

 unusually heavy in order to overtake the " turnip brake," or to get 

 the turnip crops in, the food supplied must be abundant in quantity 

 and good in quality, corn or oats being the staple. If the horses 

 should show signs of shivering after wet at any time, give them a 

 warm mash and a small dose of medicine. This is perhaps the month 

 when the greater number of mares are put to the horse, and it is 

 a very good time for the purpose. Be careful in the selection of a 

 stallion to obtain one which is sound, and suitable for the mare. 

 Also be specially on the alert to breed for good feet and legs, with 

 plenty of flat-bone the body can be made up, but the legs and feet 

 cannot be, and a good top is worthless if it is not carried on sound legs. 



JUNE. 



As turnip-sowing is still going on, and much heavy work remains to 

 "be done, as in hay harvesting, food must be correspondingly kept up ; 

 for remarks on which see the last two months. For evening meals, 

 excellent mixtures can be made with cut green food and crushed oats 

 and bean meal. Maize or Indian corn is often used ; it gives a capital 

 "coat," glossy and healthy looking, and it is a nutritious food; but 

 great care, especially with some animals, is requisite in using it, as it is 

 apt to soften the liver. Young colts not worked during the day may 

 be pastured at night, but in wet weather they will be better kept in 

 " hamrnels " or in courts with sheltered sheds ; so also with horses 

 not worked during the day. Mares may still be put to the horse ; 

 in districts where there is very heavy spring work it is often pre- 

 ferable to breed late as the mares can be ill-spared from the teams 

 until the greater part of the preparation for root crops is com- 

 pleted. The foal will probably not make quite so good a horse, but 

 the value of a horse at this season is as great per day as it is per 

 week at some periods of the year. If mares with foals are worked, 

 the foals should not be allowed to suckle until the mares have been 

 in the stable long enough to get cool, or the foal may scour, and 

 ven die from the effects of the heated milk. 



JULY. 



The work of this month is much less severe upon the horses than 

 that of the preceding month, but as they have in prospect in early 

 districts the severe labour of the reaping machine at the end of it, 

 their strength to meet it must be kept up by giving them good supplies 



