BETTER HORSES FOR UTAH. 



BY W. E. CARROLL. 



The two chief factors which determine the profits realized 

 from the horse breeding business are the cost of production and 

 the quality of the product put on the market. As land values 

 increase, taxes automatically become higher, and this together 

 with the increasing cost of labor, makes the feed and care given 

 the horse more expensive. These factors are so completely inde- 

 pendent of the horse breeder that he has little control over the 

 cost of production. This statement is not intended to convey the 

 idea that no account should be taken of costs, or that costs do not 

 vary. Quite the contrary. In fact, there may be sufficient 

 difference in systems of feeding and management to mean loss to 

 one man and profit to another. The fact remains, however that 

 with even the greatest effort the producer cannot lower the cost 

 below a certain point, and that this minimum has been increasing 

 during the past several years. 



Since the cost of production cannot be controlled, there re- 

 mains only one of two things for the horse breeder to do : go out 

 of the business because his profits have failed, or raise the quality 

 of his product to such a point that its selling price will justify his 

 efforts. 



The quickest and most economical way of accomplishing- this 

 latter end is by using the best sire obtainable. Every colt should 

 be given the privilege to be well born, but this cannot be done as 

 long as the haphazzard methods practiced in the State in the past 

 continue. Don't place a lifelong handicap on a colt before he is 

 born by breeding his mother to an inferior horse. 



Another warning to be read from the signs of the times is 

 that only the best mares should be permitted to raise foals. This 

 is just as important as the use of a good stallion, for sire and dam 

 each have an equal influence on the offspring. 



Number and Price of Horses. 



Prices of inferior horses are never very far above the cost 

 of production, and frequently they are considerably below. The 

 curves in Figure 1 show the farm price of horses and the number 

 of horses on the farms of the United States from 1867 to January 



