54 
Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
I have never known of any farmer breeding horses extensively in this part 
of the country. 
I have known of a good many who have taken to breeding sheep in prefer- 
ence to cattle on the ground of profit, the expense of cultivation of poor soils 
having lately become so great. 
The best breeds for this part of the country are — Horses: Clydesdale. 
Cattle : Shorthorn, Angus, or crosses. Sheep : Blackfaced on the mountains ; 
Leicester, Cotswolds, &c., on the low country. 
Alexb. Tatlob. 
39. Pendefobd, Wolveehampton. 
Most assuredly fanners could breed more stock on a very large percentage 
of the farms in this kingdom. 
On land principally arable I consider it answers better to buy your horses 
than to breed them. The mares are required to work at a time they are least 
fitted for it, and it is a difiicult matter to find accommodation for colts on 
many farms composed almost entirely of arable land. This applies more 
directly to damp and hilly farms. 
There is little food for cattle during the summer months on a large portion 
of the arable land in this and many other districts. 
I do not see much force in the argument used by some that " it is more 
desirable to buy than breed sheep." If the land is well drained it will pay 
better generally to breed. If it is not well drained I should suggest buying 
as a more desirable system. 
I consider there is a large area of land more adapted to breeding horses 
than cattle or sheep. I think horses are more valuable when bred on high or 
undulating land than in low, fiat ground. Muscular action is essential for a 
beast of burden, and there it is brought into daily practice to the general 
improvement of the animal. My experience is that sheep are more profit- 
able than either cattle or horses on land adapted to them. 
Many cases of farmers giving up horses and taking to sheep and cattle 
have come tmder my personal observation. I think the high prices of 
animal food and wool are the principal cause of the high prices of horses during 
the last few years. Horse-breeding has become less popular. Cattle and 
sheep are a more negotiable commodity, coming to market much earlier than 
horses. The percentage of horses of all kinds that prove unsound before they 
are four 3-ears old is very great. The risk, too, is greater in the horse than in 
either cattle or sheep ; and while a slight defect reduces very considerably the 
value of a horse, it does not militate against the value of stock bred for the 
butcher. 
I have known instances where the flock has been reduced and the number 
of neat cattle increased with satisfactory results, where a large proportion of 
the occupation has been permanent turf. There is great difficulty in keeping 
sheep free from lameness on such land. 
Shorthorn cattle are best adapted to this district, and Shropshire sheep 
have displaced in this and the adjoining counties all other breeds to a very 
grc-at extent. 1 consider the Welsh horse one of the most valuable we have 
for agricultural purposes, being particularly docile and vciy hardy. This I 
attribute to his early training. 
R. H. Masfex. 
