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Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
less liable to ailments, such as inflammation, colics, &c., than horses. 
lx)ught-in. 
Another great obstacle in the way of breeding horses profitably — but I 
daresay it applies to Scotland more than England or Ireland — is the extent 
■of wire fencing ; a great number of accidents constantly occur from this 
alone, rendering many animals quite unsound and unfit for any purpose but 
the knacker. It will not pay to breed unsound horses of any kind, much less 
to rear them. 
To make breeding practicable and profitable I think a large arable farm 
with a good outrun of old pasture and good house accommodation necessary. ' 
Upon such a farm a stud of good sound mares and a piu-e-bred Clydesdale 
stallion could be kept with profit. The mares, while not rearing their foals, 
■could do the work of the arable land with benefit to themselves, being much 
less liable to accidents in foaling when kept constantly and carefully at light 
work till they drop their foals than when allowed to stand idle. I believe a 
horse standing in his own stable with the mares brought to him would 
leave three foals for one, compared with the more common way of making the 
horse travel about the country. 
On farms of uniformly good or first-class land (with the exception of eating 
the foggage and turnips) I do not think it would pay to keep sheep, as to do 
so with anything like a chance of success, yavL must have clean pastures 
aaturally dry. On the majority of the farms in this county I think it would 
be profitable to breed sheep as well as cattle ; but in no case unless there is work 
for a shepherd, as sheep require constant attention, and that by one who 
understands them. An idea has long prevailed in this part of the country 
that sheep and cattle will not do together, but I do not think I have ever 
been better paid than by having part of both ; and I see the custom is now 
becoming general of having some cattle going with the sheep, and vice versa. 
Sheep require much more attention than cattle, being more subject to diseases 
of various and many kinds which do not affect cattle. To make sheep pay 
•better than cattle on arable lands you must have the soil and cHmate both 
naturally dry and warm. 
Some farms, from their richness of condition, are not adapted for breeding 
•cattle or sheep, and on such, buying stores would be more profitable 
than breeding. Some of our large farmers, with their land in very high con- 
dition, have given up breeding almost entirely, finding it preferable to buy 
from those who, having farms better adapted for that purpose, can do so at a 
less cost. There is doubtless much less risk than in breeding, especially since 
foot-and-mouth disease has taken such a hold of the country, which, fre- 
•quently causing cows to slip their calves and be fed for the butcher, makes 
a big hole in the profits of a breeding-farm. You could not breed the required 
aiumber of fattening sheep on a farm without a large outrun for tlie ewes, as 
the land would get so foul that it would cause great loss. 
John Hunter. ^ 
70. Capton, Williton, Taunton. 
On a large number of farms I believe more stock might he bred with profit. 
On farms situated in rich vales, or where holdings consist chiefly of rich 
arable land with large enclosures, it may not be so profitable to breed horses 
as to buy. Horses may be bred with profit on poorer or middle-class farms 
where there is much pasture or grass land with convenient enclosures, or on 
dairy farms to feed after the cows eating up the rough grass left. 
There are many farms where the land is so strong that young cattle cannot 
be bred with profit, which makes it necessary to buy older animals to fatten. 
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