THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
27 
Nine years ago last winter I bought a team of 
Percheron mares. They passed for good mares at 
that time, but now there are a number of larger 
and better ones in the county. The two have pro- 
duced thirteen colts and are both in foal again. 
I have lost two colts — one killed by lightning and 
one had his hip fractured by running into another 
colt. The mares are now twelve years old and are 
able to do as much work in a day as ever. They 
have been the best farm team I ever owned, and 
if they had never raised a foal I could not justly 
accuse them of owing me a penny. But their pro- 
geny sold as weanlings up to two-year-olds brought 
me over $3,000, and I still have a stallion and two 
in-foal daughters besides the dams. 
While one must admit there is profit in produ- 
cing swine both for market and breeding stock and 
that some farmers have prospered at feeding cattle, 
and that the dairy business when efficiently man- 
aged has brought a competence, yet I would ask: 
What phase of the livestock business as it is practiced 
on the average farm offers a better opportunity for 
profit than the production of purebred draft horses.? 
Buy as good mares as you can afford. One had 
better buy a few of good quality and type rather 
than a larger number of the common kind, as the 
colts, especially the stallions, from the good mares 
are much more easily sold and at better prices. 
Feed properly and work sensibly every day when 
convenient, and turn them out to exercise when not 
at work. Think of the vitality and thrift of the 
mares and strive to have them bring foals regularly. 
Do not fit them to the utmost for the horse shows, 
but instead raise some first-class foals. Allow them 
plenty of suitable feed and exercise, fit them for the 
show and let them advertise your business and brmg 
you buyers. Thus started one need have no uneasi- 
ness as to his prospect for a fair profit in raising pure- 
bred draft horses. C. M. McConnell. 
By courtesy of Breeder's Gazette. 
More Good Stallions Needed 
The total number of horses on farms, April 1st, 
1910, was 19,833,113 head, and the Government 
estimates for January 1st, 1915, credited this country 
with 21,195,000 head on farms, an increase of 6.86 
per cent over 1910. 
The fifteen states on which we have definite data 
as to stallions in service are Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, 
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South 
Dakota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Cal- 
ifornia, Washington, Oregon and Montana. These 
states had, January 1st, 1915, a total of approximate- 
ly 11,085,352 horses, assuming the same rate of 
increase for these states as for the United States as 
a whole. They also had, according to the latest 
available Stallion Board reports, 47,697 stallions, 
all told, in service, 23,671 of which were purebred 
draft stallions. 
If this proportion held good throughout the 
United States, it would give us a total of 91,357 
stallions in service, approximately half of which 
could be classed as purebred drafters. As a matter 
of fact, however, the number is probably somewhat 
less, as all the important horse producing states, 
except Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Texas, are in- 
cluded in our figures, and the proportion of stallions 
in use in other states is unquestionably lower, as less 
attention is given there to horse production. As- 
suming, for the sake of argument, that these per- 
centages hold good, however, we have over 40,000 
purebred draft stallions and approximately the 
same number of stallions of other kinds, most of 
which are grades and mongrels. Any well-informed 
horse breeder will admit that at least ten per cent 
of the stallions in service are annually being retired 
because of age, death, unsoundness, or other cause, 
and it therefore follows that about 8,000 stallions 
are annually being retired from the breeding ranks. 
To make good on wastage alone, therefore, we must 
replace 4,000 purebred draft stallions annually, 
and as the other stallions, grade or otherwise, should 
for the most part be replaced by purebred draft 
sires, we actually need around 7,000 good draft sires 
annually to fill the places of horses dropping out of 
service. 
The associations recording draft horses all had 
prosperous years in 1915, but recorded altogether, 
only about 12,000 head. This includes both sexes 
and all ages of Percherons, Clydesdales, Shires, 
Belgians, French Drafts and Suffolks. Less than 
half of these were stallions so that we are producing 
annually now, less than 6,000 draft stallions. It is 
recognized by all horsemen that at least one-fifth 
of the stallions that are recorded are not good enough 
to be of any real service in improving the draft 
horse stock of the country. It therefore follows that 
we are really producing less than five thousand good 
purebred draft sires annually, when we need at 
least 7,000 per year, at the lowest calculation. 
Wayne Dinsmore. 
Kaptif 98953 (92909) 
