THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
17 
been less promising. Men who boast about how 
cheaply they bought breeding stock commonly 
complam because they cannot get high prices for 
the produce. They reap what they sow, whether 
as to prices of mares or service fees for their mat- 
ing. The $275 foal was sired by one of the very 
best stallions in the county. 
Such a good start as this in draft horse breeding 
could be duplicated by many other farmers, if they 
exercised discrimination in buying and gave their 
horses proper care. Liberal feeding is an important 
factor. The 920-pound foal never went hungry, 
nor was he cooped up in close confinement. Breed- 
ing, feed, and exercise brought the result. Of 
course the method of sale had a bearing on the 
outcome. A co-operative sale, such as that was, 
olFers a sure and satisfactory market for the sur- 
plus stock of even the smallest and most obscure 
breeder. This method of distribution was an ex- 
periment in that county but a very successful one. 
It afforded breeders and buyers a convenient meet- 
ing ground. However, the best of sale methods 
could not make a venture turn out well unless the 
breeder had made the right kind of start. 
By courtesy Breeder's Gazette. 
A Profitable Percheron Mare 
I have a purebred Percheron mare that has been a 
money maker. Her name is Almeda H, 22940, 
foaled in 1896, bred by Henry Avery of Wakefield, 
Kansas, sired by BriUiant HI, 11116 (2919) and out 
of Almeda 10187, a daughter of old Voltaire HI, 
4320 (2963). I purchased this mare of Mr. Avery 
in the spring of 1906 for $650. She was then ten 
years old but Mr. Avery advised me that she had 
produced colts in 1901, 1903, 1904, and 1905, which 
assured me that she was a regular breeder. The 
spring I bought her, she foaled the stallion Buster 
Brown 48567. I kept him and stood him for pubhc 
service for four seasons, collecting an average of 
$388 per year for service fees. At eight years of 
age I sold him to S. Howell of Oklahoma for $750. 
This mare foaled Metta 59194 in 1908 and Thelma 
77234 in 1910. I sold these two colts at public auc- 
tion toG.Currie of Las Animas, Colo., in March, 1915, 
one a seven year old and the other a five year old, 
for $900 for the pair. Metta, while in my possession, 
foaled Fairmont 96133, a stallion in 1912, Sylvia 
110507 in 1913, and Rosa 111522 in 1914. These 
three colts I sold for $700. In the spring of 1913 
the old mare Almeda II foaled the mare colt Thrilby 
110506, which I still own. Almeda's 1914 colt, a 
filly, Maud 111521, I sold as a yearhng for $175. 
The old mare is now twenty years old, but will have 
a foal in April. I have sold $2,525 worth of colts 
from her and her offspring, besides collecting $1552 
in service fees from one of her stallion colts that I 
raised. I still have one of her mare colts on the 
farm. This makes a total of $4,077 that has gone 
into my pocketbook from this one Percheron mare, 
and she and her progeny have been worked on the 
farm. No high prices have been obtained, but 
profitable returns have been realized. 
C. F. MOLZEN. 
"Self Choice" System for Colts 
Colts that have had "creeps" to feed in never 
require an apology. Look at the youngsters in this 
picture. They had access to a mixture of oats and 
corn in the feed trough within this creep all summer. 
Notice the splendid muscular development of these 
colts, wide, square ends, strong forearms and gas- 
kins, rugged legs, and well-supported joints. 
That's the kind of colts a man is proud to show 
off, and he can ask almost any price within reason 
and get it for such thrifty drafters. This holds true 
whether they are grades or purebreds, but the in- 
crease due to good feeding in the case of the pure- 
breds will be more marked. 
"Has it paid you to grain these colts this way all 
summer?" inquired the man who took this picture 
the latter part of September on an Illinois horse- 
breeding farm. 
"Well, let's see," said the owner. "Those colts 
have been eating in the creep for four months, or 120 
days. I reckon they have taken about five pounds 
apiece a day. That makes 600 pounds of grain, 
which is worth at a good price $10. 
"There you have it; it has cost $10 a head to get 
those colts in the shape they are. Everybody who 
has seen them has remarked about their size and 
ruggedness." 
"What do you think those colts are worth?" 
inquired the man with the camera. The question 
was answered a few weeks later when the four in the 
picture and eight others like them sold at an average 
of $204 in a pubhc sale. The owner made a guess 
very near that figure. He estimated the colts would 
have been worth around $150 a head if they had been 
allowed to go through the season without grain. 
The creep cost something and it took some extra 
work to carry grain to the creep every day, but the 
return for this investment of material and labor was 
about $500. Besides, the owner would have wanted 
to look over his colts every day to see if they were 
doing well, and this would have taken scarcely any 
more time than graining them. 
By courtesy Farmer's Review. 
