12 
THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
stallions at home I have visited many breeders in all 
sections of the country. I have bought horses 
from southern Virginia to western Canada and every- 
where I found men who are worthy exponents of 
our craft. The old names persist. The ranks are 
being added to constantly. The chance which is 
now clearly presenting itself to extend home produc- 
tion should be welcomed, and our methods so modi- 
fied that the best Percheron horses of the future will 
be raised in this, their adopted home. 
There never has been offered to breeders of any 
kind of livestock an opportunity such as now exists 
in this Percheron trade. Here is a business that 
annually required the importation of from 2,000 
to 3,000 head of animals, in addition to our own pro- 
duction. Foreign competition is suddenly and 
absolutely cut off, so that our market is left to us 
alone. We have sufficient mares of the best quality 
to raise the colts required in this market. Many 
breeders have available high-class stallions to which 
they can breed. If not, they can still supply them- 
selves with such. We know the secrets of the 
French system of developing colts, and there are no 
natural obstacles in our way which will prevent our 
attaining as great success as they. It is simply a 
question of selecting our mares, breeding them to 
the right stallions, and of properly feeding and de- 
veloping the colts. Our Percheron breeders are 
intelligent and capable, and it is inconceivable that 
they will not embrace the opportunity which has 
been virtually thrust upon them. W. S. Dunham. 
From an article in the Christmas (1915) Breeder's Gazette. 
Feed the Draft Mare in Foal 
The time to give a foal a good start toward making 
a big lusty drafter is before he is born. It is useless 
to expect that a mare carrying a foal can maintain 
her thrift and strength on the same ration as the 
barren mare. She must have food for two lives in- 
stead of one. A very striking illustration of what 
judicious feeding will do for mares that are heavy in 
foal is furnished by a Wisconsin breeder. He had 
eleven purebred draft mares of the ton sort, all in 
foal to 2000 pound stallions. These mares were 
carried through the winter in splendid condition 
because this man appreciates the importance of 
good feeding in growing good draft horses. In 
early spring, he purchased five more mares of the 
same breed and fully as large when in as good con- 
dition as the ones that he had. Those bought were 
exceedingly thin in flesh and in foal to ton stallions. 
The entire lot of sixteen mares reared their colts in 
the same pasture under exactly the same conditions. 
The colts had access to the same creep where they 
got all the grain they could eat whenever they 
wanted it. At weaning time, the colts out of the 
mares that had been well fed during the winter 
weighed an average of 150 pounds more than the 
others. This was not a case of difference in size of 
parent stock or of breeding, but in the kind of treat- 
ment that the dams received before the colts were 
foaled. Breeders lose a great opportunity who fail 
to feed their draft mares well during the period of 
pregnancy. The good kind cannot be produced by 
skimping the feed, either with mare or foal. 
Ellis McFarland. 
What is a Grade Draft Mare Worth ? 
One of the most common mistakes that the 
average farmer makes in his horse breeding opera- 
tions is that he does not fully realize the value of 
his good grade draft mares. Many men are ready 
to sell their good mares at about the same price 
that a gelding of similar quality and weight will com- 
mand. This is a serious mistake, especially at 
this time, when the horse business is really facing 
a bright future. The writer has oftentimes been 
asked the question, "What is a good sound grade 
draft mare weighing from 1,500 to 1,800 pounds 
worth.?" In replying to such a question I have 
invariably said that such a mare is worth twice as 
much to the farmer as the horse buyer will pay 
for a gelding of similar quality and weight. Prac- 
tical experience will bear this statement out to be 
true in most cases. This is especially true if the 
mare be a reliable breeder and she is mated to a 
good draft sire. 
In judging horse and colt shows in Iowa during 
the past twelve years I have seen many mares that 
have produced in 10 years from $1,500 to $2,000 
worth of marketable horses. Such mares have been 
most profitable to their owners. In almost every 
locality there are examples of this kind. One of 
the most striking illustrations of the folly of sell- 
ing good young grade draft mares is one that came 
under my observation in central Iowa. About 12 
years ago the late Colin Cameron of Arizona (at 
that time prominent in Hereford cattle circles) 
visited central Iowa to purchase a few real high- 
class grade Percheron mares for his Arizona farms. 
I spent two days helping him locate the kind of 
mares he wanted. In one community Mr. Cameron 
purchased a pair of nice grade Percheron mares, 
rising 5-year-olds, both in foal to a good Percheron 
sire, for $500. The man who sold these mares turned 
right around and put the $500 into a pair of draft 
mules. On another farm in the same neighborhood 
a young farmer owned a pair of grade Percheron 
mares got by the stallion that sired the first pair. 
These mares were also in foal and Mr. Cameron was 
very anxious to buy them, too, and offered the 
owner $600 for them, although they were apparently 
worth no more money than the first pair which he 
purchased for $500. The second farmer would not 
sell at any price. Two years ago I was in the same 
locality and learned that this man still had the original 
pair of mares, both in foal, had six of their colts on 
his farm for which he had refused $1,100 and he had 
sold in the meantime 10 head of horses out of these 
mares for $2,100, thus making $3,300 and the old 
