THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
7 
horses can be produced in America as in any of the 
European countries. 
We have the blood in this country, but we are 
negUgent in our system of feeding and caretaking. 
On the Notre Dame farm we have had colts, shortly 
after they had been taken from their dam, go on 
feed and make a daily average gain in weight of 23^ 
pounds. Our colts are given access to grain long 
before weaning time. Handled in this way, the 
colt never loses the milk fat, which is an important 
factor in all young stock. The young animal must 
be kept growing. Never let the colt stop growing till 
full maturity is reached. 
We feed our purebred colts on grass during the 
summer months. While we have never fed our grade 
colts grain on grass during the summer, except when 
the grass burned for lack of moisture, yet I feel it 
should be done at all times. 
Alfalfa is the bone maker and muscle builder. No 
hay is equal to it for young, growing animals, be- 
cause of its protein content. The lands of this section 
of Indiana are not adapted to grazing because of the 
fact that the soils are deficient in phosphorus and 
calcium. These plant-food elements are the essential 
bone and tissue making materials. 
A good producing sire is the first essential factor in 
the horse breeding industry. Farmers, as a general 
rule, do not fully appreciate the value of a good sire. 
The mongrel-bred horse seems to be given preference 
in certain localities. Education along the lines of 
good horse breeding has been sadly neglected, and 
because of that fact the country is short of the class 
of horses with combined weight and quality which 
bring prices that make horse breeding profitable. 
The value of a good dam is also too often over- 
looked. There are mares of the effeminate type and 
mares that look like geldings. The masculine and 
feminine are by no means constant in degree. The 
French breeder insists strongly on feminine quality in 
brood mares, and it is a point which should not be 
overlooked. We have all had mares in which the 
motherly instinct was somewhat latent and whose 
conformation and make-up tended more to flesh than 
to milk. They were draft mares of the very best 
type for the show-ring and for work, but they were 
inferior when it came to motherhood. With such 
mares the foals lack the initial impulse that a good 
milker will give. Good maturing horses usually 
come from mothers that are good milkers. If 
breeding is to be carried on with the highest results 
in view we must have brood mares that combine 
substance with good maternal qualities. 
A very important feature of the horse business is 
the fact that the breeding of good draft horses, coupled 
with a good system of crop production, is a profitable 
business, in that it gives an additional home market 
for farm crops. The breeding of any good livestock 
is a co-ordinate marketing power which harmonizes 
with good farming and results in bigger profits. 
By courtesy of Prairie Farmer. BrO. LeO. 
The Percheron Situation in France 
Fifty-nine Percherons altogether, consigned to 
four separate importers, arrived in our shipment. I 
believe there will be no more Percheron horses im- 
ported for some time as the embargo was to go on 
again March 31st and it requires considerable time 
to get the necessary papers once the horses are pur- 
chased. 
As to the actual conditions in France they were 
not as bad as had been reported. There is, however, 
a noticeable decrease in the number of Percheron 
horses, although none of the good mares were re- 
quisitioned, and none of the stallions or colts that 
the breeders wished to keep. Owing to the price of 
work horses being so high in France (from $400 to 
$500 each), many of the common stallions have been 
sold for commerce. 
In the breeding district I found but few of the 
important breeders at home, only those too old for 
military services. These men and the widows and 
Helix 70340 (75752) 
wives of those in service were finding it very difficult 
to care for their stock, in regard to labor and feed. 
Many of the larger farmers have found it necessary 
to get soldiers to assist them in caring for their crops 
during the busy season, and owing to the great 
shortage of oats they have resorted to feeding apples 
and boiled potatoes. 
Many of the small farmers who have gone to the 
front with their hired men have been obliged to let 
their wives sell out, owing to the impossibility of 
continuing the farm work during the war. 
The greatest trouble found in buying horses was 
the poor condition they were in, many of them 
having remained in pasture from the time they were 
foals. These naturally were in poor condition and 
did not have the appearance of four-year-old stallions. 
