170 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
The feed allowance for brood mares at the Hawthorn Farm includes a 
grain mixture of three parts of oats, three parts of barley and one part of 
corn, all of which being crushed; and for roughage timothy, alfalfa or 
clover hay is used. Suckling mares get the grain mixture, while mares 
that are not nursing any foal and not worked subsist only on grass. Rye is 
discriminated against in feeding in-foal mares. 
At the Waddington Farm the following system of feeding is in vogue: 
For grain feeds the working mares are fed four quarts of crushed oats 
each time, in the morning, noon and evening, and besides three to four 
ea*rs of corn are provided for daily. Mixed hay and alfalfa are used for 
roughage. Idle mares that are wintered through get all the hay they will 
clean up and three or four ears of corn at night. Neither grains nor 
roughage are given idle mares on patsure or to mares suckling foals. 
Holbert reports in the practices at the Holbert Farms of feeding the 
brood mares, as follows: Idle mares are fed during winter on hay and 
sorghum for roughage and corn and bran for concentrates. Carrots are 
also provided for. Hay is supplied in the morning and at night, while 
sorphum is given at will, at noon, afternoon and on the pasture at night. 
Four ears of corn and three or four quarts of bran are fed in the morning 
per head, and if the animals are thin the same amount is again furnished 
at night. For summer feeding grass is all that idle mares get, but the 
pasturage must be good, while mares with colts are fed once or twice 
daily, depending on the kind of pasture growth, with corn and bran in 
amounts as are indicated for idle mares in winter. Working mares get 
hay in the morning and at night and sorghum at noon. These mares are 
generally given four to five ears of corn, two to three quarts of oats, and 
four to five quarts of bran each feeding per head three times a day, morn¬ 
ing, noon and night. Just a little less than the allowance for work mares 
is fed to mares with foals during winter, but in addition the latter get 
carrots. Mares that are fat and idle in winter subsist mostly on hay and 
sorghum, which are supplied at will unless the animals are getting too 
fat, and also a minimum of corn or oats and bran are fed to give variety 
in the ration. Holbert considers all laxatives and feeds especially rich in 
protein, such as linseed oil meal, etc., as undesirable for feeding preg¬ 
nant mares. 
Working mares at the Iowa State College are fed three times a day, 
morning, noon, and night, during which five quarts of whole oats and 
two quarts of shelled corn are given per head at each feeding. Mixed hay 
is fed only in the morning and at night, at the rate of six pounds and fif¬ 
teen pounds, respectively. Suckling mares are turned out in the pasture 
at night, but in the daytime they are kept indoors and the same allow¬ 
ance of mixed hay which working mares get is provided for, fed also in 
the morning and at night. For grains these mares get six quarts of oats 
and two quarts of brain each feeding, morning, noon and night. Mares 
that are idle through the winter are supplied with corn fodder twice a 
day, in amounts as they will eat up clean, and for concentrate they get 
twelve ears of corn per head at each feeding, also twice daily, the feeding 
periods being in the morning and at night. 
At the Michigan Agricultural College working mares are given crushed 
oats in allowances of five quarts in the morning, the same at noon, and 
one quart additional, or six quarts, at night. For roughage ten pounds of 
clover hay is supplied in the morning, five pounds at noon and again ten 
pounds at night. The last feeding of clover hay is given in the grass 
paddock. Idle mares on pasture are given but one morning feeding, five 
pounds of clover hay and five quarts of crushed oats per head daily. 
Nursing dams are fed six pounds of crushed oats and bran each feeding, 
morning and night, per head daily, and for roughage each gets ten 
pounds of clover hay in the morning, and at night fifteen pounds. During 
