HORSES AUSTRALIAN FARMERS SHOULD BREED.
(By "Equus," in the Australian, Farm and Home.) The horse-breeding season is again near at hand, and farmers who keep mares are beginning to consider what t3 r pe of stallion they will breed their mares to this season. Some farmers think that the cable tramways and bicycles have so far dispensed with the use of horses that the breeding of them will no longer pay. The same thing *vas «aid when the railways displaced the slow stage coaches, but the very contrary happened, as it uvas found that the horse had its uses as a feeder of the traffic for railways, for which purpose many times more were soon in use than at previous times. So far, then, as trams and bicycles are concerned, it is quite certain that the farmer will never find his useful servant out of place for his own work, or discarded from use for many other purposes. The position of the horse-breeding industry must not be gauged by the low prices of common animals. Although the value of common types of horses is low, yet the better class of horses is still in. profitable demand, and sells at quite satisfactory prices. The average farmer realises that in other kinds of ->roduc9 — such as wheat, butter, and wool — he must produce a good article in order to secure a good price ; yet when it comes to the breeding- of horses, the principle that it is the best that pays seems to be neglected. This is one of the reasons why some farmers find that horse-breeding does not pay. The time of year is close at hand when the breeding of horses will begin, and as it is upon the correctness in breeding that the whole profit in the business depehds, it is well worth while considering how it should be made to suit the needs of the times and be made of the most profit to breeders. The whole secret of success in any business whatever is to have for saloi precisely what most people want, and to find this out and act upon it is the way to make money. It is no use offering people what they do not want. Why waste time, therefore, in rearing common horses sired by a £2 stallion out of lame, halt, or blind old mares that are good for nothing else, as I have often heard it remarked, but to rear a foal? The capacity to rear v foal is the qualification this kind of mare has. Rather than send such mares lo a stallion, it would pay much better to slaughter them, and convert their carcases into a useful fertiliser for the production of feed for a better quality of animal. AVOID CHEAP STALLIONS. The farmers must get the idea of giving preference to cheap stallions and using any kind of mare out of their heads, because by pursuing such a system of breeding the end will inevitably prove disastrous. Those who desire to rear a good colt or filly must employ a good mare for the purpose, and must obtain the services of a good stallion. The farmer who does not see the thing in this light is the farmer who goes round seeking f ov the cheapest kind of bone dust or other fertiliser, and the cheapest kind of seed grain, for the reason, as he will tell you, that the cost of the good article is too much for him. to afford. No branch of farming pays with farmers of this kind. KEEP GOOD MARES. It is an old acfage that money makes money. It will in every case if it is only well applied, aud there ie no other part of the farm work
at the present time that will pay better than the use of a- good mare and a good horse for the rearing- of a good colt. The actual money spent will come back doubled, and the time, material, and labour spent will be far better recompensed than in any other branch of the farm work.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 6
Word Count
682HORSES AUSTRALIAN FARMERS SHOULD BREED. Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 6
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