DOES BREEDING PAY?

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume I, Issue 7, 13 September 1890, Page 3

DOES BREEDING PAY?

The Australasian has a long article under the above heading, stating that it has often been answered both in England and Australia in the negative. Circumstances have altered since then, as prices for thoroughbreds have recently very much increased (vide Baron de Hirsch s 5,500 guineas for Memoir’s yearling sister), principally caused by the very much more valuable stakes now run for, and in consequence of this enhanced value breeding if properly conducted will pay. Of course I allude more particularly to thoroughbred stock. Breeding hacks, hunters, and carriage horses in New Zealand will not pay under present conditions. Who is there here who will give from 250 to 600 guineas for a well matched pair of carriage horses, and even if they would they would have to be at least four years old and a dead match, without any white, and good action. Contrast this with a thoroughbred, if he is of undeniable pedigree and of running blood his colour is immaterial and his shape of secondary con-? sideration, as witness Tirailleur, a most ill shaped animal, but who brought 110 guineas as a yearling and who proved himself the first of his year, and who further proved the old adage “ they will run in all forms.” This price it will be noted was for a yearling, in contradistinction to carriage horses of four years old, with all the risk of bringing them to that age without blemish, loss of lif~, and risk of castration. As to hunters and hacks a man must be a bold one who would give £l5 a head for all who turn out with our hunt and take the lot, and half that money for the average hack we see in the streets, so that in talking of breeding as a paying speculation it is necessary to put half-bred horses, until a better market is found, out of court. In founding a stud company liberality in management, as far as regards the comfort of mares and foals in housing and particularly in feeding, must be the the foundation of all success. It is infinitely better to err on on the side of over-feeding than the reverse, and although our climate and good grass will do a great deal, still oats and bran and plenty of them must be a sine qua, non. Brood mares suckling a foal and in foal again, particularly want good feed, and they should have a full allowance of crushed oats and bran, say i2lbs. per day, to be further increased as the foal grows and weaning time comes near. It is of consequence that the oats should be crushed, as if not they are likely to produce worms, and some mares are so greedy that they will require to be haltered to their manger and a separate manger for their foal, or they will drive the foal away. If the mare and foal are treated in this way,, the foal may be weaned in good time without any detriment to it, and to the manifest advantage of the mare, who should by that time be quick with foal, and here I should maintain the same liberal course of treatment, as you must bear in mind that the mare if not suckling is at least producing a foal, which is of course a great drain on her constitution. If the foal has been reared in the above manner and is of good constitution he should not miss his mother’s milk, and this, makes all the difference between a well and an ill reared colt. If the latter he will miss his mother and fall off wonderfully, and do what you like afterwards he will never make the colt he would have done. It is a well known fact amongst breeders, that if at weaning time the foal pines and loses his milk flesh, he will never get over it, feed him after how you may; and I believe want of ability to stay a distance, and carry weight, is to a certain extent intensified by want of attention; to this matter, which is of paramount importance. It is of little avail that a high price should be paid for a brood mare and the services of a fashionable stallion if the foal is not well, done by. It has been well said that the best part of breeding goes down the throat. There, is no such thing as a foal standing still, he is either growing and making bone and muscle or going backwards. At the same time I wish to be understood that a state of fat is not a healthy state, far from it, as a foal after weaning if he has been properly looked after, should present the appearance of a minature horse, his muscle should stand out, and he should begin to show his shape. If fed as I have indicated he will voluntarily gallop about so much as to be in half training, and also greatly to the development of his muscle. Of all things a breeding establishment should not be

cramped for capital, it will be found that it is vastly better to have fewer mares properly done, to, than a larger number wjiich have not fair play, on account of want of funds to properly mate them. A stud company should always be in a position to either purchase or hire the services of any entire, which either from breeding or any other reason makes it desirable to employ, rather than use one they may own themselves at a smaller cost. I think there can be no doubt that a stud farm conducted on liberal lines, with a well selected stud of mares and entires of fashionable and running blood must with the increasing demand for racing stock pay, and pay well with judicious; management. And more .particularly this is the case as with the prestage it ha? already obtained in the colonies, it is no longer an experiment as to the class pf thoroughbred yre can breed, or as to the remunerative prices they bring under the hammer.

Nunquam Dormio.