THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 596, 23 August 1913, Page 7

THE RURAL WORLD.

I O—BREAKING YOUNG DRAUGHTS. THE BEST AGE. ™ Some people give the colt a little handling at two years, turn it off a bit, and complete the job later on. With regard to such a course, says an expert, I cannot say that there is much in it. My experience is than once the job is commenced it is best to complete it. As to the working of a two-year-old, it is rightly argued that continual labour, as alloted to older, fully grown horses, is against the interests of animal and owner, and the man who completes the breaking of the young horse at two years old be ti filly or gelding—should be a man who knows what a two-year-old can endure when at work without any injury to its youthful development for it must be accepted that the two-year-old, however well developed, is not a fit subject to be put to anything like genera! work. Three years is a bettor age, but leaving things longer is a waste of time, and thi3 waste of time in the case of an animal that has to produce its profit from its labour is a waste of monav. To break the neart of a young horse is not breaking it to usefulness and profit, and to starve it into subjection during the period of its initiation into usefulness does not warrant the establishing of docile qualities. Many a horse comes home from the breaker broken in strength and spirit. A quick shilling is thus obtained, and after the animal gets back to its full stamina under good feeding it becomes apparent that its subjection to duties was only resignation to odds against it. Such deceitful tactics as these are productive of vice and disaster. There may be some horses that are stubborn, but the majority of horses are just about as reasonable as their owners, and if treated in a reasonable manner do not stop in the road without a cause whatever. Whipping never yet cured an obstinate horse, though it has been at the bottom of many cases of obstinacy. PREPARING WOOL FOR MARKET With the near approach of another wool selling season it is opportune to remind growers a3 to the advisability of paying proper attention to the get-up of their clips to market tneir wool in a manner which will ensure a maximum return. With the great improvements being effected, especially on the Continent, the preparation of oddments, the skirtings, etc., for the manufacturer, the importance of baling the fleece proper, apart from the inferior portions of it, is more than ever apparent. There is no necessity to classify the clip in any elaborate manner, in fact, with a small clip it is a mistake all that is necessary is to skirt the fleece well, and bale separately distinctly varying types of wool, making the longer stapled wools into separate parcels from the shorter stapled. Then the fleece portions will be competed for by the strongest buyers on the market, while the pieces will be competed tor by the foreign buyers, who are in a position to pay the highest prices for this class of raw material. As a matter of fact, by bailing unskirted fleeces, a barrier is being put up against the best buyers on the market, and is playing into the hands of local dealers and speculators, 'who purchase often below trie instrinsic value with the object of sorting and skirting, in order to sell at a profit to outside buyers who would have secured possession in the sale room had the clip been properly prepared in the first instance. If growers would consider for a moment the enormous difference in market returns, which result from the proper classification of meat, dairy produce, fruit, etc., they would realise the weakness of sending their produce to market just as it comes from the sheep's body, quite irrespective of condition and quality. Indeed proper classification of farm produce is becoming an essential market requirement, but no commodity demands more the proper separation of varying qualities in the marketing of it than wool.