The Farmer. The Breeding of Draught Horses.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2081, 7 November 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Farmer. The Breeding of Draught Horses.

TWeHon.T. 0. Jones, in a letter on this untypct in The Tlrtcdtn Gaztite (Chus*^). naye.— Tho fir^t mat er to he attemlrd to h tbe selection of mures suitable for t'.is pur porn. Tb.p occupier of a farm of 100 to '200 a«Teswill ieqniie from three to five h-Tfea to do the work of the, farm and use of the family. Two or three of these m»v be broot 1 -mares, nrrt if properly manrged *hr.uld m*ke as profitable returns as any animals on the farm. A« they will be used in g-neral farm work, they Phouitl be, a* re°pectn size und form, fitted for this service say 15 tolfi hands high, not too high on thr> If ft. stout and compact in form, with poor\ fht less, pound feet, and \»ewhiriß from 1100 to 12.10 pounds In my opinion, whilo it may under some eirenmslnnces be prrfitable to breed horaes rf larger Fi/.e. to niPCt the df rounds of the mar Vet, rrrß'er weights, as a general rule, are not. nee.'id for the ordinnry work of the farm, and for thin purpose thpre can be no doubt hot that, animal* of 1500 to I^oo pounds le<w profitable. BesiriVe, it in to be borne in mind that the drauaht stallion to wh'ch these mares are to be bred will cive largely increased eiVo to the progeny. Indfed, we frequently sec marts of much smaller size bred to larpe Frenoh or British stallions, producing a progent, which, when matured, will weigh ir>oo or 1700 lbs. In regard to the breed from which the sires should be Kekcted, if the purpose is *o breed for s ; ze, Ido not think there is much to choose between the big horsos of Britain and those of Frtnce. Tbe En(jli?h cart hor?e is supposed to have been purely bred fiom the blaok horse breed existing centuries ago in Holland and Belgium, whero, it is s»id. tho weight and size, which were regarded as characteristic of the breed in ancient times, are still retained. In Scotland there were early importations of thia breed. Among otbera, it is recorded that one of the Dukes of Hamilton brought a number of Flanders ttalJioni to the neighborhood of Hamilton at a very early period. The descendants of these importations, fcj-fiteuiatically bred for many year?, became known as the Clydesdale breed —longer in body and less weighty than tbe English black horse, and longer in stride, having »lso more activity for field work. Low jays that although the Clydesdales are inferior in weight and strength to the ilngliiib. blaok horse, " they yet possess properties which render them exceedingly valuable for ordinary uses." This has reference to the points in which the Clydepdale, as he appeared many years apo, differed from the English cart horse. The demand f-r greater bulk and weight, largely from the United States, has, as all obeerving men know, gradually removed these distinctive characteristics of these two varieties of draught horses. The Clydesdales are now fully as large and stout as the English Shire-horses (as the carthorses are now called) with the characteristic hairy or " feathered " leg«, thick and " frizzled " mana— the whole aspect conveying the idea of great physioal power, with corresponding aotion.

Thr Hereford cow Mermaid 2nd is considered by our Cr nadian cousins to be without an equal in Canada, and without a Buperior on the Amerioan continent. Mermaid 2od was calved in 1877, was bred by Mr. S. Jhbineon, Lynhales, Kington, and waa got by Hogulua 407<>, and out of Mermaid, by Luxury 3232. Hie recently dropped, in Mr. J\. H. Pope's herd, a fine bull calf by Downton Grnnd Dake. Tbe Canadian Live Stock Journal observes that " Mermaid ia a massive cow, and possess einEiilar smoothness and wonderful symmetry of body for a cow which turna the scale at 2200 lb". She has the prodigious fiont, peculiar to hor race, and is in almost eveiy particular a fine model." A Pitoi.iKic Cow.— Tbe cow belonging to Mr. M'Cullocb, Fortrie, Grange, whose record ot calving i 3 without a parallel, died a few days bro, her time of oalving not having arrived. Hei caivep in ber respcotive years numbered one, three, four, two, one, two, four, making a total of 17. This seasons he would have been as prolific as ever, for, Mr. Anderson, yeterinary aurgeon, Keith, on examination, found there were four calves nearly fully developed, each one as large »nd shapely as its ntighbour. She baa thus bad 21 calves, or an average of 2{ at eaoh calving. Her progeny have not shown mete than ordinarj fertility. Fourteen of the first 17 calves were fostered by the co,w. — B/inffshirc Journal. Dairtino associations appear to be getting more popular than ever in England. The tenants of Lord Macclesfield and other farmers opened a cheese and butter faotory at Croxdon, almost beneath the chade of the old Abbey walls. The faotory has been erected at a cost of £000 by Lord M»cc!esfield for the convenience of his tenants and neighbouring farmers. The faotory ia capable of receiving the milk from between 400 and 500 cows ; at present milk is supplied from 300 oows by 12 contributors. The making-room contains four vats, 570 gallons each, and the milk ia received and weighed at the entrance from an elevation, whence it flows direct into the vats. Tho drying-room is fitted with heatiDg apparatus and every modern appliance. There is atso a large churning apparatus, capable of churning 100 lbs. of whey butter. There is reason to believe the faotory will prove a great boon to the farmers of Croxden and neighbourhood. Tnrc percentage of cream in tho milk of Guernsey cows appears to be enormous. A correspondent of the Live Stock Journal mentions a cow ot this breed capable of making 35 lbs. of butter per week.