Volume 67: Macarthur family papers relating to livestock, 1814-1884: No. 355

[Page 355]

Report - 2

For the last six years there has been but little variation in numbers.  As to the distribution, the detailed returns give 156,913 in the old settled districts or countries, and 123,391 in the unsettled or pastoral districts.  Very few horses are bred in the salt-bush country, and it is principally in the upland and intermediate districts that the horse-stock is to be found.

The horse-stock of the Colony may be conveniently divided into three classes, according to the purposes to which they are put;  and their numbers and quality have been roughly estimated as follows:-
 

The large amount of inferior stock here displayed shows the degenerating effect of the negligence which has been too general during the last twenty years.  Some further particulars as to the different classes of stock will help to display the present condition of Colonial industry in this line.

Draught Horses - These have been chiefly bred in the Counties of St. Vincent, Camden, Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, Brisbane, Wellington, and Bathurst, and the principal gentlemen who have devoted themselves to their production have been Messrs. Bray, Warn, Wade, Hoskisson, Malone, Clift, Archibald Bell, and Captain Turner.  Among the breeds which have been introduced are the Cleveland, the heavy English dray-horse, the Clydesdale, and the Suffolk Punch.  Owing to the unfortunate prevalence of opinion that an intermixture would result in improvement, there has been but little systematic attempt to keep the Home breeds separate, but on the whole the Clydesdale blood is predominant.  The heavy draught horses are mostly descended from imported English dray-horses, mixed with the larger class of the modern Clydesdale breed.  They are of course chiefly to be seen at dray-work in Sydney, but they are also to be met with in the County of Cumberland, and in the districts of the Hawkesbury and the Hunter.

They are most suitable for town-work, as they are too slow and require too good feed to be economical for farmer's use, and indeed it is questionable whether the smaller Clydesdale and more active Suffolk Punch are not even in town more profitable stock.  The prices of first-class heavy draught stock range from £15 to £25 unbroken, and when broken from £20 to £35.

The first-class farming horses are mostly the descendants of the early Clydesdale and Suffolk Punches, and are principally to be found in the Counties of St. Vincent, Camden, Cumberland, Bathurst, Northumberland, Durham, Brisbane, and Wellington, although there is a sprinkling of them through the whole of the uplands and intermediate country.  Where moderate care has been bestowed in breeding, this class of horse is compact, staunch, and active, and is well adapted (perhaps the most adapted in this Colony) for farming purposes, and even for carrying on the road.  This style of horse ranges at present from £12 to £25 unbroken, and when broken from £20 to £30.

Middling draught Horses, - The best of this class are the remnant of the old New South Wales draught horse.  He was a comparatively high-standing, rather big-headed, light-boned, ragged-hipped, active, hardy, animal, and clearly, from his colour, shape, carriage, and the roundness of his cannon-bone, a scion of the Cleveland stock, with, in many cases, a dash of the thorough-bred.  He was pretty staunch, very active, and was good for plenty of work, notwithstanding the scurvy treatment he received, having in many cases, like the working bullocks, to find his own food.  This class is now principally made up of the best of the cross-descendants of the draught horse and the light mares.  They are, upon the whole, useful stock, and do more work than might have been expected of them, but they are not to be depended on for staunchness like the pure bred draught.  Their prices range from £8 to £16 unbroken, and from £10 to £20 broken.