Hokkaido Horse Racing Story

During this time of year, night grazing becomes more frequent and scheduling of collective grazing becomes increasingly difficult.

A notification flashed on the screen of the phone on the table.

After the standby screen faded, a forecast popped up: "Rain will continue until the afternoon."

“It will rain again in the afternoon.”

After informing everyone of the news, everyone responded with a series of lazy yawns.

"How about switching to summer grazing mode starting tomorrow?"

Kikuchi straightened his back like an elementary school student and raised his hand seriously to make a proposal.

It may seem a little early, but it’s already the time of year in Hokkaido when horses must endure the scorching heat.

For production farms that primarily run yearlings and yearlings, the risk of heat stroke also increases at this time of year.

Although Mejiro Ranch does not have any foals or pregnant mares that require special care, it currently has three elderly retired horses that are more sensitive to temperature.

"How about all three members of the retirement group be scheduled for the night?"

Qianshan didn't even raise his head, his fingertips kept swiping across the tablet screen, planning the grazing schedule.

"It's fine with Aru-chan, but as for Kyouki, he probably prefers daytime."

"Sister Duobo seems to be quite listless after the sun sets."

"If you're grazing at night, it's better not to be too energetic."

"Ah, that's true."

Therefore, the three retired horses were divided into two groups for grazing.

Dober and Aru, who were not particularly opposed to night grazing, were assigned to the night group.

Jinghui, who preferred the daytime group, was assigned to the midday grazing group together with Atalanta who was grazing in the summer.

The week after the Oaks Tournament ended, Atalanta returned to Mejiro Ranch to officially begin her summer recuperation.

After Mejiro Sakuya finished her recuperation and returned to the stable, there were only four horses left on the ranch that actually needed care.

Although this is the case, it is not advisable to arrange all four horses to graze at night simply for the sake of convenience.

As diurnal animals, horses will be less active when grazed at night than when grazed during the day, and it often takes longer to achieve the same amount of exercise.

In a relatively quiet environment, the concentration on eating during grazing tends to increase.

For active racehorses, mid-day grazing is always the preferred option.

"Tomorrow, Sister Duobo and Aru-chan will adjust their herding schedule to nighttime. The adjustment period is tentatively set at one week."

After confirming that everything was correct, Qianshan sent the latest grazing schedule to the ranch group, then stood up and walked towards the printer.

"For the nighttime group, the daily supplemental dose of vitamin D3 will initially be 2,000 IU, and will be adjusted based on the horse's condition."

Kitano picked up his tablet, tapped the screen with his fingertips and adjusted the feed formula for the night group.

Lack of light will inhibit the synthesis of vitamin D in horses, requiring additional supplementation through feed.

"For the magnesium supplementation, the nighttime group received an increase of 25 mg per kilogram."

Supplements can effectively relieve stress in racehorses, and have the added benefit of maintaining neuromuscular excitability and preventing metabolic syndrome.

However, due to concerns about the increased risk of insulin resistance, Kitano had previously planned the magnesium supplement content in the feed formula for the three retired horses on the ranch to only be based on the minimum standard of 20mg/kg.

"clear--"

Rachel Ho, who was lying on the table, raised one hand lazily and answered in a drawn-out tone.

"It's time to work on the hay in the summer grazing land."

Having said that, Kitano turned his head and looked out the window.

Of course, under the cover of rain, I couldn't see anything.

Around this time every year, the ranches in Hokkaido begin to harvest the grass on the grazing land, which is called "summer mowing".

In addition to being stored as silage for the winter, the lower quality parts will be dried to remove the bitterness and used as hay for bedding.

Mejiro Ranch is no exception.

Back in March, Kitano bought a RHINO 2150 rotary lawn mower from an American website called "Tr○ctor House."

This rotary mower can be switched between folding and unfolding positions, making it much easier to use for mowing grass than the cheaper agricultural equipment recommended by JA.

"Hey! Let me try it out when the time comes, boss. I've read the instructions several times."

Zep suddenly coughed dryly a few times, then spoke in an unusually serious tone.

"Let me do it. I've been in contact with a lot of similar agricultural equipment with my dad since I was a child."

"It seems very interesting. I want to try it too—"

Just as they were about to get into an argument, Kikuchi, who seemed to be thinking about something from the beginning, raised his head.

"Don't we have the equipment to bale hay?"

The atmosphere instantly turned into an awkward silence.

The members looked over with somewhat subtle expressions.

There are still two weeks left until the pasture season.

Chapter 218 Lu Mao?

On Monday of the second week of June, Kitano once again came to the JBBA stud station in Kyushu.

The yearling market sale will officially begin at 1:30 p.m.

The morning before that is the time for buyers to come and see the auction horses.

As I opened the taxi door, a wave of heat instantly enveloped my body.

It feels a little hard to breathe.

Even though I had anticipated the severity of Kyushu's summer and had deliberately chosen short-sleeved shirt and shorts, sweat still quickly soaked my back.

It was hard to find any guides in the stud station, as the limited staff were all preparing for the afternoon auction.

The sellers and the ranch staff walked around the stud station with a familiar look on their faces, and all they could hear was the somewhat difficult-to-understand Kyushu dialect.

Kitano had no choice but to grope his way to the temporary stable where the auction horses were housed.

"This child looks very energetic."

"But don't the muscles in your butt look a little small?"

"The short tail is so cute."

Many buyers had already gathered in front of the stable.

Kitano nodded slightly to several horse owners who looked at him, but he did not stop and walked towards the stable further ahead.

The target, of course, is the foal born on Red Day.

He stopped some distance away from the stable, opened the panel and used the [Detector].

Speed: E-

Judging from the speed alone, it should be at a level that has a chance of winning a large local reward.

"If it's under 4 million yen, I might try taking a picture of it."

As he was thinking about this, he saw from the corner of his eye the eager expression on the face of the horse owner next to him.

The probability is that the number will be more than four million.

Kitano used the detector a second time, still unwilling to give up.

The goal is reproductive characteristics.

The result is only one item [Malaysian style].

No matter how you look at it, it's mostly negative.

He sighed helplessly and continued walking.

"President Kitano was staring at this child for a long time just now."

"I think this kid is great too. We immediately connected with each other."

"You've been playing on your phone all the time."

"Humph! I'm checking its pedigree."

From behind, I could hear the horse owners' whispered discussions.

It seemed that the action just now had invisibly helped the production ranch a little.

Kitano's expression became a little subtle.

"but--"

"The horse owner who bought that child shouldn't lose too much."

Thinking of this, I subconsciously stopped.

The next moment, a pitch-black head popped out from the stable without any warning.

We almost collided—

Kitano secretly felt lucky that his veterinary instincts were still intact.

"What a beautiful black horse!"

A child following an adult excitedly pointed at the satin-like black.

"He's a Reed Horse, little brother."

The stable attendant nearby smiled and gave some knowledge about the Reed Horse.

however--

The buyers around either had subtle expressions on their faces, or just glanced at the temporary listing outside the stable and shook their heads and left.

".And what's so amazing about Pavlova is that her children are all very beautiful."

After the stable attendant finished his popular science lecture, only Kitano and the child who seemed to be still digesting the knowledge about reed hair were left in front of the stable.

"It's probably because the genes on the female side are too strong."

With this in mind, Kitano opened the ancestry website and entered the name according to the name on the listing.

Then, I immediately understood why horse owners were avoiding it.

The mare named Pavlova, whose hair shows almost no signs of greying during her active service, has produced five foals so far.

The number of foal victories is "zero".

"It's like some kind of reed-hair printer."

After putting down his phone, Kitano had these thoughts in his mind.

In addition to the coat color, the bodies of the foals born by Pavlova are also stable, as if they were copied and pasted.

No matter what coat color the foal is bred with, the chances of the foal being a grey-haired foal are high.

From this point of view, the ocean-going ships as the mother and father are absolutely inseparable.

"A stable mind and a strong body"

Recalling the characteristics of the descendants of the ocean ship, Kitano once again looked at the one-year-old pony in front of him with almost blue hair.

At this time, the reed-haired horse also raised its head and pointed its nostrils at Kitano.

His physique is similar to other foals from the same mother, and he looks particularly strong at his one-year-old age.

Although the skin is not as white as "a thousand ounces of wet horse skin", the muscle contours are still clear at the stage when the reed hair has not yet fully appeared.

The chest is slightly broad, and although the depth and height are a bit too much, they are not so disproportionate as to be obvious.

It is not difficult to see the horse's fighting spirit from its eager eyes.

No matter how you look at it, it should be a good horse.

Looking up and meeting Ashima's gaze, Kitano used the [Detector].