1108 New York State Rkeedeks' Association 



DISCUSSION OF HORSE BREEDING IN NEW YORK STATE 

 E. S. Akin, Glens Falls, X. Y. 



I believe if a man is going to make a success of any one thing 

 he ought to go at it with a certain point in view. I think the 

 horse for the New York Stato farmers to breed is the one that will 

 sell for the highest average price on the market, besides doing the 

 farm work, and being produced at the lowest possible cost. I do 

 not believe there is any other breed for the farmer to consider at 

 the present time, nnless he has money to throw away on the draft 

 horse. If our farmers cannot raise horses for those prices, besides 

 doing work on the farm, they are not very bright horsemen. 



I asked the state breeders three years ago their impression, and 

 I would like to see a vote taken on that to-day; that is, how many 

 men here have bred and grown up and sold a good 1,500 j^ound 

 horse during the last six months? (Three hands counted.) That, 

 in my mind, shows where we are pretty lame. I claim that wo are 

 simply hired men for the middle west, producing the money and 

 letting them use it. Last Saturday I stopped off at Adams County 

 on my way back from Kentucky. The day before the}^ had had a 

 sale of 300 draft horses there; this they have every two weeks. 

 A lot of money is going into that county that I believe should 

 stay here. 



AYe can go still further. I believe that instead of paying the 

 large prices we do in France, Belgimn and England for our stock, 

 there are plenty of farmers here capable of keeping a pair of well- 

 bred mares. That money beloncs in Kew York State. The sooner 

 we wake up to tlic fact that we can produce them with the same 

 feed, the sooner we will get ahead in the cash line. 



The draft horse, in my mind, represents just two things — power 

 and cash, and we need them both. At the International this year 

 a friend of mine sold a colt for a thousand dollars. I do not say 

 you can all raise tliousand-dollar colts, but it is a long way between 

 what von are doinc; noAV and that thousand-dollar colt. I have 

 talked with several dealers in regard to forming a draft-breeders' 

 association, and I believe the officers ought to get together here 



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