No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 397 



STARTING IN THE PURE BLOOD LIVESTOCK BUSINESS. 



BT 8. E. BRADFUTE, Xetiia, Ohio. 



The average family in these United States is composed of 4.6 

 persons. This average family, we are informed by statistics gath- 

 ered at Washington, consumes in one year: 431 pounds of beef, to 

 which is added 49 pounds of veal, making 480 pounds of beef prod- 

 uct; 39 pounds of mutton, 30 pounds of iamb, making 69 pounds of 

 mutton products, and 465 pounds of pork, making a total number of 

 pounds of meat consumed in a year by an average family of 1,014 

 pounds. 



When we consider the immense amount of jnoney that is invested 

 in the livestock business in this great country of ours, I need make 

 no apology for coming to you this afternoon to discuss for the 

 second time some of the features connected with the livestock in- 

 dustry in this country of ours, and particularly for coming before 

 you to discuss this afternoon a subject that lies very close to my 

 heart, that of engaging in the pure blood livestock business. This 

 subject was mostly prepared for the purpose of talking to younger 

 men, who are about to engage in the livestock industry, and in the 

 pure blood business, but I certainly am not averse to talking to the 

 fathers of these young men, knowing that in many cases it will be 

 very much through their fathers and brothers that these same 

 young men will engage in this livestock business. 



A young man often wonders, in settling on the farm, whether or 

 not he can gain any special recognition by living on the farm. 

 Young men often feel, and I have noticed that particularly in 

 young men who go to colleges, and used to feel a great more than 

 they do now, that when a young man goes back to the farm from 

 his college studies, he is simply going back to hard work, and noth- 

 ing else. Now, that is not true. I want to say this to the fathers 

 of the young men who are here, that the young man can gain as 

 much — shall I say notoriety? No; that is hardly the word; but a 

 young man can gain as great a reputation on the farm, engaged 

 in the livestock business, and will stand a better chance, I be- 

 lieve, to gain that reputation, than in almost any other busi- 

 ness into which he may go. I know that the livestock busi- 

 ness in Pennsylvania has hardly reached this importance yet, 

 but I am not afraid to stand here and say that many of you 

 gentlemen who are here can name more prominent livestock 

 men in the State of Pennsylvania than you can name Con- 

 gressmen. I believe that the average livestock man is better known 

 throughout the length and breadth of his county than is the ave- 

 rage Congressman. I know that every boy believes that he would 

 like to be a Congressman, but I do not see why he would not just as 

 soon go into the livestock business, and gain his reputation by means 

 of the livestock business than he would by going into Congress, or 



