Struck by the beauty of a pair of coUles the Cheothams »o«v In 



Ohio during their honeymoon they brought them home with them. 



Here Kenneth plays with them in his yard. 



America's Star 

 Farmer of 1948 



Illinois Yonth^s Career 

 Shows That Chief Ingredient 

 Of Success on Shoic Grounds 

 Is Hard Work and Plenty of It 





f ^B 



^^TTDONT think they bchcscd it." 



I America's outstanding voung 



■ tarmer lauyhed heartily as he 



I recalled a visit to his farm by a 



^roup of youn^ Future I'anners. 



Their instructor had told the FFA 



hoys they were about to visit the farm of 



Kenneth L. Cheatham, Americas Star 



Farmer of 1948. 



I guess they expected to find every- 

 thing in tip-top shape. " the 19-year-old 

 Hond county youth said, "but they came 

 )ust after I moved here. Everything was 

 run down. The buildings were badlv in 

 need of fixing and the driveway was 

 covered with weeds. 



They looked at me a bit suspiciously 

 when thev left," he chuckled. "1 guess 

 they wondered if the judges in Kansas 

 ( ity really knew all the facts." 



The boys would no doubt be startled 

 at the changes in the farm near Smiths- 

 boro if they should visit it a year later 

 because Cheatham appears to thrive best 

 when there is plenty of work to be done. 

 He joined the Bond County Farm Bureau 

 early in his farming career and is a mem- 

 ber of his township membership com- 

 mittee. 



The youth wiio brought national re- 

 nown to Illinois last November at the 

 FFA convention in Kansas City grew up 

 in Greenville and Alton and spent the 

 summers on the farm of his grandparents. 

 Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Cheatham of near 

 Smithsboro. His parents separated and 

 he went to live with his grandparents 

 about the time he was attending high 

 school. His t.ither now runs a trucking 

 concern at Greenville and his mother 

 lives in Los Angeles. 



Kenneth loved farm life and studied 

 vocational agriculture with a great deal 

 of enthusiasm. His first project was a 

 purebred Ohio Improved Chester gilt 

 which he bought with S.20 he sa\ed. 

 The gilt farrowed 10 pigs. Five were 

 gilts which he held back to start a pure- 

 bred herd. 



He started a system of records on the 

 dairy herd of 1-4 Holsteins. Up before 

 ti\e every morning he milked the cows, 

 went to school in Greenville and returned 



By JIM THOMSON 



Ass't Editor, lAA Record 



to start the milking .igaiii at "i p.m. He 

 had to gi\e up high school athletic but 

 played at night with an I' I' A basketball 

 team whiih lost only three of IS games 

 played. 



Grandad furnished the lx)y with tiie 

 incenti\e he needed, supplying him with 

 feed and occasionally one or two live- 

 stock for his work. He went through 

 the tour year high school course in three 

 years. In his sophomore year he Ixiught 

 a Brown Swiss cow and Grandfather 

 Cheatham gave him four grade Holsteins 

 tor summer work. 



By the end ot his high school career 

 w hen he was 1 6 years old Ken ow ned 

 fi\e cows, four heifer calves, and 16 bred 

 gilts, all OK. purebreds. And that's not 

 all. In his sophomore year he rented (<l 

 acres to grow soybeans. Grasshoppers, 

 however, took over and he had a crop 

 failure. Only temporarily discouraged 

 he bought s6 acres, planted 1 1> to soy- 

 beans and JO to corn. The beans viclded 

 27 bushels to the acre and sold tor Si. 21 

 a bushel. The corn averaged 6^^ busheU. 

 The land cost S"'^ Jin aire. He thlnk^ 

 it s worth SI 3^ now. 



In 19 46 he decided to go to the f ol- 



leff: Kenneth Cheatham got his start with one pig anti hog raiting remains one of his most Important attlvltles. Klght: The Ctieafhomf 



look over lols' <hltkens. 



