546 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



of consumption and the movements within this surplus production region 

 itself. And since with live stock as with other agricultural commodities 

 the price at which the surplus can be sold determines the price in large 

 part of the total production, and since price determination is the great 

 element in any marketing undertaking, it follows that any successful solu- 

 tion of the price problem at the surplus markets will solve, in large part 

 at least, the same problem in other regions far removed from these cen- 

 tral markets. 



The three kinds of live stock, cattle, hogs and sheep, while they now 

 are marketed and no doubt will continue to be marketed through the same 

 marketing machinery, yet the conditions under which they are produced, 

 the products derived from them and the price determining factors are so 

 dissimilar that each must be considered by itself and a separate study 

 made of each. But there are certain general conditions, the greater part 

 of which are found with all three, that can be outlined as giving the 

 ground that must be covered in attempting to draw up plans for the more 

 orderly marketing of all and of each. These general conditions will be 

 considered under the four heads of production, market movement, char- 

 acter of the derived products and consumption. 



Production. All products before they can be marketed must first be 

 produced, and the conditions under which they are produced and the va- 

 rious factors controlling and influencing their production will play a large 

 role in the manner of their marketing. It is also equally certain that 

 nothing promising can be accomplished in the direction of the orderly 

 marketing of a commodity that is not founded on fairly dependable infor- 

 mation as to the amount of production. Hence production should be 

 studied both as to its character and its amount. 



The character of live stock production, meaning the industrial, eco- 

 nomic and technical factors that influence and direct and control it, differs 

 as among different kinds and different classes, but all of these find a place 

 in one or more of the following classifications: 



(a) As an activity in and for itself with other activities subsidiary to 

 it and the enterprise controlled from the accounting point of view in 

 terms of cost per head. As such it may be either a distinct enterprise, get- 

 ting its income from the sale of live stock, or a separate activity in con- 

 junction with other agricultural activities and requiring special skill, 

 equipment and financing. Ranches or farms devoted entirely or mainly 

 to producing one or more kinds of stock, pulp or cake feeding, are ex- 

 amples of the former, and farm feed lot feeding of the latter. 



(b) As a side line activity in a general farming enterprise. As such it 

 is conducted as part of a mixed farming scheme for the purpose of greater 

 diversity and to utilize by-products of the other activities and to help 

 maintain soil fertility. The production is carried on under a system of 

 joint costs with the other activities and the costs of production and the 

 profit and loss cannot be exactly determined separately. 



(c) As a by-product of another industry which is controlled by condi- 

 tions within that industry and little influenced by conditions in the live 

 stock industry. As such it contributes to the profits of or to the reduction 

 of costs in that industry. 



