U. S. YARDS, EARLY MORNING 

 Historic water tower and exchange 

 building in background. 



A Day 



with the 



Producers 



^*X-R-R-R-R-R-R-R! Where is that 

 ^-/v pesky alarm clock. You reach 

 _J J out in the shivering cold of a 

 November morning to shut off the 

 clatter. It's dark outside. Four forty- 

 five standard time is early any time of 

 year. In November it's still night. But 

 we're going to the stockyards to look 

 in on the Chicago Producers. And the 

 day starts early there. 



The residential sectioii is asleep at 6 

 A. M. But not packingtown. There's 

 plenty of buzz and excitement around 

 Exchange Avenue. Trucks rattle about, 

 cows bawl, pigs squeal, and workmen 

 hustle to get ready for the day. 



Up on the sixth floor of the Ex- 

 change Building, the producers have 

 modern, well-lighted offices, the larg- 

 est of any commission agency on the 

 market. When the Farm Bureau set 

 up the Producers back in the early 

 twenties there was pronounced opposi- 

 tion to the newcomer. The "farmer 

 co-op." was scoffed at and condemned. 

 "They won't last. Farmers can't run a 

 business like this," said many a critic. 

 Such words aren't heard any more. You 

 can't laugh off a company that success- 

 fully handled 25 million dollars of 

 livestock last year, nearly 14 per cent 

 of all open market receipts. 



First in cattle by a wide margin, first 

 by great odds in hogs (more than the 

 next seven firms combined) and now 

 first in sheep. That's the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers record. And you will find sim- 

 ilar records among the Producers at 

 E. St. Louis, Peoria, Indianapolis, Cin- 

 cinnati and other terminal markets. 

 Under the leadership of the State Farm 

 Bureau Federations corn belt farmers 

 have made an impressive start in mar- 

 keting livestock co-operatively since the 



DECEMBER. 1936 



first Producers agency opened in 1922. 



The cattle, hog, and sheep salesmen 

 are among the first arrivals at the stock- 

 yards. But a lot of work has been done 

 before. Bill King, for example, has 

 been on the job since the wee hours 

 giving out market information to ship- 

 pers and truckers, helping unload hogs 

 and seeing that they are properly cared 

 for. Zack Proctor has been doing 

 the same for the cattle truckers. Live- 

 stock must be watered, fed and cared 

 for to look well when the buyers get 

 around. 



Who and what sets the price of live- 

 stock.' You can argue that question 

 'til doomsday. The usual answer is 

 "supply and demand." The packers 

 tell you it's the housewife at the meat 

 counter. In the end the consumer's 

 pocketbook determines how fast fresh 

 meats move out of butcher shops and 



GOODMAN STORY, LEFT, AND MANAGER 

 DAVE SWANSON 



"A cup of coffee starts the day." 



cold storage. But out at the yards you 

 learn that both buyer and seller can 

 and do manipulate things to serve their 

 own interests. It's a daily battle of 

 wits with the state of the weather, 

 volume of receipts at the big livestock 

 markets, consumer demand, the previ- 

 ous day's market, and other news pack- 

 ing the heavy punches in the price-mak- 

 ing ring. 



Price Conferences Daily 



At the Producers, the day opens with 

 price conferences among the salesmen 

 in the cattle, hog, and sheep divisions. 

 J. H. "Henry" Campbell, head hog 

 salesman reviews the government sum- 

 mary of the markets the day before to 

 check the trend. Ralph Schaaf, Everett 

 James, Bill King and Lee Miller sit 

 with him. Weather reports, the day's 

 receipts at Chicago, livestock receipts 

 for the day and week at the seven prin- 

 cipal markets, and similar data are con- 

 sidered. Why the seven markets.' Be- 

 cause they get about two-thirds of all 

 livestock. Today's receipts are com- 

 pared with a week ago, a year ago. 

 The same for the week's receipts. 



Yesterday's advance estimate was 6,- 

 000 cattle, 20,000 hogs, 10,000 sheep, 

 you learn. Actual receipts ran heavier 

 at 9,000, 24,000, and 11,000. And there 

 are 11,000 directs, hogs shipped direct 

 to the packers. Not so good. The 

 19.60 top on hogs the day before at 

 Chicago — 10 cents higher than In- 

 dianapolis and St. Louis is held partly 

 responsible. The big packers may not 

 be so active as buyers today. We'll 



The salesmen, nev, guess the market 

 top for the day. Each writes his private 

 opinion on a card. Then they compare 



y 



