<^. Successful Cooperation 



MARKET TOPPERS 

 A few ol Mark Plotner's lamb*. They 

 brought $9, were shipped East. 



The Peoria Producers 

 Association -- A Strong Linic In A 

 Strong Chain 



By LARRY POTTER 



■.■:,./ • 



W. H. HEMBHOUGH 

 The telephone is an important aid to 

 the manager in sending market iniorma- 

 tion to producers; it contributes largely to 

 orderly marketing. 



y^N THE days when the livestock 



l/j commission business was looked 

 \^_J upon by some as a sure way to 

 wealth, farmers in all parts of the state 

 were organizing shipping associations. 

 Through these local co-ops they opened 

 the way for less than carload producers 

 to sell their livestock on terminal mar- 

 kets instead of to shippers or traders. 



Those small coops scr\ed their pur- 

 pose but they failed to give producers 

 their rightful representation on terminal 

 markets. Using the shipping co-ops as 

 a springboard, organized livestock pro- 

 ducers in Illinois and adjoining states un- 

 der the leadership of the lAA and other 

 State Farm Bureaus jumped into the live- 

 stock trade, set up cooperative commis- 

 sion agencies in the terminal markets. 

 That was from 1921 to 1923. 



One of the three commission coopera- 

 tives established in Illinois during that 

 period was the Peoria Producers Com- 

 mission Association. Organized stock- 

 men in the area sen-ed by the Peoria 

 market secured loans from Farm Bureaus 



in seven surrounding counties totaling 

 $7,000, appointed C. E. Smith to manage 

 the agency and W. R. Hcmbrough to 

 sell livestock, launched the co-op on June 

 22, 1922. 



Wilbur Hembrough succeeded C. E. 

 Smith on Jan. 1, 1923. By June 21, 

 1923, the yearling co-op paid off its S7,- 

 000 debt, returned patronage dividends 

 of 20 per cent to farmers who used the 

 agency. 



The next year the dividend rose to 30 

 per cent, hovered there until 1930 when 

 it dropped to 25 per cent; it came back 

 in 1931 to 30 per cent and hung there 

 until a reduction in commission fees on 

 the Peoria market in 1933 dropped it 

 back to 25 per cent. The average patron- 

 age dividend rate for the 15 years is 

 more than 26 per cent. 



On December 7, after 15 years and six 

 months of service, the Peoria Producers 

 Commission Association was found to be 

 filling a need, financially unblemished 

 and ably managed. A credit to its man- 

 agement and patrons as well, is the fact 

 that since its first year, the association 

 has been doing business solely on its 

 surplus funds. 



The financial success of the Peoria 



Producers is due in large measure to the 

 service it ius given its patrons. Of the 

 kind of service livestock produttrs and 

 feeders have received, the case of Mark 

 Flotner, Stark county, is typical. 



Mark was on a spot. He had 2000 

 black-faced, Oregon lambs in his fecdiot 

 that were ready to market. Tliey weighed 

 around S^ pounds on tlie first of Dccc-m- 

 ber. Mark s fed lambs, the most perish- 

 able product of the livestock industry, 

 had rcathcd their most perishable stage. 

 If they got much heavier there was the 

 danger that they would be classed as 

 yearlings, a class that was bringing a 

 dolh'.r less per hundredweight. 



Mark would have to sell in a few days 

 but the nxarket was temporarily weak. 

 He could do one of two things - send 

 the lambs to market and take a cliince 

 on hitting a steady trade, or he could 

 hold them a day or two until the market 

 showed a better tone. 



Being an old hand at the game, and 

 having full confidence in his own organ- 

 ization, .Mark chose to wait. He had 

 pre\iously told Carl Herman, sheep sales- 

 man with the Peoria Producers, that his 

 lambs would be ready to sell shortly after 

 Dec. 1 . Carl had promised to keeji hinn 



'Continued nn page 201 



HAULS ABE SHOBT 

 Little liTastock is brought further than 75 miles — the shrink U negligible. 



JANUARY. 1938 



17 



