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Peoria Producers 



(Continued from page 17) 



informed as to market conditions. 



It was Monday morning, Dec. 6 before 

 Herman called Mark by long distance 

 telephone. Carl told him the market was 

 steady but the demand was weak. That 

 was enough for Mark. He was ready to 

 send the entire 2000 head to the Peoria 

 yards. Carl restrained him, explained 

 that the number of lambs the Peoria mar- 

 ket could assimilate on a weak demand 

 would be limited. Mark finally decided 

 to send 500 head. 



The next morning Carl Herman was 

 busy before daylight studying the prob- 

 able receipts report from other markets. 

 He learned that there would be as many 

 lambs on the other markets as there had 

 been the day before. 



At eight o'clock the report from the 

 Chicago Producers Commission Associa- 

 tion indicated a strong demand for choice 

 lambs. To Herman that meant a steady 

 price and an opportunity to help Mark 

 Plotner, Adam McWilliams and other 

 lamb feeders cash in their crop. 



Herman got busy on the 'phone. One 

 by one he called feeders who were hold- 

 ing finished lambs for a more active mar- 

 ket. He gave each one information he 

 had about the market and asked them if 

 they planned to take advantage of it. As 

 they indicated their intentions, Carl listed 

 the number of head. 



He had more than 2500 choice lambs 

 to sell; a buyer had orders for 3000. It 

 was a situation that led to a lively trade. 

 Top in Peoria was $9. 00, equalled the 

 Chicago top on that class of lambs. 



Mark Plotner's 1450 lambs were sold 

 without sorting out a single head. East- 

 ern buyers with orders to get uniform 

 loads of choice lambs have learned that 

 the best lambs often come to the Peoria 

 market. 



Feeders know that Peoria is a good 

 place to sell fed lambs. Let Adam Mc- 

 Williams of Stark county tell you what 

 he thinks of his market and his market- 

 ing cooperative: 



"The service we get from our Pro- 

 ducers agency is just so good that we 



SHEEPMAN HERMAN 

 "Runs of shaep swelled from 100 in 

 1932 to 3,000 now. Oi the 100, none were 

 lambs." 



can't appreciate it. It was eight o'clock 

 this morning before I got Herman's call 

 that the market looked strong. By that 

 time my lambs had eaten their usual 

 morning feed. We loaded them right 

 away, hauled them about 50 miles and I 

 don't believe they shrank a pound." 



Contrasting his present way of selling 

 his lambs, Adam continued: "If these 

 lambs had been shipped to Chicago they 

 would have been loaded on the cars last 

 night and they wouldn't have been sold 

 until today. The result is that I sold 

 more pounds of lambs here than I could 

 fcave sold there. And the price is the 

 same at both yards." 



The factor that has contributed most 

 to making Peoria a sheep and lamb mar- 

 ket has been the cooperative Peoria Feed- 

 er Company. This Co-op, a subsidiary 

 of the Peoria Producers established ten 

 years ago, is managed by D. H. Hirth. 

 Its two purpKJses are to secure better out- 

 lets for livestock handled on the market 

 and to supply feeders with replacement 

 stock at minimum cost. 



Another factor that has played a part 

 in making Peoria the center of the central 

 Illinois sheep trade is the fact that the 

 Producers handle 54 per cent of all lambs 

 that come to the market. With most of 



the sheep to sell and several buyers to 

 bid for them, the Producers have some- 

 what more control over the price than 

 they would if they handled less. 



Billy Hill is the Producers' moving 

 force in the hog department. Hill is 

 well-known for his good humor and his 

 ability to wangle that last quarter cent 

 from prospective hog buyers. With near- 

 ly 30 per cent of all the hogs that come 

 to the stockyards in his alleys to sell, 

 Billy Hill is a constructive force on the 

 market. 



Billy is responsible, too, for much of 

 the information that goes out to pro- 

 ducers. He comes on the air over radio 

 station WMBD at 6:25 every week day 

 morning with estimated receipts and a 

 brief summary of the livestock prices of 

 the day before. At 12:25 P.M. he re- 

 ports the day's trade. 



Seven or eight hog buyers on the mar- 

 ket handle the entire volume sold by 18 

 commission firms. Competition is sup- 

 plied by four small local killers and rep- 

 resentatives of one of the larger packers. 

 The better grades of hogs and sheep are 

 sold to be shipped East for slaughter. 



Like all the other Producers agencies, 

 the Peoria co-op is interested in helping 

 4-H Club members get off to a right 

 start. Manager Hembrough believes that 

 a boy should have a calf that will make 

 him some money. 



'Sell a boy a calf that will lose him 

 money and that boy, nine chances in ten, 

 will be through with livestock. There 

 should be more stress laid on the profit 

 end of 4-H Club work and less on cham- 

 pion calves," Hembrough declares. 



His reasoning is profound. Are we 

 not all boys at heart? None of us likes 

 to make a bad bargain. Since 1923 when 

 the first eleven Producers Commission 

 Associations were set up, organized farm- 

 ers have made fewer mistakes in their 

 livestock enterprises. With a chain of 

 co-ops in all the livestock markets from 

 San Francisco to Buffalo, organized farm- 

 ers have more information to guide their 

 judgment than ever before. 



TTie Peoria Producers is a strong link 

 in a strong chain. 



BILLY HILL AND BUYER 

 "He often gets that extra quarter-cent* 



■ff. • lUST LIKE A GIFT 



~'^} — waa the $73.94 plus that Salesman Carl Herman 

 '.'V secured for Adam McWilliams (with check). Adam's 

 lambs didn't shrink. 



ANOT 



Lined t 

 in the 10 



ALLEN 

 (Rock Ul( 

 and the 

 feeding ( 



Right ( 

 and his 

 A Hereto 

 Chicago 



At extr< 

 County. 1 

 champion 

 manager 



BELOW 

 barrow w 

 Weight 3 

 66. 



M. B. PLOTNER 

 *His 2(X)0 lambs might hare broken ths 

 market" 



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