Purebred Sales 



The Guernsey, Jersey, Holstein, Ayrshire, and Brown Swiss are rep- 

 resented by New Hampshire Breeding Associations. The Purebred 

 Dairy Cattle Association is a state organization to coordinate the pohcies of 

 the breed associations, with respect to shows, testing, guarantees, and 

 health. 



There is no formal sales organization from which the number of sales 

 or the prices can be obtained. Occasionally farm sales are announced. A 

 producer interested in purebred stock can contact the secretary of the asso- 

 ciation, who will act as a broker for herd owmers in his association without 

 financial return. This is a specialized market, and premiums over the prices 

 for the general run of replacement stock are generally asked and obtained. 

 Few cattle dealers handle this type of transaction. The artificial insemina- 

 tion program is reducing the need for dairymen to buy purebred bulls and 

 heifers for dairy herd improvement. 



Dealer Operations 



The collection of cattle and sheep from farms other than farm-to- 

 farm sales is primarily performed by dealers. This includes cattle and sheep 

 for slaughter and dairy herd replacement cows. There are 149 livestock 

 dealers licensed to operate in the State of New Hampshire, i Of these 

 dealers. 98 are located in New Hampshire, 25 in Massachusetts, 19 in 

 Vermont, and 7 in Maine. 



Many of the dealers are not actively engaged in buying and selling in 

 the state or at least have only a small proportion of their total business in 

 New Hampshire. Their location in New Hampshire is shown in Figure 4. 

 The out-of-state dealers are located, in general, close to the New Hampshire 

 state boundary. 



Dealers' Buying and Selling Practices 



The majority of dealers buying cattle from farmers pay cash at the 

 farm. Some dealers make periodic visits to farms and build up their truck 

 loads from established routes. Other dealers arrange for truck loads by tel- 

 ephone before visits, or are contacted by farmers with cattle or calves for 

 sale. 



Mixed loads are common with the smaller dealers, who equip their 

 trucks with removable partitions for this purpose, but are rare with larger 

 dealers. One or two sell on a commission basis and do not take title to 

 the livestock. At least three dealers buy for local packers under contract, 

 and most of the New Hampshire slaughterers buy direct from farmers as 

 well as from dealers. The majority of dealers each handled less than 300 

 head of all livestock in 1952. Table 10 shows the relative size of the buying 

 operations of dealers and local slaughterers in New Hampshire during 

 1952. 



Dealers not under contract to local packers ship the majority of their 

 purchases to the Brighton market for slaughter or dispose of them at 

 Vermont and the occasional New Hampshire auctions. Numerous dealers 



1 The law defines a livestock dealer as any person, partnership, unincorporated 

 association, or corporation going from place to place buying, selling, or trans- 

 porting cattle, sheep, or swine, or operating a livestock auction or sales ring. 



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