between towns, from little or no controls to rigid controls. Uniform laws 

 would reduce impediments to the transfer of operations from one town to 

 another as supply or other conditions warranted and would facilitate State 

 inspection of operations for the protection of consumers' health. 



Dealers buy cattle, hogs, and sheep from farmers for sale on the 

 Brighton market, or to local packers or butchers. There are ten commercial 

 packers in the state who slaughter local cattle supplemented by inshipments 

 of live or dressed western beef. The choice available to dealers of selling 

 locally or to Brighton means the quoted Brighton price and the sale price 

 in the state are closely related. The shipment of western livestock to New 

 England forces the Brighton price into line with the Chicago price. There- 

 fore, prices paid to farmers in New England follow the ups and downs of 

 the Chicago market and provide guides to any expansion of the livestock 

 industry in New Hampshire. 



There are many dealers with licenses to buy in New Hampshire but 

 only a small proportion are buying steadily. The majority of dealers pay 

 cash at the farm and assume the risk of price changes. They allow them- 

 selves a margin to cover costs and profits. Some few dealers buy on com- 

 mission, which shifts the risk of price changes to the farmer. If all sales 

 were made on a commission basis, the probability of extraordinary profits 

 by dealers would be eliminated and farmers would receive prices paid at 

 Brighton or the local market less an established commission charge. Benefits 

 from unexpected price increases, however, would be balanced by losses from 

 unexpected price declines. 



Prices quoted in the New Hampshire Weekly Market Bulletin are 

 Brighton prices of the previous Monday. Subsequent changes in price 

 during the week are not reflected in this quotation and are available only 

 from radio or newspaper news of the Chicago market. 



The limited markets available to farmers reduces their bargaining abil- 

 ity in individual sales, but competition between New Hampshire packers 

 and the Brighton market tends to keep dealer margins at uniform rates. 

 During periods of raising prices the possibility of higher dealer spreads is 

 increased. Dairy herd replacement cattle are sold to other farmers or to 

 dealers for these transactions. There is no central market at which prices 

 are established and there is no quoted price by which sales can be made. 

 Therefore, the farm price will vary between dealers and the bargaining 

 power of dairymen. The general price level will be influenced by the price of 

 milk and the price of beef, but considerable leeway for price concessions or 

 gains exists. In the majority of sales, there is no record of the cows' an- 

 cestors or production potential to accompany the asking price. 



The predominance of meat and livestock shipments into New England 

 from western sources limits the extent to which livestock sales either for 

 slaughter or for dairy herd replacement can become more profitable. Within 

 this national price framework, certain economies of assembly by consolida- 

 tion of loads might be possible, or producers might organize into a bar- 

 gaining cooperative to protect individual farmers not familiar with market 

 price changes and to protect buyers against diseased and low producers. 



The competitive nature of the industry, however, relates prices in New 

 England to prices in other livestock producing areas. Prevention of price 

 fluctuations, or short-run price declines not justified by long-run market 

 demand and supply for meat, therefore, are national problems and are best 

 solved at that level. 



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