the Midwest and would be forced to find new markets for their poultry 

 products. 



B. Truck Shipments Table 10. Percent Truck Receipts 



rrri -D . 1 . • u ^ O^ Total Poultry Receipts at Boston, 1949* 



Ine Doston market receives about 



43 percent of the dressed poultry 

 and all of the live poultry by truck. 

 Table 10 shows a breakdown between 

 the various sections of the country 

 and the percentage sent to the Bos- 

 ton market by truck. 



6. FEED PRICES 



Commercial poultry feed prices *^""'> "'"' ''""'"^ siatisncs, p.m..\., 1950 



varied as much as a dollar a hundred 



pounds over the United States in June, 1950. Wisconsin had the lowest 

 price for laying mash, $4.30 per hundredweight, while Florida and Alabama 

 had the highest price of $5.30 per hundredweight. Differences in the price 

 of poultry mash are not due to erratic elements in the marketing system. 

 The prices paid farmers in the various states are directly associated with 

 the transportation charge from the grain supply areas, the grade and mix 

 of the mash purchased, and the efficiency of the distributing agency. There- 

 fore, there is a strong tendency for the price differentials between states 

 to remain fixed. 



The price of scratch feeds varies in the same manner as the mash 

 feeds. In 1949, Kansas had a price of $3.65 per hundredweight, while the 

 price in Montana was $4.80. New Hampshire in both cases was pretty much 

 in the middle, with mash selling at $4.40 and scratch grain at $4.10. Many 

 of the poultry producers in the grain belt can produce their own scratch 

 feed at a rate much lower than the commercial price, charging themselves 

 only the going price for grain at the farm. Assuming poultry producers in 

 both Kansas and Montana produced their own scratch feed at a three-part 

 corn to one-part oats, Kansas producers in 1950 would charge themselves 

 $2.48 per hundred pounds and Montana producers $2.68. If poultrymen in 

 both these states were feeding a one-to-one ratio of mash and scratch and 

 were buying all their feed commercially, it would cost $4.00 per hundred 

 pounds in Kansas and $4.85 in Montana. But if they raised their own scratch 

 feed, the costs would drop to $3.43 and $3.81 respectively, about a 14 

 percent saving in Kansas and more than a 25 percent saving in Montana. 



In most farm flocks throughout the Midwest, producers feed about 

 one-fourth commercial feeds and concentrates. The rest of the feed require- 

 ments are either home- or locally-grown grains. Prices in the Midwest tend 

 to run 10 to 15 cents per hundred pounds lower than New Hampshire with 

 most of the prices elsewhere equal or greater. 



The Northeast and Far West both raise very little grain and must 

 import from the grain producing areas. Quoted prices for commercial feeds 

 show that these areas are at a disadvantage in the largest item in the cost 

 of production of poultry products. 



There is one advantage of the Northeast which the relative prices of 

 feeds do not disclose. Even though the midwestern farms do produce 

 much of their feed, their poultry production and growth rates are lower. 

 This may be due to an unbalanced diet. Commercial feeds, while costing 



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