CHAPTER V 



AMERICAN CATTLE MARKETS 



Producers of beef cattle use various methods of marketing their 

 stock, depending largely on their location and the number of animals 

 to be sold. The principal methods are as follows: ^^X 



1. Cattle may be sold to the local stock buyer or drover for ship- 

 ment to central markets. 



2. They may be shipped to a central market through a coopera- 

 tive shipping association and sold at the market by a commission 

 firm which acts as the association's agent. 



3. They may be shipped direct by the producer to the central 

 market and sold by a commission firm which acts as his agent. 



4. They may be sold to local butchers or cattle feeders. 



5. They may be sold to a packer buyer in the country or shipped 

 direct to the packing house. 



6. They may be slaughtered on the farm and the meat consumed 

 on the farm or sold locally. 



In addition to these there are special methods of marketing such 

 as (a) auction sales, (b) selling on the range direct to buyers from a 

 distance, and (c) selling on mail orders. 



Over half of the cattle marketed in the United States pass through 

 the central markets. In 1917, 76 per cent were marketed in this 

 manner, following which there was a steady decline to 67 per cent in 

 1921. 1 / 



The large cattle markets'/of the United States are located in the 

 central part of the country. With the West and Central West on the 

 one hand as the great breeding and feeding ground, and with the East 

 on the other as the chief region of consumption, it is logical that the 

 large markets have a central location. The estimated center of beef 

 production in the United States is in central Kansas, and the center of 

 beef consumption is in western Ohio, over 700 miles eastward. Be- 

 tween these two is the center of beef slaughter in western Illinois. ^ 

 Following are the 15 largest cattle markets and their receipts of cattle, 

 including calves, for three years: ^ 



1 Sheets, Baker, Gibbons, Stine, and Wilcox: Our Beef Supply, U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Yearbook, 1921, p. 278. 

 2Ibid, p. 315. 

 3 Compiled from Drovers Journal Year Book of Figures for 1922. 



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