Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 89 



association shipped a total of 2,057 cars of stock to the St. Paul market. 

 The gross receipts were $3,702,266. Detailed figures for the last five 

 years of this period show that the members received 96.12 per cent of 

 the market price of their stock. However, Litchfield is only 80 miles 

 from the St. Paul stock yards, so that freight and switching charges 

 constitute less than 40 per cent of all marketing expenses. ^ Over 600 

 of these associations are now more or less active in Minnesota. It is 

 reported that approximately one-fourth of Iowa's shipments were 

 marketed cooperatively in 1920, and that during the same year Wis- 

 consin had about 500 cooperative shipping associations which handled 

 about 65 per cent of the live stock marketed by that state. ^ Johnson 

 County.. Mo., has nine live-stock shipping associations, eight of which 

 shipped a total of 501 cars of stock during 1922. The movement has 

 also spread to other states. 



Cooperative live-stock commission companies are a more recent 

 development. The cooperative commission company is owned and 

 controlled by the cooperative shipping associations and individual pro- 

 ducers tributary to the market at which it is located. The company 

 has a salaried manager who employs assistants, salesmen, and clerks 

 and conducts the business along the same lines as the privately ovmed 

 commission company. Some cooperative companies charge the same 

 commission rates as the private companies, and some charge lower 

 rates. In either case the profits over and above dividends on capital 

 stock and requirements of the sinking fund are prorated to members 

 according to the number of cars consigned by each of them. This 

 saving in commission expenses is the principal purpose of the coopera- 

 tive commission company. Cooperative companies are now operat- 

 ing at ten of the largest markets, and others are in process of 

 organization. The first one was established at Omaha about five years 

 ago. The one at St, Joseph declared a patronage dividend or refund 

 of over $9 per car on 4,818 carloads handled in 1921. The one at St. 

 Louis declared a patronage dividend or refund of $6 per car on 6,650 

 carloads sold in 1922. The largest and perhaps the most successful is 

 the Central Cooperative Commission Association at the St. Paul 

 market which sold 15,570 cars of stock in 1922 (its second year) for a 

 total of $21,756,000. Its operating expenses amounted to $8.27 per 

 car. It charged $2 less commission per car than the private companies 

 at St. Paul and declared a patronage refund to its members of about 

 $6 per car of cattle and about $4 per single-deck car of hogs and sheep. 

 With efficient management the success of the cooperative live-stock 

 commission company seems assured. 



HJ. S. Dept. Agr., Agricultural Cooperation, Jan. 29, 1923. 

 2U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1921, p. 279. 



