Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



35S 



Sixty-eight markets received 44,067,489 hogs in 1922. The 13 

 markets Hsted in the foregoing table received 77 per cent of this total. 



The Chicago market. ^ — As shown by the above figures, Chicago 

 is in a class by itself as a hog market. It receives more than twice as 

 many hogs as St. Louis, its nearest rival. The total value of the hogs 

 received at Chicago in 1922 was $182,598,270. Their average value 

 per head was $22.40. Their average live weight was 239 pounds. 

 Their average price per cwt. was $9.20. Of the 8,156,472 hogs received 

 at the Chicago yards during 1922, 6,304,466 were slaughtered by 

 Chicago packers, 1,848,946 were shipped out alive to other points for 

 slaughter, and 3,060 were shipped out for feeding. In addition to the 

 hogs included in the above figures, small packing firms at Chicago, 

 located outside the yards, received direct and slaughtered 405,829 hogs 

 in 1922. 



The growth of the Chicago market is shown by the following list 

 of receipts and shipments of hogs at that point during the years men- 

 tioned: 2 



Movement of hogs at Chicago 



It is interesting to note that the advent of the refrigerator car, 

 about 1875, had a marked effect on the proportionate number of hogs 

 shipped. The largest number of hogs received at Chicago in a year 

 was in 1916, when 9,188,224 head were received at the yards proper. 

 If receipts by outside packing firms are included, the figure is raised 

 to 9,528,267. The highest record for a month is credited to January, 

 1916, when 1,227,508 hogs were received at the yards and enough by 

 outside packers to make the total 1,286,616. The record week was 

 that ending January 8, 1916, when 334,279 were received at the yards, 

 and 356,362 in all. On November 29, 1918, the largest day's receipts 

 were recorded, the figures being 96,964 and 101,601 respectively. 



The number of hogs marketed annually varies greatly. This 

 fluctuation is caused partly by losses from disease, and partly by the 

 fact that if an unexpected or temporary demand springs up, and higher 

 prices rule, great numbers of hogs of inferior size and weight are 

 rushed to market. 



1 Drovers Journal Year Book of Figures for 1922. 



^Compiled from U. S. Dept. Agr. An. Rpt., 1863, p. 208; Drovers Journal 

 Year Books of Figures. 



