306 SWINE 



country shippers, which avoids having them go through 

 the yards and saves yardage, commission charges, etc. 

 While this is an advantage in a way, hogs thus billed are 

 usually paid for at the discretion of the packer and do not 

 go through the yards and meet the competition as is ordi- 

 narily practiced. Furthermore, hogs billed direct do not 

 have an opportunity to get the fill that is the practice 

 when hogs are sold in the yards. This may often amount 

 to several hundred pounds per car, because the hogs will 

 eat a little corn and drink considerable water after they 

 are unloaded and before they are sold in the yards. 



Hogs should be loaded and started on the road at such 

 a time, in accordance with the distance from market, that 

 they will reach their destination in the morning. The 

 market for hogs, as well as for other classes of live stock, 

 is usually in the forenoon. This is the time of day when 

 the buyers from the various packing houses visit the 

 yards to buy their supplies for the day. Sometimes hogs 

 are bought early in the morning, and at other times the 

 buyers may not take hold until later in the forenoon. 

 This depends altogether upon conditions and the way 

 they feel about it. If they think hogs can be bought 

 cheapest early in the day, they will buy early in the morn- 

 ing; at other times, if they think they can buy cheaper 

 by waiting until later in the forenoon, they will wait. 

 Hogs should go to market in time then so that they can 

 be unloaded, fed and watered, and then sold at the time 

 the market is the best. It is best if they can be sold im- 

 mediately after they are fed and watered because at this 

 time they will have the greatest fill and therefore will 

 weigh the most. 



After reaching the yards, the car of hogs is taken in 

 charge by agents of the stock yards company. Em- 



