4 FARMER S BTLLKTIN S09. 



Stints (Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 

 Loui.-iana. Mississippi. Alabama, ami Arkansas) 47 per cent of the 

 cattle marketed for nu-al purposes is sold to local butchers either on 

 tout oi 1 as farm-dressed carcasses; 30 per cent is sold to local. dealer- 

 slih'pers foi 1 shipment to market: and 7 per cent is shipped by owners 

 in em' iots. the remaining 10 per cent being sold to local packers, to 

 \.-' agents for shipment, or for shipment to feeding points. 



Calves are marketed largely to local butchers, the average from 

 the nine States being :>('> per cent, while '&> per cent is sold to local 

 [lippers. Sheep are marketed in a similar manner, 55 per 

 c< : ; i being sold to local butchers and approximately -M per cent to 

 ; dealers for shipment to market. Hogs also are marketed 

 largely locally. 70 per cent being sold either on foot or as I'arm- 

 dressed cm-asses to local butchers for retail trade, and as farm-cured 

 meat -ausage. Seventeen per cent is sold to local dealer- 



sbippors for shipment to market and 7 per cent is shipped in carload 

 lots by owners, the remainder being sold largely to local packers 

 and to packers" agents for shipment. 



A very common method of marketing employed by the small 

 farmers is to slaughter the animals on the 1'arm and sell the dressed 

 carcasses to local retail dealers, or to consign them by express to 

 commission men for sale in the larger cities. Approximately (5 

 pei' cent of the calves. ' per cent of the cattle, 1*2 per cent of the 

 sheep and lambs, and ]('. per cent of the 'nigs of the ninth South- 

 ea-tern States are marketed in this manner. 



In many cases animals are killed and offered for sale regardless 

 of market conditions. Frequently advantage is taken of cool weather 

 to kill and dispose of hogs, with the result that the dressed car- 

 c asses must be sold on a glutted market, and, being a perishable 

 product, must be disposed of at any price obtainable. An ex- 

 ample, which is only one of many, was observed at a small town 

 in Louisiana during the winter of 1915-K). where each time the 

 weather became cooler < Q or 10 dressed hogs were offered for sale 

 ui.cn there was a demand for but. 1 or % 2. Such a method is. of 

 course . most unprofitable to the farmer. A number of instances have 

 occurred in southern cities where dressed beef ordinarily valued at 

 7 to s cents a pound was sold by farmers for 3 to 4 cents, and dressed 

 hoir- valued under ordinary conditions at ft to 10 cents a pound sold 

 for '2 to .'"> cents because of a temporary oversnpply of fresh meats 

 in these towns. The farmers could have avoided these losses by 

 finding a market for their meat before slaughtering, by delaying 

 slaughtering until market conditions were improved, or by selling 

 tin- animals alive on a good market. 



FVMI under normal market conditions the prices paid for dressed 

 c;t rc;i.-se- oitcn ;ire not m proportion to the quoted live-weight prices 



