6 FAmiKU S BULLETIN 809. 



than-carload lots are enabled to ship their animals to centralized 

 live-stock markets. Farmers taking 1 advantage of this method of 

 marketing receive prevailing market prices for their stock less the 

 cost of marketing. They are independent of local buyers and save 

 the profits realized by these buyers. Also by means of a sinking 

 fund set aside for the purpose, farmers are reimbursed for animals 

 killed or injured in transit. Associations for marketing live stock 

 in this manner are simple in organization and no capital is required, 

 inasmuch as it is entirely a consignment business and farmers are 

 paid for their stock when returns from a shipment are received. 



Cooperative live stock shipping associations 1 have met with 

 marked success during the last few year* in a number of the Middle 

 Western States. The United States Department of Agriculture has 

 a list of approximately 750 organizations in IT) States that are ship- 

 ping stock in this manner, and the movement is extending rapidly. 

 Minnesota, with a total of more than 200, leads in the number of 

 these associations: and estimates by the crop and special live stock 

 reporters of the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture indicate that approximately '2~> per cent of 

 the cattle and hogs and 15 per cent of the calves and sheep marketed 

 from that State are shipped through these associations. 



Cooperative live stock shipping is adapted to the needs of many 

 communities in the South, particularly those which are situated 

 within convenient shipping distances of large centralized live stock 

 markets or packing houses, and which do not have adequate local 

 markets. A few associations, primarily formed for shipping hogs, 

 already have been organized in the South, and one of the results 

 noted has been the adoption of better production methods in these 

 localities. When it is known that there is a chance to ship hogs direct 

 to a good market, where they will be sold on their merits, instead 

 of selling them to local buyers at arbitrary prices, farmers usually 

 are more inclined to give their hogs special care and not to allow 

 them to run at random and feed on whatever they can find. 



An instance of the need for some plan of marketing which will 

 enable farmers with a few hogs to reach centralized markets was 

 noted recently in Louisiana. A farmer who had 10 hogs to market 

 was unable to dispose of them at near-by towns, since the local 

 butchers were ovcrsupplied with fresh meats, and the local shippers 

 were indisposed to handle the hogs. Accordingly, the farmer pur- 

 chased 17 hogs from a neighbor, loaded the o(> in a car and shipped 

 them to market. Although it was a light car, the profit on the 17 



. T.. !>.. < 'oopenit ive live slock shipping :>.- >ocia t ions. I". S. 



Fanners' Hullctin TIN, 1!H<;. 

 rr, \V. I!., A sy-ie-in of {'.(-counts for live stock shipping asso- 



ol Agriculture bulletin 4U.'{, 1!HC,. 



