STOCK RAISING AND SOIL FERTILITY 



207 



They may be driven or drawn to the 

 local town market. They may be shipped 

 in crates or carload lots by freight or 

 express to metropolitan markets, or may 

 be shipped in ocean steamers to foreign 

 markets. 



In practically all these transactions, 

 the shipper is dependent upon otheV 

 agents in the handling and sale of his 

 stock, and is governed largely by the 

 rules and regulations established by 

 local, state or national authorities, as 

 well as by transportation and stock yard 

 companies, commission men, etc. The 

 function and purpose of these different 

 agents and the shippers' relation to them, 

 will be discussed along with other mat- 



been a profitable one or not. This price 

 must be such as to cover the cost at least 

 of producing the animal, or the grower 

 will soon go out of business. 



Advantage of selling to local buyers 

 — This method of selling is advantage- 

 ous from a number of standpoints. The 

 animals show up to the best advantage 

 in the home feed lot ; they are not wor- 

 ried or frightened or tired from a long 

 railroad journey, and the grower runs 

 none of the risks incident to shipping, 

 such as loss from dead animals, excess- 

 ive railroad rates, and commission 

 charges. 



On the other hand, there is little, if 

 any, competition in the bidding for the 



Fia 140- 



3NS IN Til 



IOW RING AT OHIO STATE FAIR 



ters pertaining to the marketing of live 

 stock in this chapter. 



Local buyers—The simplest method 

 of marketing stock is to sell to local 

 buyers who call at the farm, look over 

 the stock and make an offer for it. In 

 all of the more thickly settled parts of 

 the country there are always buyers 

 going through from time to time pick- 

 ing up such stock as may be offered for 

 sale. If the owners think the offer 

 made by such a buyer high enough, he 

 can accept it. If the buyer pays cash, 

 which he usually does, and takes the 

 animals away with him, that ends the 

 transaction. 



The grower should know what his ani- 

 mals have cost him up to the time of 

 their sale. The price received then tells 

 him at once whether the transaction has 



stock. The grower may get a profitable 

 price, yet a lower one than by selling 

 in a larger market where competition 

 stimulates bidding. The buyer also 

 makes allowance in his offer for the 

 shrinkage in weight, which the stock is 

 sure to undergo in shipping. lie makes 

 his living by buying below the market 

 price and shipping into the larger 

 markets, where prices are higher. If 

 the grower has only a few animals, this 

 is a very satisfactory way of disposing 

 of them, since the shipment of a few 

 animals costs relatively much more on 

 the railroad than full carload lots. 



Desirability of dealing with same 

 buyer — If the grower sells to the same 

 buyer year after year, they get to un- 

 derstand each other's methods of doing 

 business, and if the grower produces a 



