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NEW CO-OPS 



RllSI... 



...HOG 



PRICES 



THREE counties in Western Illinois 

 in the center of the greatest hog 

 producing area in the nation have 

 joined the Illinois Livestock Market- 

 ing Association and are buying hogs 

 direct from their farmer patrons. 



These counties are: Whiteside, Henry, 

 and Mercer. Mercer is also buying for 

 the south and Whiteside for the north 

 half of Rock Island county. The yards 

 are located at Erie, Cambridge, and Aledo. 

 Bert Horan, Mercer county farmer and 

 one of the organizers of the Aledo Live- 

 stock Marketing Association, pretty well 

 summed up the success of all three yards. 

 "I have talked with a good many 

 farmers around here," he said, "and have 

 yet to hear one say we haven't raised 

 the price by at least 35 to 50 cents a 

 hundred." Farmers interviewed at Erie 

 and Cambridge said: "Yes, at least 50 

 cents. And more, too, on the poorer 

 grades." 



"We've been lucky at Aledo all 

 around," Horan continued. "We didn't 

 think we'd buy as many hogs as we have 

 our first three months." He said at least 

 12 buyers were competing with the co-op 

 for hogs in their territory. 



These new associations are adding 

 daily to the volume being handled by 

 the Illinois Livestock Marketing Associa- 

 tion, the state sales agency. Volume 



Uppar left. Emery Gregory# manager, un- 

 daunted by outside criticism, is pleased 

 with success of the Henry county yard* at 

 Cambridge. Upper . 

 right. Bert Horan, ■. . 



president of the Aledo 

 Livestock Marlceting 

 Association, and Roy 

 Lemon, right, support- 

 ing sign, worked hard 

 to insure success of 

 Aledo ycnrds. Lower 

 left. Emmett Crandall 

 (right) drives his 

 hogs down chute at 

 Erie yards as Fred 

 Hayon, trucker, and 

 Anseli Nesbitt, man- 

 <>9«r, stand by. Lower 

 right. Homer IWclMui- 

 Im, right, bookkeep- 

 •r, hands Julias 

 Decker first check 

 written by yards at 

 Cambridge en their 

 opening day. 



builds success. This is particularly true 

 in the field of marketing cooperatives. 



All three marketing points have been 

 attacked by competing interests. One 

 commission house, the Hafner Nixon 

 Company, 702 Exchange Building, Union 

 Stock Yards, Chicago, sent pamphlets to 

 rural boxholders in each of the counties. 

 The pamphlet attacked the newly organ- 

 ized cooperatives as a part of a "most 

 daring scheme to doom to destruction the 

 Chicago hog market." 



"The practice of packers in buying 

 hogs in the country direct from farmers 

 .... now pales in significance when 

 compared with the new scheme now 

 being sponsored by the farmers them- 

 selves," the pamphlet warns. 



Farmers at each of the three yards 

 said they have received the pamphlets. 

 They felt that few would be taken in 

 by them. Emery Gregory, manager of 

 the Cambridge yards, said that he be- 

 lieved they helped to advertise the yards 



By LEW 

 REISNER 



Field EdHor, 

 lAA RECORD 



since every farmer got one. Gtcgatj 

 alleged he was more or less misrepre- 

 sented in the pamphlet. 



Mercer county in its first three months 

 of operation during October, November, 

 and December, handled 8,604 hogs. Be- 

 fore the cooperative was organized an 

 estimated 90 per cent of the hogs were 

 being sold direct. This would refute the 

 arguments that the cooperative was 

 ruining the hog market. 



The office, pens, unloading chutes, and 

 unloading pens and scales cost about 

 $7,000, Horan said. Like all the yards 

 associated with Illinois Livestock they 

 buy from Monday through Friday and 

 until 12 noon of each day. They have 

 set as their 1948 goal the marketing of 

 50,000 hogs. 



The yards at Cambridge have been 

 open since Nov. 3 and volume jumped 

 from 3,425 hogs in November to 6,699 

 for December. 



At Erie in Whiteside county the co- 

 operative started buying Jan. 7 and has 

 been averaging more than 100 hogs a 

 day. Their yards were remodeled but 

 their office building and scales are new. 

 In all, improvements cost between $4,000 

 and 14,500. Whiteside was the 15th 

 Illinois county to organize. 



Farmers can now sell through this ex- 

 panding marketing service at yards in 

 these cities: Bloomington, Champaign, 

 Decatur, Danville, Shelbyville, Paris, 

 Effingham, Stronghurst, Aledo, BlufiFs, 

 Rushville, Cambridge, Erie, Quincy, 

 Elvaston, Freeport, and Lena. 



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