1 



MILLION DOLLAR CO-0 



Adams County Livestock Association is 

 Still a Baby But Has Marketed 

 Record Number of Hogs in First Year 



Above are the new office and yards of the Adams County Marketing Association at 



Camp Point. 



! 





P ROUBLES? Sure, we've had plenty. 

 Almost more than our share, young 

 Gene Shaver, manager of the new 

 livestock co-op yards in Adams 

 county, admitted readily. 



But in spite of set backs the young 

 marketing coopsrative Shaver manages 

 handled more than a million dollars 

 worth of hogs during their first year of 

 operation. And more important, raised 

 the general price level on hogs from 2*5 

 to 50 cents a hundred. 



The new Adams Giunty Marketing As- 

 sociation organized a year ago at Quincy. 

 It took over the yards and the business of 

 the old shippers' association. 



"Then shortly after wc started buying 

 We were notified we were losing our 

 lea.se" Shaver related. "So we decided to 

 build yards more centrally located than 

 Quincy." 



Camp Point was settled on as being 

 more nearly in the center of the county. 

 They moved into the present location 

 July 19. 



"It means we"er still new at Camp 

 Point," Shaver said. "And much of our 

 business still comes from the Quincy 

 area." 



Last year Adams county farmers were 

 flooded out in the low country, and 

 burned out in the hills. They had a poor 

 corn crop. And that resulted in a small 

 hog crop this year. AH the buyers are 

 feeling its effect. 



The cooperative also has faced stiff 

 competition from the seven direct buyers 

 in the county. 



"And it's partly a problem of letting 

 the farmers know how we operate," 

 Shaver said. For one thing, the Adams 

 yard completes most of its buying in the 

 early afternoon, generally by 2 o'clock. 

 Most farmers there have been used to 

 selling late in the afternoon. 



The Adams County Marketing Associa- 



14 



tion is a member company of the Illinois 

 Livestock Marketing Association, a state- 

 wide marketing cooperative affiliated with 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association. 



Both county and state companies have 

 been set up to help farmers market their 

 hogs closer to their homes and to furnish 

 proper grading and weighing. 



Any farmer who sells his hogs to the 

 Adams co-op knows how much he will be 

 bid for his hogs before they leave his 

 feedlot. He is paid cash for his hogs as 

 soon as they are graded and weighed in 

 at the yards. 



All hogs are sold through the state 

 sales office at Decatur where orders are 

 taken for carload lots. 



The state off^ice can demand competitive 

 bidding because, through its volume, it 

 reaches buyers in Chicago, Milwaukee, 

 St. Louis. Indianapolis, Louisville, Phila- 

 delphia, and points throughout the east 

 and west. 



The Adams county yards at Camp 

 Point is one of 16 yards in this fast- 

 growing group of county-wide marketing 



yards affiliated with the Illinois Live- 

 stock Marketing Association. 



Other yards are located at Blooming- 

 ton, Champaign, Danville, Paris, Shelby- 

 ville (with a branch at Effingham), De- 

 catur, Stronghurst, Rushville, Freeport 

 (with a branch at Lena), Camp Point, 

 Elvaston, Aledo, Cambridge, Erie, 

 Bluffs, and Princeton. 



The Camp Point yards are of cement 

 block construction. The aluminum roof 

 reflects the sun's rays and helps make 

 them cool in summer. The yards, and 

 an ofl^ice building were constructed at a 

 cost of about $10,000. 



Gene Shaver, the manager, was reared 

 on a farm near Rushville. He worked in 

 livestock yards in Iowa before coming to 

 the yards at Quincy, and later. Camp 

 Point. 



The Adams county cooperative is 

 bringing a cash market direct to the 

 farmer's feedlot. But even more important 

 in the eyes of such local farmers as 

 Charles Kopsieker: "It is restoring com 

 petition." 



Plans well underway 

 for 34th annual meeting 

 Illinois Agricultural Ass'n. 



P LANS are now well underway for 

 ■ the 3-1th annual meeting of the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association which 

 will be held Nov. 15-18 at the Hotel 

 Sherman in Chicago. The 1947 meeting 

 was held in St. Louis. Ransom Aldrich 

 of Mississippi, former member of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation 

 board of directors, has been invited to 

 speak at the lAA convention. 



The November issue of the lAA 

 Rkcord will carry the complete program 

 including times and places for meetings 

 of the Associated Companies of the 

 lAA. 



By LEW REISNER 



Field Editor, 

 lAA RECORD 



Gene Shaver (right) 

 tallcs beef and beef 

 prices with Charles 

 Kopsieker, who owns 

 fine Hereford herd 

 with son, Ralph. The 

 Kopsiekers have sold 

 stock through new 

 marketing point. 



N 

 PI 



This 

 whei 

 favc 

 1\ 

 man 

 his I 

 Nov 

 cast 

 high 



L A. A. RECORD 



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