MARKETING HAY AT COUNTRY POINTS. 21 



average producer does not object to delivering hay if the time of 

 delivery does not come when there is other pressing farm work or 

 when the roads are in bad condition. 



Most of the hay in many sections is hauled during the fall, winter, 

 and early spring, when producers are not exceptionally busy with 

 their field crops. Since hay is delivered without outlay for the hir- 

 ing of extra help, either men or teams, producers do not count the 

 cost of delivering hay, as they would if the actual cost of marketing 

 were being ascertained. There is very little accurate data on the cost 

 of hauling and putting hay into the car or warehouse. 



The data in Table 1, obtained in making an economic study of the 

 cost of hay production in northeastern Oklahoma in the winter of 

 1917, will serve to show the comparative cost per ton of hauling hay 

 from 1 up to 10 miles. 



Table 1. — Prices paid for hauling oaled hay to market. 



Distance. 



Usual rate per 

 ton. 



Distance. 



Usual rate per 

 ton. 



Miles. 



1 



2 



3 



4 



5 



$0. 25 to 80. 35 

 . 50 to . 60 

 . 75 to . 80 

 .90 to 1.00 

 1.10 to 1.25 



Miles. 



6 



7 



8 



9 



10 



$1. 25 to 81. 35 

 1.35 to 1.50 

 1.50 to 1.75 

 1.75 to 2.00 

 1.75 to 2.00 



METHODS OF HANDLING HAY AT SHIPPING POINT. 



INSPECTION AND WEIGHING OF HAY. 



The inspection of hay at the shipping point as it is delivered from 

 the farm is rarely ever a really thorough inspection. The time to 

 teach producers market grades is when the hay is brought to the 

 shipper's scales or warehouse or the car. It too frequently happens 

 that the shipper will inspect a wagonload of hay casually as it ar- 

 rives and notice that it contains two or three grades, yet will say 

 nothing about grades to the grower. If the grower has described 

 the hay, as, for instance, good No. 1 timothy, he is likely to go away 

 with the idea that he has just delivered some very good hay, while, 

 as a matter of fact, the best of it may not be better than a good No. 

 2 hay. Shippers usually only object to hay that is so obviously off 

 grade that it will not pay to try to ship it, as they know it will be 

 graded as " no grade." Many shippers insist that such hay be taken 

 back by the grower. 7 



LOADING DIRECTLY INTO CAES. 



The most common method of handling hay as it comes in from 

 the country is to load it immediately into cars and ship it to market. 



7 See Collier, G. A., and McClure, H. B. 

 ment of Agriculture, Bulletin 978. 



The Weighing of Market Hay. U. S. Depart- 



