308 SWINE 



Hogs may be sold on the large markets to packers and 

 local butchers, speculators and shippers. The latter are 

 buyers on the market whose duty it is to buy hogs for out- 

 side packers, usually in the east. These eastern packers 

 do not have a large enough home supply of hogs to keep 

 their plants running throughout the year and therefore 

 when the home supply is used up they buy hogs in west- 

 ern markets to keep their plants running. Since hog 

 product, or the pork, can be shipped more economically 

 than the live hogs it might be asked why live hogs should 

 be shipped east at all. But considering that the east pro- 

 duces some hogs, which can be handled to the best advan- 

 tage locally, it is necessary to have packing houses, but 

 these cannot be kept running during the entire year with 

 the local supply. Thus during times when the local sup- 

 ply is not sufficient, rather than to shut down their plants 

 . and not have competent labor, when needed, it is more 

 economical for them to buy hogs in the great markets of 

 the west to supplement the local supply in order to keep 

 their plants running. 



Speculators are individuals in the large markets who 

 make a business of buying and selling hogs. They usually 

 make their profit by buying hogs cheap and selling them 

 at a higher price. This may be done in various ways. 

 They may either buy from inexperienced salesmen and 

 buy the hogs for less than they are worth, or they may 

 buy on a rising market and then sell at a higher price 

 later in the day or later in the week; or, they may buy 

 mixed droves of hogs, which usually sell for less than 

 they are worth, divide them up into droves of similar 

 size, color, etc., and sell them in convenient-sized bunches 

 when thus properly sorted. The hogs can in this way be 

 sold to better advantage than in the original mixed 



