FACTORS AFFECTING THE PRICE OF HOGS 
5 
Although a considerable proportion of the hog products of this 
country are exported, notably lard, the domestic consumption is by 
far the largest, and therefore must be given first consideration in any 
study of hog prices. 
Because of the way in which the packers have developed an inte- 
grated manufacturing and marketing structure which handles the 
product all the way from the place where the live hogs are bought in 
the central markets to where the dressed products are sold to re- 
tailers in the city, there are but three points in the whole of the 
typical marketing process at which ownership in the commodity is 
transferred and a price is established. 
The first major point is at the central wholesale market. Even 
though many farmers sell to local buyers who in turn ship to market, 
more than half the shipments are made either through cooperative 
shipping associations or direct on producer's account. At the cen- 
tral stockyards, commission merchants sell the live animals to buyers 
HOG PRICES AT MARKET AND ON FARMS 
DOLLARS 
PER CWT. 
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1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 L92I 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 
Fig. 3.— Hog prices at Chicago and at Iowa country markets for the middle of each month. Farm 
and wholesale prices move together closely, with practically no lag 
representing local packers, out-of-town packers, feeders, speculators, 
etc. Most of the commission men conduct private businesses, but 
cooperative farmers' organizations in many cases perform this serv- 
ice and they now handle a very substantial proportion of the business 
at several markets. 
Many animals were shipped direct from local buyers or concentra- 
tion points to the packers, but the great bulk of the hogs during 
recent years have moved through the central markets and were sold 
by the commission men to the buyers. It is at this stage that the 
wholesale price of live hogs is really registered, there being, of course, 
different prices for different lots of hogs, dependent on sex, age, 
weight, condition, etc. As shown in Figure 3 the price paid for hogs 
by buyers at the farm followed closely these wholesale market prices. 
The next point at which a price is registered is ordinarily when 
the dressed pork, cured ham or bacon, or rendered lard is sold to 
the jobber or retailer by the city branch house. Here each individual 
product is sold as a separate commodity and the prices are recorded 
