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 baled hay to market. 
Distance. 
Usual rate per 
ton. 
Distance. 
Usual rate per 
ton. 
Miles. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
$0. 25 to W. 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 $1. 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 CARS. 
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, 
ment of Agriculture, Bulletin 978. 
H. B. : The Weighing of Market Hay. U. S. Depart- 
