MARKETING HAY AT COUNTRY POINTS. 11 
on the resident buyer, because producers are very loath to believe that 
the latter can not pay as much as the " outside " buyer. 
TBACK BUYERS. 
Track buyers who deal in hay operate in much the same manner as 
track buyers who deal in grain. Some large terminal-market receiv- 
ers and shippers employ track buyers who travel through the hay- 
producing sections and purchase hay direct from either country ship- 
pers or producers. Occasionally track buyers are not connected with 
a city firm, but are in the business for themselves alone. In this case 
the terms of sale should be very carefully made in order that there 
will be a clear understanding as to the manner and time of payment. 4 
GENERAL PRACTICES. 
How best to market hay is a problem that needs to be given more 
careful consideration by many hay producers. Those who do not 
have sufficient help to harvest their hay or do not own baling presses 
should become familiar with the merits of different methods of mar- 
keting their crop. 
MARKETING STANDING OR UNCUT HAY. 
The sale of standing or uncut hay is not common in the timothy 
and clover sections. Sometimes when the producer is so rushed with 
other crops that he is obliged to neglect hay until too late to secure 
good quality, he will endeavor to sell his crop as it stands. The three 
main difficulties in this method of marketing are (1) to find a buyer, 
(2) to agree on the yield, and (3) to reach an amicable agreement 
regarding the price of uncut hay in comparison with that of properly 
cured hay ready for the market. 
If the buyer is a farmer, it frequently is somewhat easier to agree 
on the yield than if the bu}^er is a shipper or someone who is not 
familiar with the producing power of the farm or hayfield. To cal- 
culate the percentage of dry or marketable hay from the yield of 
standing hay it will be necessary to know roughly the average shrink- 
age of hay in curing. 5 The amount of water in unwilted timothy is 
about as follows: Minimum 47 per cent; maximum 78.7 per cent; 
average 61.6 per cent. The average amount of water in well-cured 
barn or stack hay, readj^ for baling, is 12.8 per cent. The average 
amount of water in red clover when uncut is about 70 per cent, and 
when ready for baling about 10 per cent. Alfalfa when uncut con- 
tains a little more water than clover and when ready for baling con- 
tains a little less. 
4 A full discussion of how track buyers operate is given in U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture Bulletin 979, Marketing Hay Through Terminal Markets. 1921. 
5 See McClure, H. B. : The Shrinkage of Market Hay. TJ. S. Dept. of Agriculture 
Bulletin No. 873, 1920. 
