Economic and Marketing Information                                                                                                                                                                                      FOR INDIANA  FARMERS                                      
Prepared by the Agricultural Staff of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
June  30,   1959
Changes in Indiana Hog Marketing: 1940-1956
THOMAS T. STOUT, CLIFTON B. COX, and DOYLE SPURLOCK,
Department of Agricultural Economics
Livestock market numbers have increased in Indiana since
1940. Farmers use their own trucks more in transporting livestock to market, sell more frequently in relatively smaller lots,
and haul shorter distances than they did in 1940. Along with
these conditions, local markets have increased in volume relative
to central markets, between 1940 and 1956.
Central markets received a con-    these changes place local and con
siderably smaller percentage of Indiana hogs in 1956 than they did
in 1940. Local markets experienced the most growth of any type
of market and in 1956 handled
more hogs than any other type.
Although auctions have never
been an important outlet for hogs
in Indiana, the small number of
slaughter hogs they received in
1956 was nearly four times the
percentage share they handled in
1940. Packer markets experienced
LESS change in proportionate receipts than any other market type.
Cooperative shipping associations,
an innovation of the railroad era,
have almost disappeared in Indiana in accordance with the significant decline in railroad movement of livestock and the accompanying growth of local markets.
According to recent estimates of
national livestock movements,
tral markets in a much more
prominent position in Indiana than
they enjoy in the hog marketing
pattern representative of the entire United States.*
With the increase in available
market facilities, commercial
trucks and other forms of hired
truck transportation have declined
in importance. In 1940, hired
truckers transported 72.6 percent
of Indiana hogs to market, but in
1956 this percentage had declined
to 67.4. In 1940, farmers hauled
about 20.5 percent of their hogs to
market in their own trucks, but by
1956, they were hauling 29.4 percent. Buyers transported 6.5 percent of the farmer's hogs in 1940,
* "Market Outlets for Livestock Producers," Marketing Research Report No. 216, AMS, USDA,
March, 1958. In the United States, terminal
markets account for about 31 percent of total
hog receipts; auctions, 16 percent; packers,
21 percent; local markets, 25 percent; other
farmers, 5 percent; and all remaining sources,
2  percent.
Percent of Total Marketings Received by Various
Market Agencies in Indiana,  1940 and  1956.
Type of Market
Total Hogs
Slaughter Hogs
1940
1956
1940
1956
Central    47.3%
Auction       1.9
Local Market  29.7
Packer  11.3
Dealer    2.1
0tber Farmer   4.2
Co-op Shipping Assoc   3.5
Retail and  Locker 	
36.7%
50.4%
38.0%
3.2
0.7
2.5
44.8
30.9
46.5
11.7
12.4
12.0
0.3
....
0.2
2.4
....
0.1
0.6
3.4
0.6
0.2
	
0.1
(This report is based largely upon a thesis recently completed under Project Number 874,
Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue
University, by Mr. Doyle Spurlock, under the
guidance of Dr. Patrick J. Luby, formerly Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, and "Marketing Livestock in the
Corn-Belt Region," Agricultural Experiment Station, South Dakota State College, Bulletin No.
365, November 1942. The trends were established on the basis of a sample of 1,544 farmers marketing 94,338 hogs in 1940 and 602
farmers in 24 counties marketing 44,544 hogs
in  1956.)
but  hauled   only   2.0  percent  in
1956.
In 1940 the livestock dealer received nearly 97 percent of his
patronage from within 10 miles of
his home, and he constituted the
nearest market outlet for the average farmer. But, with the continued growth of decentralized marketing and the increasing number
of fixed market facilities, the
country dealer or trader has been
replaced by the local market and
the auction as the nearest market
for the Indiana hog farmer. Farmers receiving less than half their
income from their livestock enterprise showed a slight preference for central marketing in
1956, while farmers receiving over
half their income from livestock
Number of Markets in
Existence in Indiana.
Type of Market
1940
1956
Terminal         3
Auction   54
Local Market   86
Packers   43
Co-op Shipping Assn   12
Dealers   384
Total, excluding dealers  198 234
4
70
103
56
1
456*
' It is difficult to estimate the number o^de°^r?
or traders operating in Indiana. The 1956
figure represents a rough estimate of licensed
dealers only.
FARM MANAGEMENT TOUR
JULY 27-28