Economic and Marketing Information                                                                                                                                                                                      FOR INDIANA  FARMERS          
Prepared by the Agricultural Staff of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
July  27,   1959
Changes in Indiana Cattle Marketing: 1940-1936
THOMAS T. STOUT, CLIFTON B. COX, and DOYLE SPURLOCK,
Department of Agricultural Economics
This is the second article of a two-
part series, the first of which appeared in
this publication ]une 30, 1959. This report is based largely upon a thesis recently completed under Project Number
874, Department of Agricultural Economics,
Purdue University, by Doyle Spurlock under the guidance of Dr. Patrick J. Luby,
formerly Assistant Professor of Agricultural
Economics, Purdue University.
The methods of marketing cattle in Indiana changed noticeably
between 1940 and 1956. The total
number of livestock markets in
Indiana increased from 198 to 234
during the period, and the percentage of total sales to each of
the various types of markets altered. Terminal markets remained
the dominant outlet for slaughter
cattle, but auctions increased
greatly in importance and by 1956
were the major market outlet for
slaughter calves. Commercial
trucks hauled more cattle to market than any other form of transportation, although their importance had declined as more and
more farmers transported with
their own  trucks.    The  average
number of cattle and calves sold
per farm in 1940 (15.1) was about
the same as in 1956 (14.1). However, by 1956, farmers were making more frequent sales and selling in smaller lots, but this tendency had not developed to the
extent that occurred in hog marketing.*
Changing Pattern of Receipts
At Livestock Markets
Percentage of total cattle and
calf marketings through terminal
markets did not change noticeably
between 1940 and 1956. Changes
did occur in the status of the various types of country markets in
relation to each other. For example, auctions in 1940 received
7.8% of total cattle and calf sales,
while local markets received
11.0%. The local markets, however, have tended to become more
and more specialized hog markets,
almost to the exclusion of other
species. The 1956 figures showed
only   6.0    percent  of  cattle  and
Percent of Cattle and Calf Marketings Received
by Various Market Agencies in  Indiana,
1940 and  1956.
Total Cattle and
Calf Sales
Type    of    Market 1940 1956
Term'nal    53.7% 54.8%
Auction      7.8 21.8
Local  Market    11.1 6.0
Packer Market    ... 6.1 7.2
Dealers     6.9 3.3
O'her  Farmers    9.8 6.6
Cooperative   Shipping   Assoc  4.6 0.4
Slaughter Cattle and
Calf Sales
Cattle Calves
1940
1956
1940
1956
68.5°
4.2
8.4
6.1
6.4
2.7
3.7
70.5%
13.4
6.0
9.0
0.2
0.3
0.4
39.5°,
14.0
19.5
7.7
5.8
7.9
5.6
37.4%
46.7
6.9
6.8
2.0
0.2
0.0
calves sold through local markets,
while cattle and calves sold
through auctions accounted for
21.8 percent of total sales. The
principal change, therefore, in the
cattle marketing channel was the
increased importance of the auction market, the gain having been
made mostly at the expense of the
local markets. By 1956 dealers
were taking fewer cattle than in
1940, cooperative shipping associations had almost completely faded
out of the picture, and there was
less inter-farm movement of cattle
than prior to World War II.
Changes in Transportation
The commercial truck, while decreasing in importance, was still
the most important means of
transporting cattle and calves to
market in 1956. It was relatively
more important in transporting
slaughter steers and heifers to
market than for any other class of
slaughter cattle and calves, because steers and heifers were marketed in larger lots than other cattle classes and traveled greater
distances to market. Similarly, the
greater relative importance of the
farmers' truck in marketing
calves can be associated with the
increased number of markets,
marketing  in  smaller   lots   and
*These and other trends were established on
the basis of a sample of 1,544 farmers marketing 16,832 cattle and calves in 1940 and 602
farmers marketing 6,769 cattle and calves in
1956. The 1940 survey was conducted by the
North Central Regional Livestock Marketing Committee and was published as "Marketing Livestock in the Corn-Belt Region," Agriculture Experiment Station, South Dakota State College,
Bulletin No. 365, November, 1942.