Meat from these more or less wild, grass-fed animals was seldom better than second class, and never brought on the market the equal of corn-fed cattle. However, they did furnish a reasonably cheap food and kept down the price of meat.

Along with better roads and markets came a demand for other products; land that furnished the open range was fenced in, and later subdivided into farms upon which were raised grain, hogs, poultry, and perhaps a few cattle. Dairying in many places took the place of stock raising. No longer were the animals driven to market on the hoof. They were fattened upon grain and hay and carried to market in wagons and trucks. Hogs replaced cattle. The turnover is more frequent and they do well on maize, requiring no hay or straw except perhaps a very little for bedding. The corn fed to hogs usually brings about twice as much a bushel as that sold to the dealer.

Since about 12 to 15 miles is the greatest distance hogs may with profit be hauled to market in horse-drawn wagons on dirt roads, there grew up at every small railway station a stock market. The railway company provided stockyards, a series of pens with a chute for loading. The dealers bought from the farmers and placed their animals in the railway pens until a car load was obtained, when they were sent on to the packing house located in one of the large cities. Therefore, between the farmer and the packer there were at least two middlemen, the local dealer and the commission merchant at the terminal stock yards which are nominally under a different corporation than the packing houses.

With the good roads and the motor truck has come much marketing directly by the farmer at the packing-house yards. The Firestone Ship by Truck Bureau, a subsidiary organization of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, made a careful study of the use of the truck in marketing live stock, and in 1921 issued a bulletin thereon.[192] A detailed showing of the marketing of animals at St. Joseph, Omaha, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis is given. From that bulletin will be copied some statistics and other information that may be of interest. Those wishing the full discussion should write for the bulletin.

Tables are given which “show that at each yard the driven-in receipts during the years 1918, 1919, and 1920 were very much in excess of those of 1917. Of the total receipts (the tables give them each month of the four years) of driven-in hogs at the St. Joseph yards in 1917 approximately 10 per cent were hauled to the yards by motor truck. While the driven-in hog receipts at the same yard during 1918 were twice those of 1917, 40 per cent of this total was driven by truck. In 1920, 60 per cent of driven-in hog receipts were truck hauled. The St. Joseph figures clearly indicate that the truck movement commenced about 1917 and that each of the following years have witnessed decided increases.

“At Omaha truck-hauled receipts appear to have commenced earlier than at St. Joseph; for during the years 1917 and 1918 the best estimates placed the truck-hauled receipts about 90 per cent of the total driven-in receipts, while the year 1919 amounted to 95 per cent of the total driven-in receipts. In 1920 virtually all driven-in receipts were truck-hauled.

“At Cincinnati in the year 1918 more than 90 per cent of driven-in receipts were truck-hauled while in 1919 at least 95 per cent of all stock delivered at this yard other than by freight car came on motor trucks. In 1920 driven-in receipts which were not truck-hauled were negligible.

“Indianapolis has shown the most conspicuous increase in truck delivered stock of any yard in the country. During the last year more than 95 per cent of all driven-in hogs to this yard were delivered by motor truck. It is seldom that team equipment is seen at this yard. At both Cincinnati and Indianapolis on an average day 100 trucks can be seen coming into the yards, while as many as 300 trucks have been counted at Cincinnati in one day, and as many as 450 at Indianapolis.”

From tables given in the Bulletin are extracted the following data for the Omaha and the Indianapolis yards:

Omaha Yard
YearDriven-in
Receipts		Total
Receipts		Percentage,
Driven-in
to Total
1916 46,5423,116,8201.47
1917 65,9222,796,5962.36
1918188,4173,429,5335.38
1919179,0363,179,1165.64
1920181,9462,708,4826.67
1921...................
Indianapolis Yard
YearDriven-in
Receipts		Total
Receipts		Percentage,
Driven-in
to Total
1912110,6241,824,2606.06
1913 90,8211,994,6244.04
1914 96,5212,099,7874.58
1915136,4412,435,3195.61
1916173,1912,576,6116.74
1917271,9942,350,7307.84
1918462,3132,749,97616.8
1919709,5842,936,49323.7
1920787,1002,896,89427.2
1921....................