Highways and Highway Transportation

by George R. Chatburn

Average number of driven-in hogs marketed at Indianapolis each month; years 1917, 1918, 1919, and 1920 being averaged.

Average number of driven-in hogs marketed at Omaha each month; years 1917, 1918, 1919, and 1920 being averaged.

[Diagrams] on pages 290 and 291 show the average monthly number of hogs received at the yards of Indianapolis and Omaha by truck; the years 1917, 1918, 1919, and 1920 being averaged. At Indianapolis, where the roads are good the year around, the receipts from June to December are much larger than those from December to June, the peaks occurring in December and June. In Omaha, on the contrary, the greater number of driven-in hogs came in the other half of the year the peaks occurring in January and July. These may be partially accounted for, in the West, on the theory that January 1st and March 1st are regular settlement days and farmers arrange to meet their obligations then by selling off a batch of hogs. They also plan to reduce the number of their hogs to the minimum during the months of May, June, and July, so as to have few fat hogs to carry through the hot weather. In the Eastern states the farmers seem to work on a different basis. If the selling of live stock could be spread out uniformly over the year prices would be more uniform. An analysis of prices on the Chicago hog market shows that they are usually highest during the summer months, from April to August, the months when the fewest numbers are sold. The advantage which those crops which can be stored without deterioration, such as grain, cotton, wool, and lumber, is manifest. The price of meat is less fluctuating than that of live stock because meat can be kept indefinitely in the cold storage houses at a very small expense. It is quite likely that more good roads and a more extensive use of the truck will tend to a better distribution of live stock marketed throughout the several seasons of the year.

One of the principal advantages of marketing by truck is the less liability of losses in transit. Dealers and owners often crowd too many hogs into a freight car and as a result some smother. Or, if hogs from different farms are placed together in a car there may be fighting, which unduly heats up the hogs with equally dire results. It is reported that at the Chicago yards in 1918 there were removed from cars 24,785 dead hogs and in 1919, 28,356. To be sure many of these cars came from a distance and were, perhaps, several days on the way. But a fat hog is a delicate animal and a stream of cold water from a hose on a hot hog will often kill him instantly. Government figures state that one out of every 319 hogs shipped died in transit; of cattle one out of every 998; of sheep one out of every 936. Losses by motor, because the animals are not crowded so many together, because they are acquainted and do not fight, because the distances traveled are usually such that only three or four hours elapse between the times of loading and unloading, and because the driver is always at hand to quell disturbances and to see that there is no undue crowding, are said to be negligible.

The local buyer at points near packing houses has almost become extinct. These men formerly bought from the farmers and held the stock until they had sufficient number to fill a car. Since they would often have to hold them several days they had to buy on a wide margin to insure themselves against loss, from ³⁄₄ to 1¹⁄₂ cents a pound. Even where the farmer does not own a truck he can get the hogs hauled at a cost of ¹⁄₂ to ³⁄₄ cents a pound, or a saving of about $15 per truck load. If a return load is to be had, such as lumber or feeders the saving will be greater. One difficulty about the return load is the necessity of thoroughly cleaning the truck body. A shovel, a hose with a fair pressure of water, and a hard floor upon which to stand the truck while it is being cleaned are necessary.

Incidentally it may be mentioned that the local stockyards in the way they are often kept are very unsanitary and certainly a nuisance as far as bad smells are concerned as well as a menace to health.

Shrinkage.

—The argument that there is less shrinkage in motor-hauled hogs than in rail-hauled may be as a general rule true, but, according to the Firestone Bulletin, will not net the farmer much, because buyers base the price they are willing to pay on the dressed weight and not the live weight. It is stated that the buyer from long experience is able to estimate with considerable accuracy the weight at which a hog will dress, and that he makes his price offer accordingly. The percentage loss of weight in dressing is, of course, greater for thin than for fat hogs. By grading the hogs into classes the buyer is enabled to discount the price paid enough to take care of the “fill,” which is said to range from 3 to 5 pounds per hundred weight. But notwithstanding this the fact that the animals are fresher and livelier must have some effect on the mind of the buyer. This may be the reason for the rapid increase of hogs received by truck at the packing houses, being as many as 6800 in a single day at Indianapolis.