THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE
Influence of Modern Market Upon Growth
of Nebraska's Live Stock Industry
ASY accessibility to good
markets has ever been a
potential factor in the set
tlement of a new territory.
Countries rich in natural resources
have remained, dormant because of
the necessity of a market for the
commodities which they were able
to produce in abundance, or because
transportation facilities were lacking
which would enable them to get their
products to consuming centers with
profit. Agricultural localities like
wise are retarded in their develop
ment because of their inaccessibility
to market centers. Probably no
branch of agriculture is more keenly
sensitive to market disadvantages
than the live stock industry. Old
time stockmen have only to harken
back to their early experiences to ap
preciate the transition which has
been wrought by the Introduction of
constantly improving market meth
ods. New Epoch in Live Stock Industry
w The advent of the railroad marked
a new epoch in the growth of the live
stock Industry. Scarcely more than
a half century ago the carrying trade
of the United States was limited to
passenger traffic and what is now
known as "dead freight." Relatively
few live animals were then carried,
and even on boats, which were the
chief carriers of bulky merchandise,
suitable facilities were not provided
for live stock. Prior to 1850 it was
the general practice to drive live
stock on foot to market. Such mar
kets as there were of any Importance
were along the Atlantic seaboard,
with New York the prominent one.
In those days driving to Atlantic sea
board cities from points as far west
as Iowa was by no means uncommon.
As illustrative of the vicissitudes and
hardships experienced in marketing
live stock by means of tue primitive
methods of transportation then avail
able, we quote from the records of
the Department of Agriculture the
following:
One of the first shipments of cat
tle by rail from Kentucky to eastern
markets, made In 1852, is described
by the shipper as follows: One week
' f i
- '
was consumed in driving the cattle,
100 in number, from the neighbor
hood of Lexington, Ky., to Cincin
nati. Here they were loaded in box
tars and shipped by rail to Cleve
land, whence they were taken by
steamboat to Buffalo. After a stay
of several days at Buffalo the ani
mals were driven to Canandaigua,
N. Y.; thence they were hauled in
immigrant cars to Albany, where
they were unloaded in the freight
house. After spending two days in
a feed yard near Albany the stock
was taken by boat to New York. The
Boston and New York were literally
"jumping-off" places final markets. !
Because of the long time required
to reach the market and the absence
of reliable market intelligence the
shipper was absolutely in the dark as;
to the probable proceeds from the
sale of his stock; likewise the buyers
at market points knew very little
about what to expect in the way of
receipts from one day to another.
The local butchers and small pack-
lie is No Longer Monarch of the
Nebraska Prairies
J. A. SHOEMAKER
Traffic Manager of the Union Stock Yards, South Omaha
freight on these cattle from Cincin
nati to Buffalo was $120 per car, and
the total expense from Kentucky to
New York was $14 per head.
Today a car of cattle can be
shipped from Utah, Idaho or Mon
tana to South Omaha at less than
one-half this cost per animal, con
suming less than one-fifth of the
time in transit.
Many Shippers Ileal Speculators
In the early days referred to many
of the shippers of live stock were
speculators and they were real
speculators, too, for they had not the
advantages of the telephone and tele
graph and daiiy paper who bought
cattle, hogs and sheep from the
growers and feeders in their home
localities and went with them to the
eastern market cities. In the '60s
and early '70s New York, Buffalo,
Baltimore and Boston were promi
nent live stock markets, Buffalo be
ing a sort of primary market where
many cattle were handled from Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, etc., a
large percentage of which .were for
warded on to other markets for final
disposition. Baltimore was more
particularly a hog market, while
ers, together with those men who
bought stocb for speculative pur
poses, constituted the buying power
of the markets. Facilities for stor
ing or shipping meats and meat food
products under refrigeration were
not then available and the various
processes for curing and preparing
meats for food had not been devel
oped to that degree of perfection
which marks the success of modern
packing methods.
Modern Conveniences Unknown
Artificial refrigeration and the
cold storage warehouses which are
now so essential 'to the successful
handling of all perishable commodi
ties were unknown, and only those
meats could be stored for future use
which were susceptible to the com
paratively crude processes then in
operation, chiefly pork bellies and
side meats, the successful curing of
hams, shoulders and other cuts of
the hog having come about with the
evolution of the modern packing
plant. Port packing was confined
entirely to the winter season and the
marketing of hogs was, therefore,
limited to the same period of the
year, which forced the farmer to
hold his hogs, sometimes for months
after they were ready for slaughter,
and sell them at a time when other
raisers and teeders were obliged to
market theirs.
The same lack of facilities re
stricted the handling of dressed beef
and made the market for cattle an l
sheep equally uncertain, with the re
sult that large receipts of cattle and
sheep from the west were often sac
rificed at ridiculous prices.
The Old and the New Way
In sharp contrast with the condi
tions then prevailing, the modern
market offers an open demand the
year through which knows no limi
tations and the most liberal receii'lt.
of all classes of live stock are quickly
absorbed at prices which as a rule
show reasonable stability. Undor
the old methods packers and butch
ers were forced to turn their products
quickly and only buy the quantity of
stock for which they had immediate
outlet. Therefore, there could be no
stability of market conditions and
wild fluctuation of prices was the in
evitable result of feast and famine
I supplies of stock and marketing was
;a veritable gamble. The shipper
j would leave home with an indefinite
, idea as to when he would return. If
j he could not sell his stock at Buffalo
he would go to Boston or New York,
and it was the rule then, somewhat
as now, that he who went farthest
fared worst. When he got to .the
"end of his string," which was New
York or Boston, he was often obliged
to wait for days, and then more than
likely be forced to sacrifice his offer
ings to some bargain-driving trader.
All Sales Are for Cash
Then the shipper had to personally
look after his stock from the time it
left home until the animals were dis
posed of at the market, attend to the
unloading and feeding of them, nego
tiate the sale, help in the weighing
and make delivery to the purchaser.
Now this is all done under the care
ful supervision of the commission
firm to whom the shipper entrusts
the sale of his stock. Under modern
stock yards methods and the rules
trails m
T. ("Dorey") E. Sanders, Who
nought the First Cattle at the
South Omaha Market