Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-07
Selling Poultry by the Carload

Selling Poultry by the Carload
They expect to sell a carload of
poultry in our town next week!
This is the astonishing greeting by
which I was met on visiting a small
Georgia town recently. 1t was sub
ject of general discussion in that
community, for it was to be a mo-
mentous occasion in the lives of the
people who reside therein. Whoever
heard of there being enough chick
ems in a community to make up a
carload lot, or whoever thought
there would be place out in the
world where they could use so many
chickens? Who could be expected
to buy so many at one time, and
what could they ever do with them
after they had bought them?
These were some of the qustions
banded about from lip to lip. 1t is
not surprising that this would be the
case, for the hen in that community
had never been anything more than
a hen. Now, she was to be placed
on a commercial pedestal for the
first time. She was to be the means
OF creating a new industry IN that
particular locality. She was TO be-
come a mighty source of revenue,
and a thing thereby exalted.
"Lo. the stone which the builders
rejected has become the head of the
corner" indeed and in fact. There
is plenty of room for the hen to eX-
pand her activities. for we are still
importing $20,O00,000 of poultry
products into Georgia annually. AS
carload sales of chickens and hens
are increasing rapidly, it is all the
more important that our people I'M
derstand how a sale of this charac-
ter should be conducted and the
points which should be especially
stressed in order that the sales may
be made an unqualified success
from every point Of view.
The best thing prepared on this
subject that has yet come to my at
tention is from the pen Of Prof. M.
c. Gay, state supervisor of market.
ing in the Georgia State College of
Agriculture. Among other things, he
says:
The county and home demOnstra-
ton agents in the county where sale
Is to be held should secure the full
cooperation of the farmers and
business men. They need the I'M
qualified cooperation of poultry
producers and those business men
who handle poultry. These dealers
can sometimes make the handling
of the sale a very difficult propo-
sition, particularly if the sale hap
pens to be held on a falling mar
ket. In such an event, the dealer
who is unfriendly to the sale plan
can pay more than the prices OBJ
tanned in the carlot sale, and thus
entice farmers to break away from
the sale and sell to him. Dealers
sometimes even practice this
method if they must lose money on
the proposition.
sales should be amounted at least
two weeks in advance of sale date.
Then, if merchants IN the town
where sale is to be held are prop
erly lined up on the proposition,
they can insert in their newspaper
advertisement one or two sentences
encouraging farmers to patronize
the sale. Plenty of newspaper pub
1icity should be given the PROPOSE
ton. If sale is to be held early in
the month, bankers are glad to mail
out with their bank statements cir
culars or letters about the sale.
One of the most important points
is the securing and cleaning of
poultry car. These cars are not
owned by the railroads, but instead
are owned by the Live Poultry
Transit company, 431 South Dear
born street, Chicago, Ill. Written
order for car should be given the
local railway agent, and at the same
time copy should be mailed to the
Live Poultry Transit company.
Then five or six days before sale
date, county agents should ask the
local agent to give report on the
car. These local railway agents are
sometimes slow to take such sug-
gestions, and they may be slow to
get report. In such event, the coun-
ty agent should in a friendly way
advise the local agent that he must
know about the car, and, if such
agent does not secure the informa-
ton, then he (the county agent
will take the matter up with the
chief dispatcher personally. In
other words, if must be known that
a car is actually in transit, and
then the movement of the car should
be kept up with sd that it will be
on hand. This proposition has given
US more trouble than anything else
connected with the sales.
A poultry car will handle be-
tween eighteen and twenty thosuand
pounds. So, the number of chickens
required will depend upon the size
of the birds. During the winter and
early spring months, most of the
chickens offered are hens or
"fowls' as the dealers call them.
In the summer, >friers are in album
dance.
Sales are usually closed before
sale date, for the simple reason
that if a distant buyer gets the
offering, he wants time to have his
man on hand to receive and pay
for the poultry. You cannot close
lid vow, lone before tho sale for