Excerpts from the report Introduction: This report presents a brief resume of the development, growth, and change in pattern of livestock market outlets in the United States. More specifically, it is intended to fill a need for more information on the relative importance of different types of market outlets available to livestock producers. Significant changes have taken place since World War I. Presented in this report are data and charts showing percentages of each species of livestock sold by farmers through different types of market outlets by regions during 1955. A discussion of market outlets for the United States as a whole precedes the detail by regions and species. For the most part, this is a source of data rather than an interpretive report. Basic information on livestock market outlets presented here may later be used as background material for more specialized studies. Estimates of sales of livestock by farmers through different types of market outlets in 1955 are based on data obtained in connection with a comprehensive survey in 1956 of farmers' expenditures in 1955. The survey was made under the supervision of the Agricultural Marketing Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of the Census. A sample of approximately 6,600 farms was drawn from basic lists obtained from the 1954 Census of Agriculture.