MEAT PRODUCTION 393 



The time occupied in the journey from the feed lot or 

 other place of fattening to the market is probably the most 

 potent influence in causing shrinkage, even though the ani- 

 mals should be rested, fed and watered on the way. This 

 arises from the little inclination which they evince to take 

 food or water while in transit. The rate of the shrinkage, 

 however, decreases with increase in the time occupied in 

 conveyance, as the more prolonged the journey, the less the 

 amount of food and water is there in the digestive organs 

 to pass out of the system. 



The more succulent the foods used in fattening and 

 the less the degree of the finish, the greater will be the loss 

 of live weight in transit on the supposition that the animals 

 are given fair treatment on the way. Of course if the 

 animals were driven to market, the more perfect the finish, 

 the greater would be their distress in traveling, and this 

 might result in a greater loss in weight. The flesh of ani- 

 mals fed watery foods, such as succulent grass and field 

 roots, contains a higher per cent of water than that of ani- 

 mals brought to high finish on dry foods, and this is more 

 readily lost than the fat in the system. 



Young animals lose more in transit relatively than 

 animals that are mature and that are possessed of an equal 

 degree of finish. This arises first, from the larger per cent 

 of water in the system of the former, and second, from the 

 greater relative activity of the excretory organs. But this 

 tendency may to some extent be counteracted by the greater- 

 power possessed by young animals to accommodate them- 

 selves to disturbing conditions. 



The extent to which animals exercise while being fat- 

 tened exerts a marked influence on the shrinkage in transit. 

 Cattle finished in yards or feed lots will shrink much less 

 than those tied in the stall and given but little or no ex- 

 ercise. Wethers fattened on alfalfa hay, wheat, corn and 

 roots at the Colorado experiment station shrank 9 per cent 

 of the live weight in transit to the Chicago market. Se- 

 lected lambs shrank 9.4 per cent, and lighter and more active 

 Mexican sheep shrank but 6.5 per cent. 



