Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



357 



sufficient numbers to prevent an appreciable rise in weight during 

 those months. 



Docking or shrinking weights. — At central markets stags are 

 docked 70 pounds, and pregnant sows 40 pounds each. The excuse 

 for this practice is the greater amount of waste in killing and dressing 

 such hogs, but boars are not docked. Formerly stags were docked 80 

 pounds. On some markets small pregnant sows are docked less than 

 40 pounds. Small stags should be docked less than 70 pounds, but 

 are not. The decision as to what hogs are stags and what sows are 

 pregnant rests with inspectors employed jointly by commission men 

 and packers who inspect the hogs as they are driven from the scales. 

 All dockage is deducted from the gross weight of the drove, which is 

 the basis of payment for the hogs. 



Fig. 133. — Unloading hogs at Chicago. 



This system has been in use at Chicago since 1884, and is the result 

 of joint agreement between hog buyers and commission firms. * In 

 case either party is dissatisfied with the amount of dockage, he may 

 appeal to the chief inspector or shrinker whose decision is usually 

 accepted as final. If it is not accepted, a committee composed of one 

 buyer, one salesman, and a third party selected by them, renders a 

 decision that is final. 



P. H. Hamilton, of Woodbury County, Iowa, states ^ that hog 

 dockage was probably the principal reason for the organization of live- 

 stock exchanges at the markets, and that there have possibly been 

 more wordy battles and more fistic encounters over the dockage of 



iThe American Live Stock Market — How It Functions, p. 54. 

 2Breeder's Gazette, Jan. 27, 1921, p. 155. 



