﻿6 BULLETIN 25, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Different methods are used in the stockyards to get these cattle to 

 fill. If they arrive in the afternoon they may be given a little water 

 and all the hay they can eat at night, and then all the water they 

 will drink just before the market opens. This gives them weight, 

 but does not do away with the drawn appearance so characteristic 

 of this class of stock. As a rule they are fed onry hay, as they are 

 unaccustomed to grain and would not eat it. 



Cattle which have been fed or finished for the market usually 

 present quite a contrast to the range stock. Docile, accustomed to 

 man and expecting feed from him, these cattle do not show the rest- 

 lessness of the range stock, and when fed, if weather conditions are 

 favorable, take a nice fill and lie down or stand about in content- 

 ment. The shrinkage on fed cattle which have had a very long 

 journey may be rather heavy, because if they are very empty they 

 can not and will not completely fill in a few hours' time. To do 

 this would require at least two days. They will not take enough 

 feed at once to put them back to their weight before shipping. 



Cattle that are unloaded but a few hours before the market opens 

 will usually take a good fill, but some look drawn, hard, or haggard 

 even after filling if they have not had time to rest. It must be 

 remembered that a big fill is not always most desirable. Cattle arriv- 

 ing at the market in the afternoon or night may fill, lie down, and 

 not fill as heavily the next morning as cattle arriving about day- 

 light, but they will have rested and do not look stale as might the 

 latter, which took a big fill but got no rest. Best alone will smooth 

 out the drawn appearance and hard lines caused by travel. Then, 

 too, the cattle which rested overnight and apparently had no large 

 fill, will most likely sell for more than sufficient to offset the difference 

 in weight. The buyer is always on the alert for good cattle with 

 a normal or poor fill and will pay correspondingly higher prices 

 for them than he will for the ones with an abnormal fill, because 

 the poorly filled animals will dress out at a higher percentage. 



The shrinkage on the various classes of cattle is not the same 

 even when shipped under identically the same conditions. The dif- 

 ference may not at all times be great, but there is sufficient variation 

 in the shrinkage to justify a close study of each. 



It is a recognized fact among cattlemen that, when all other 

 factors are equal, as a rule bulls shrink more than any other class 

 of animals, although cows often come a close second, as they gener- 

 ally shrink more than either heifers or steers. There is usually little 

 difference between the shrinkage on steers and heifers of the same 

 size. The shrinkage on calves is usually small, but when compared 

 to their live weight it runs about the same as with grown animals. 



