﻿SHRINKAGE OF WEIGHT OF BEEF CATTLE IN TRANSIT. 29 



equipped their cars for this purpose, it must be admitted they 

 have expended considerable sinus in an attempt to furnish practical 

 Watering facilities, but the quantity supplied is usually insufficient 



unless considerable time is consumed, and a long train of stock to be 

 liberally watered would occasion delays that could not be permitted. 

 Assuming that the watering of stock in transit is practically out 

 of the question, it remains for the shipper to give his animals some 

 water before loading them. Some shippers do not make a practice of 

 doing this. They prefer to allow the thirst of the cattle to accumu- 

 late in anticipation of an increased fill at market. However, this 

 custom is beset with risks that can not be controlled, such as long 

 delays in transit, encountering heavy rains on the way followed by 

 cold or snow, unfavorable weather at market, and arriving after the 

 market has opened or at a late hour at night. All of these are fac- 

 tors that make the practice one of doubtful value, as it has been ob- 

 served that in cases where these conditions obtain they tend to 

 counteract the anticipated extra fill occasioned by the denial of 

 water before loading. It appears to be the better plan to provide 

 sufficient clean water and allow the cattle an opportunity to drink 

 leisurely before loading them at the point of origin. Whether they 

 shall be fed grain or hay before loading depends on how much and 

 when they were last fed, the distance driven, the condition of the 

 roads over which they traveled, and the weather. 



These conditions of course do not apply to animals from the 

 range. They apply especially to cattle that have been in feed lots. 

 It was observed that when a shipper fed the usual quantity at the 

 last feeding time on the farm before starting for the station, and 

 drove leisurely so as not to warm the animals unnecessarily, that 

 when they had cooled off in the station yards a light feed of oats, 

 shelled corn, or hay was usually eaten without hesitation. 



In agricultural districts where feed is plentiful it is the prevailing 

 custom to fill the racks in the cars with hay, but in the range country 

 this practice does not prevail to any extent on account of the scarcity 

 of hay and the distance and inconvenience of getting it to the cars. 

 In fact, on some roads it is not even permitted in the cars, because 

 where certain kinds of soft coal are used in the engines there is too 

 great a danger from flying sparks. 



Many experienced shippers of feed-lot cattle contend that if the 

 cattle are fed before loading the placing of hay in the racks is un- 

 necessary. This contention is based on individual judgment and is 

 rot sustained by any array of facts. It was observed, however, that 

 cattle do eat hay quite liberally, especially if it is a change from what 

 they have been accustomed to in the feed lot. One shipper in Iowa 

 usually fills the racks with sheaf oats, which he has saved for this pur- 



