﻿32 BULLETIX 25, IT. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Inquiry was made of feeders in Iowa and Illinois as to whether 

 salt was mixed in the silage with a view of creating an abnormal 

 thirst that would reflect in the heavy fill at market, but all denied the 

 use of salt, and further inquiry failed to locate a single instance where 

 any attempt had been made to increase the natural thirst. 



It was also noted that the breed was not a factor in this respect. 

 Cattle fattened on the range or in the feed lots, and those fattened on 

 pulp and on silage were not infrequently of the same breed and pur- 

 chased from the same sources of supply. The question of the breed 

 did not enter prominently into the transaction, and while shippers 

 have their preferences of the breed they like best to feed, the records 

 of the shipments do not reflect any difference in the shrinkage in 

 transit or the fill at market that can be charged to breed. , - 



DETAILS OF THE WORK. 



MIXED RANGE CATTLE IN TRANSIT LESS THAN 36 HOURS. 



The shipments in Table 10 were all from that section of the coun- 

 try known as the " Sand Hills, " and consisted of western cattle that 

 had been grazed and fattened in western Nebraska. There were 

 866 animals altogether, and all went to South Omaha. In general, 

 the shipments were composed of cows, heifers, and steers varying 

 in age from j^earlings to 4-year-olds. Occasionally a shipment would 

 have a few head of small calves. 



The cattle were trailed distances varying from 1 to 30 miles. 

 They were weighed while warm, or immediately on arrival at the 

 railway pens, and then turned into a dry lot, where they remained 

 until loaded into the cars. 



With but three exceptions the shipments were made under normal 

 weather conditions. The three exceptions mentioned were periods 

 when there was a high wind and a temperature approaching zero. 

 The figures obtained, however, do not indicate that the unusual 

 weather was much of a factor in the shrinkage. 



In the case of 23 head from Efyannis, Nebr., that refused to take 

 a fill at market, an effort was made to get these animals to fill but 

 without success, and they actually shrank about 184 pounds, or 8 

 pounds per head, while at market, although the weather conditions 

 were normal and they arrived at a favorable hour in the morning. 



The figures in Table 10 show considerable variation in the amount 

 of fill obtained at market. There was but one shipment, above 

 mentioned, that did not get a fill. The average fill for the 866 head 

 was 28 pounds. The average shrinkage before the fill was 86 pounds 

 and the average net shrinkage was 58 pounds. 



