﻿48 



BULLETIN 25. U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



transit was experienced by the cattle fed on silage. In general it 

 may be seen that the shrinkage in transit was A'ery uniform for all 

 classes of the cattle. 



Contrary to the universal opinion that range cattle do not fill as 

 well at market as finished cattle, it is to be noticed that there is little 

 difference between the fill taken by the grass cattle and the corn-fed 

 cattle. The range cattle, however, had the advantage in that the 

 majority of them went to market in the early fall, while the weather 

 was good and conditions were favorable for a good fill. This was 

 not the case with the fed cattle, which experienced some very severe 

 weather at market. 



An important point shown in the table is the large fill taken by the 

 cattle which were fattened on silage. They showed the greatest 

 gross shrinkage, but the fill taken was so large that the net shrinkage 

 on these cattle was the least of all. 



The net shrinkage on all the cattle was very uniform. The figures 

 show that as a rule the greatest shrinkage occurs during the first 

 portion of the journey. The two exceptions to this are the range 

 cattle in transit from 36 to 72 hours and the corn-fed cattle in transit 

 from 30 to 36 hours. 



Table 19. — Summary of north-western work of 1911-12. 





Num- 

 ber 

 of 

 ship- 

 ments. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 



cattle. 



Aver- 

 age 



weight 



at 

 origin. 



Gross shrink- 

 age. 



Fill at mar- 

 ket. 



Net shrink- 

 age. 



Ratio 

 of net 

 shrink- 



Class. 



Range. 



Aver- 

 age. 



Range. 



Aver- 

 age. 



Range. 



Aver- 

 age. 



age to 



live 



weight 



at 

 origin. 



Mixed range cattle in transit 



16 

 11 



g 



6 

 38 

 19 



7 

 11 

 42 



866 

 794 

 695 

 278 

 1, 209 

 527 

 397 



Lbs. 

 909 



978 



1,030 



1,218 



1,214 



1,086 



1 232 



Lbs. 

 53-129 



46-110 



49- 99 



59-117 



42-160 



50-128 



46- 95 



56-135 



Lbs. 



86 



80 

 SO 

 76 

 87 

 84 

 71 

 92 



Lbs. 



-8- 70 



13- 56 

 2- 4D 

 4- 48 



11-110 



20- 55 

 6- 69 



27- 97 



Lbs. 



28 



137 

 27 

 25 

 36 

 39 

 48 

 60 



Lbs. 

 35-114 



+ 1- 54 



12- 97 



20- 78 



9-123 



18- 88 



+ 7- 67 



7- 75 



Lbs. 



58 



' 36 

 53 

 51 

 51 

 45 



2 23 

 32 

 61 



Per ct. 

 6 38 



Mixed range cattle in transit 

 36-72 hours 



3.68 



Mixed range cattle in transit 



• 



5.09 



Mixed corn-fed cattle in 

 transit less than 26 hours. . 



Mixed corn-fed cattle in 

 transit 26-30 hours 



Mixed corn-fed cattle in 

 transit 30-36 hours 



Silage-fed cattle in transit 



4.19 

 4.20 

 4.15 

 1.87 



Silage-fed cattle in transit 



438 1.1*21 



2.85 



Beet-pulp fed cattle in tran- 

 sit from 2 to 5 days 



3, 623 





















1 Not including 153 head for which fill was not ascertained. 



2 This average is unusually low because of one shipment of 107 head which actually gained 7 pounds per 

 head after the fill at market. If this shipment is left out the average net shrinkage of the remaining 290 is 

 raised to 30 pounds. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



THE SHRINKAGE IN TRANSIT. 



Cattle allowed to cool in the station pens at point of origin and 

 given a moderate allowance of water and a light feed of hay before 

 loading appear to endure the journey with less shrinkage and take 



