﻿SHRINKAGE OF WEIGHT OF BEEF CATTLE IN TRANSIT. 51 



farmers, and although they may not raise the former range cattle, 

 they will most likely raise better ones and will finish many of them 

 on the farms. 



In some parts of the semi-arid Northwest where irrigation is not 

 feasible and dry farming is too uncertain, the ranchman will possibly 

 hold sway for generations to come. Here, then, will be found the 

 man who will continue to raise cattle, and who will be interested in 

 any phase of cattle investigations which may accrue to his benefit. 

 The shrinkage of his cattle in transit is an item of vital interest to 

 him because of the great distance to market, and any information 

 • which would throw light on this subject is therefore valuable. The 

 trade from the Pacific coast is developing to such an extent that 

 buyers are covering all of this section. If the cattleman knew ap- 

 proximately what his cattle would shrink in shipping to market, and 

 knew his freight rate and other expenses incidental to shipping, he 

 could quickly estimate from the market quotations what his cattle 

 were worth on the farm and would be in a position to price them 

 intelligently to prospective buyers. 



There has been less complaint about shrinkage in the Northwest 

 than in the Southwest for several reasons : The facilities for shipping 

 are usually better, the cattle trains make faster time, and the facilities 

 for feeding and watering the cattle at points in transit are better. 

 The Northern Pacific road is to be especially commended for the 

 facilities for unloading and feeding stock at their new yards at 

 Staples, Minn. Forty cars can be " spotted " for unloading at one 

 time, and the cattle can be very quickly unloaded and penned with 

 feed and water before them. The manager of the yards is advised 

 by wire of the number of cars to be fed there, and feed and water are 

 in the pens when the cattle arrive, so there is no delay in allowing 

 the cattle to fill. The yards are equipped with both open and covered 

 pens, the latter to be used in ease of bad weather. The pens are away 

 from the town, where the animals can be absolutely quiet and not 

 disturbed until reloading time. It is to be noted that cattle unloaded 

 at this point invariably took a good fill and had a quiet rest which 

 enabled tnem to stand the remainder of the journey to St. Paul or 

 Chicago well. 



The distances the cattle have to be driven to the loading pens are 

 usually shorter than in the Southwest, and as grass is usually abun- 

 dant during the shipping season they arrive at the pens in very good 

 condition. As a rule the cattle are larger and in better flesh and 

 are strong enough to stand up well during the long journey. 



The shrinkage investigation in the Southwest described in Fart I 

 of this bulletin brought out the fact very clearly that to get accurate 

 results on the shrinkage of cattle large numbers must be used, because 

 there are so many factors that may influence a single shipment or 



