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



on the different shipments varied greatly, ranging from 4 pounds to 

 64 pounds per head. 



The first shipment of 25 cows was driven only 7 miles and was 

 grazed before loading,, so they had a good fill. They were in transit 

 28^ hours but did not have a good run. The result was that they 

 shrank 64 pounds per head. The third shipment shrank but 4 pounds 

 each. The fourth shipment of 80 head of cows was in transit 31 

 hours. These cattle had a very slow run, but still shrank only 6 

 pounds each. The}'' evidently took a big fill at the market. 



The shipment of 291 head of cows was driven 110 miles from the 

 ranch to the railroad. They were on the road seven days, being 

 trailed about 16 miles a day and grazed. However, the trip was a 

 hard one because of its great length. The cattle were grazed the 

 day before shipping but had neither feed nor water the day thej^ 

 were shipped, and as they were not loaded until 3 p. m. they looked 

 hollow and were empty. The shrinkage on these cattle was only 16 

 pounds per head, which was of course due to the poor fill they had 

 when loaded. As there are many cattle loaded in Texas under the 

 same conditions this shipment is an important one and may be taken 

 as an average for shrinkage on such shipments. 



The difference between the shrinkage of cattle loaded under the 

 above conditions and of cattle loaded where they have had an oppor- 

 tunity to graze and drink before loading is clearly shown by the com- 

 parison of this shipment with the next one below. These 27 cattle 

 were on the road to the loading pens two days, but had grass and 

 water until loading time, They were in transit to market 24^ hours, 

 the same time as the 291 head, and were handled the same way after 

 loading, but they shrank 51 pounds per head, as compared with 16 

 pounds for the previous shipment. The greater part of this shrink- 

 age of 51 pounds was merely the loss of the fill taken before loading. 



The last shipment shown in the table was composed of 29 cows in 

 medium flesh. These cattle had a very poor run to market, requiring 

 33^ hours to make the trip. Their shrinkage was 58 pounds per 

 head. As their fill taken at market was not secured it can not be said 

 just how much of this large shrinkage was due to the very poor run 

 and how much to a lack of fill at the market. 



The grand averages for the 1,383 cows show their average weight 

 to be 907 pounds, the time in transit to market to be 27 hours, and 

 their net shrinkage to be 32 pounds per head. This is but 3.5 per cent 

 of their live weight. 



