﻿66 



BULLETIN 25, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



of 2-year-olds, cows, and bulls, with a few steers mixed in. There 

 were very few calves in the shipments. The cattle were in transit 

 from 244- to 31 hours, and ranged from 614 to 878 pounds in weight. 

 The shrinkage was not so variable with these cattle as with those in 

 transit less than 24 hours. 



It will be noticed that the shipment of 30 head, although the 

 heaviest cattle, shrank the least in shipping. This is readily ex- 

 plained by the fact that they were started from the ranch at 3 o'clock 

 in the afternoon and were driven 18 miles to the loading point, ar- 

 riving there the. next afternoon, where they were penned. They 

 were loaded and weighed at 6 p. m., having had neither feed nor 

 water since they left the ranch 27 hours previous. They were conse- 

 quently very empty and could not shrink as much as cattle under 

 average conditions. Then, too, they were in transit but 24| hours 

 and took a fairly good fill at market. 



The shipment of 26 head of cattle had been held on good pasture 

 within 6 miles of the loading pens for several days previous to 

 shipping. They were penned at 11 a. m. and held in the pens until 

 5 o'clock in the afternoon without feed or water. They were then 

 weighed, but were not loaded until 10 o'clock that night. They had 

 a poor fill when weighed and shrank only 21 pounds after the fill at 

 market. 



On the other hand the two shipments of 28 head each had been 

 trailed a long" distance and were watered just previous to weighing. 

 The result was a big shrinkage with each of them — 75 pounds per 

 head in one case and 55 pounds per head in the other. The latter 

 shipment had been trailed 52 miles. 



The grand average of all the shipments shows they were in transit 

 29 hours, their weight was 751 pounds, and their shrinkage was 42 

 pounds each. This is 5,6 per cent of their live weight. 



Table 26.— Mixed range cattle in transit over 2J/. hours. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 

 head. 



Point of origin. 



Time 

 in 



transit. 



Aver- 

 age 



weight 

 at 



point 

 of 



origin. 



Aver- 

 age 

 weight 

 at des- 

 tination 

 after 

 fill. 



Aver- 

 age 

 net 



shrink- 

 age. 



Remarks. 



38 





Hours. 

 31 

 29 



29 



2 a. 



31 



Pounds. 

 614 



814 



782 

 878 



711 



Pounds. 

 573 



793 



707 

 859 



656 



Pounds. 

 41 

 21 



75 

 19 



55 





26 



do 





28 



do 



feed or water. 



30 



do 





23 



do 



for 26 hours before loading. 

 Driven 52 miles in 4 days. Were 

 watered before loading. 





firand average 





29 



751 



709 



42 





