﻿74 BULLETIN 25, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



Table 29. — General summary of three years' shrinkage work — Continued. 





Num- 

 ber of 

 ship- 

 ments. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 cattle. 



Aver- 

 age 

 weight 

 at 



origin. 



Gross 

 shrinkage. 



Fill at market. 



Net shrinkage. 



Ratio 



of 



Class. 



Range. 



Aver- 

 age. 



Range. 



Aver- 

 aga. 



Range. 



Aver- 

 age. 



age to 

 weight 



at 

 origin. 



Mixed range cattle in 

 transit 36 to 72 hours. 



Mixed range cattle in 



transit over 72 hours. . 



■lives in trarjsit 



less than 24 hours 



Range calves in transit 



10 

 6 

 8 

 8 



4 

 59 

 14 



4 



10 

 10 

 32 



622 

 988 

 773 

 772 



164 



1,853 



666 



169 



1,296 

 1,009 



2,614 



Lbs. 

 954 



729 



185 



193 



1,303 



1,167 



1,168 



1,204 



1,074 

 1,390 



Pounds. 

 25-110 



42- 98 



1 + 2 1- 17 



3 6- 11 



59- 95 



47-128 



46-128 



84-121 



61- 76 

 90-111 



Lbs. 

 76 



SO 



26 

 36 



67 



85 



76 



101 



72 

 100 



Pounds. 



9-47 



16-40 



2 6-13 



■i -33-17 



4-48 

 19-52 



6-97 

 50-64 



9-21 



11-26 



Lbs. 

 39 



29 



2 7 

 3 11 



16 

 37 

 52 



58 



14 

 25 



Pounds. 

 1+1-51 



7- 71 



i+14- 13 



i + 9- 13 



20- 64 



18- 88 

 1+7-67 



27- 75 



41- 73 



16- 99 



i + 5-132 



Lbs. 

 37 



51 



' + 1 

 i + 5 



51 



48 



24 



43 



58 

 75 

 54 



Per ct. 



3.88 



7.00 

 i + .59 

 i +2.45 



Mixed corn-fed cattle 

 in transit less than 24 



3.31 



Mixed corn-fed cattle 

 in transit 24 to 36 



4.11 



Mixed silage-fed cattle 

 in transit less than 24 



2.05 



Mixed silage-fed cattle 

 in transit 24 to 36 



3.57 



Cottonsee d-meal-f ed 

 steers in transit 30 to 



5.40 



Beet-pulp-fed cattle in 



transit 60 to 120 hours. 



Beet-pulp-fed cattle in 



5.40 

















i The plus sign (+) indicates a gain in weight instead of shrinkage. Attention is called to the 16 ship- 

 ments of range calves, wherein the ratio of shrinkage to live weight (last column of table) is unduly low, 

 because the great majority (13) of the shipments occurred in 1910, the droughty year. The 3 shipments 

 in 1911, the normal year, gave a ratio of 4.9 per cent. 



2 Data on 635 head. 



a Data on 699 head. 



< The minus (— ) indicates a loss in weight instead of a fill. 



Note. — The data were incomplete on the shipments where blank spaces are found. The cattle men 

 tioned in the text but not included in the tables are not shown in this table, nor are the 7 shipments of 1,310 

 cattle presented in Table 5. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



There is no way of entirely preventing shrinkage in the shipping 

 of cattle, but by judicious care in handling and feeding the cattle just- 

 previous to shipping the shrinkage may be lessened. If cattle are 

 to be in transit for 24 hours or longer it is a good plan to feed about 

 two bales of nice bright hay for each carload a few hours before 

 loading. 



The reader should understand that the three tests in this bulletin 

 are not directly comparable, but they do in a general way give a good 

 idea of what will occur in shipping cattle under various conditions. 

 The difference in the shrinkage of the cattle of Parts I and III was 

 chiefly due to the season and factors which are influenced by it. Dur- 

 ing the season of 1910 most of the shrinkage of the cattle occurred 

 during the drive to the loading pens, because there was little grass 

 and water to be secured along the trails and the cattle were so empty 

 when shipped that the shrinkage was small, and the fill taken at 

 ntarket oftentimes overcame it. 



