10 BULLETIN 589, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
individuals building and maintaining private yards where the stock 
was cared for at a stated cost if the shippers desired. These yards 
were far from perfect in equipment as well as in the service given, 
but in most cases they were an improvement on the old conditions 
provided by the railroads. This again led the carriers to think that 
if they conveyed the stock to such yards, no matter what the service 
er condition of the yards or when the animals were unloaded, their 
liability was ended. 
Little attention was given to the class of men who handled the 
stock. The man who could make the most noise and wield the 
“ prodpole” most dextrously was considered the most valuable, no 
thought being given to the comfort of the animals. In some yards 
a trough for watering all classes of animals was all that was pro- 
vided, while in a great many yards no troughs were provided. In 
most cases it was found that one trough 14 to 16 feet long was sup- 
posed to water any 
amount of stock, from 
one car of cattle to 
7,000 sheep, within 
the period of five 
hours. Often the 
troughs were in such 
condition they would 
not hold water, and 
the only way the 
stock could quench 
their thirst was by 
drinking from the stagnant pools or from the overflow into the mud, 
manure, and other filth in the corrals. Sometimes the troughs were 
so high that it was impossible for hogs or sheep to drink. In other 
cases the troughs were used as a wallow by hogs, and subsequent ship- 
ments of sheep, horses, and cattle were supposed to drink from them. 
When a shipment of sheep or cattle has been driven several miles 
before loading, and perhaps confined in cars 36 hours in the summer 
heat, and is then subjected to the conditions described, the suffering 
and loss in deaths and excessive shrinkage can readily be imagined. 
The feeding was done in a haphazard way. No definite quantity 
was required for any class of animals, and often it was thrown into 
the mud or dirt so that little of it was eaten. Certain classes of 
shippers would use dry feed for at least 48 hours before reaching 
market centers; giving no water whatever, thinking that the stock 
would then drink an excessive quantity of water and that the weight 
would be greater than if they were watered at regular intervals. 
When the first cold weather came the water in the pipes at the feed-_ 
ing and watering stations froze, and remained so until the warm 
lig. 5.—End view of covered section of yard, showing 
doors to be dropped for ventilation. 
