﻿LIVE-STOCK SHIPPING ASSOCIATIONS. 33 



number of lots in the load. This difference in shrinkage is due 

 to loss of fill, respiration, and to the fact that yard scales usually 

 register weights in 10-pound intervals. Another objection which is 

 made to this method of weighing is that more facilities and labor 

 are required at the yards, which eventually must be reflected in 

 higher yardage and commission rates. The premium often paid by 

 order buyers, who are usually eager to get their cars loaded promptly 

 for shipment east, is sometimes lost to cooperative shippers because 

 of the delay occasioned by weighing by marks. Altogether, this 

 method of weighing does not make for economy in live-stock mar- 

 keting. 



Weighing by grades. — The disadvantages of weighing by marks 

 may be avoided by weighing by grades. When separate weights 

 are requested on lots which the manager suspects have been filled and 

 when shippers have learned how to handle live stock properly before 

 delivering it at the shipping point, weighing by grades will make 

 possible as nearly correct a distribution of shrinkage as it seems 

 practicable to make. 



GRADING AND PRORATING AT HOME. 



On most markets, an extra charge of $2 to $6 per carload is made 

 when extra work on account of individual ownership is required. 

 Some of the local packing plants and reload stations, particularly 

 in the Middle West, refuse to handle shipments when such extra 

 work is involved, thus practically closing such markets to cooperative 

 association. This raises the question of the practicability of grading 

 and prorating at home. There is a marked tendency among the 

 older associations to perform this service at home. In some cases, 

 where a local market is the only advantageous outlet for a shipping 

 association, this work has been done by the manager from the begin- 

 ning. 



Sucessf ul grading at the shipping point requires that the manager 

 be familiar with market grades and keep closely in touch with mar- 

 ket conditions. It also requires that there be a fair volume of busi- 

 ness. The manager could, of course, remove the basis for the extra 

 charge and such objections as might be made to handling cooperative 

 shipments because of the extra service required, by crediting each 

 shipper with the weight of each grade of live stock delivered and dis- 

 tributing the returns on the basis of his grading. This he could do 

 whether the shipment consisted of one car or several. However, a 

 further advantage, and perhaps a more important one, is to be gained 

 when the volume of business is such that the live stock may be sorted 

 and shipped to market as straight carloads of uniform grades. Not 

 only is the work involved in handling reduced to the minimum, but 

 the stock is placed before the buyers to the best advantage. 



In practice, only two things are necessary for the successful working of such 

 a system, viz, a capable and impartial manager, and members who are true 

 cooperators. This last requirement means that (1) the shippers shall ship 

 regularly through the association, so that any slight error in sorting would 

 average out over a series of shipments ; (2) that they shall have the cooperative 

 point of view, so that they will be ready to accept that method of doing busi- 

 ness which results in greatest economy and best results for all; and (3) all 

 shippers must be so loyal to the organization and their fellow members that 



