100 Western Live-stock Management 



chute so that the cattle may be run on them without 

 difficulty or inconvenience. It is often as hard to put 

 a steer on the scales as it is to get him into the branding 

 chute. The scales, moreover, must be placed in such a 

 manner that the stock-rack may be removed and wagons 

 driven on. The make or kind of scale is not so important, 

 as nearly all of the standard scales now on the- market 

 give very good satisfaction. Between the pitless scale 

 and the pit scales, when one is buying, it is largely a 

 question of which kind one can afford. The old type of 

 pit scales probably last longer and give rather better 

 service than the pitless ones, but they cost more. Not 

 only is the first cost of the scales greater, but the cost of 

 installing pit scales will be equal to the original cost of the 

 scales. After the scales are properly installed, the rack 

 for holding the stock must next be prepared. There are 

 various plans for building these racks, but the good ones 

 are very much alike. The essential point is strength. 

 In building a rack for weighing cattle, it is a safe rule to 

 build one about three times as strong as seems necessary. 

 The common method of building is to use 4 X 4's for the 

 posts, using four or five on a side. The method of bracing 

 and putting on the siding is shown in Fig. 10. For siding, 

 1 X 6's about two inches apart at the bottom should be 

 used and gradually widened until they are about six inches 

 apart at the top. It is the common practice to make a 

 gate at each end of the scale-rack so that the cattle may 

 be run in at one gate and out at the other, but this is not 

 absolutely necessary, since the corrals may be so arranged 

 that the cattle may be put out at the same gate they came 

 in but into a different corral from that from which they 

 came. By having only one gate, the rack may be made 

 considerably lighter and at the same time very much 



