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 
Bots of weighing does not make for economy in live-stock mar- 
eting. 
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. 
Sucessful 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 (8) all 
shippers must be so loyal to the organization and their fellow members that 
