20 
BULLETIN 25, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the same for 100 days previous to marketing, and the conditions dur- 
ing shipment were the same. All were of about the same weight and 
quality and were in transit practically the same time. For these 
reasons the shrinkage would naturally be expected to be almost simi- 
lar. The weather at market was without change during the first 
three shipments, but the fourth shipment arrived in a raging bliz- 
zard, one of the worst of the winter, and the cattle ate little and 
drank none. Snow was deep, everything was frozen over, and a 
biting wind was blowing. The results are clearly shown in the net 
shrinkages. For the first three shipments the shrinkage was very 
uniform, being 47, 52, and 49 pounds, respectively. Owing to the 
blizzard, the shrinkage on the fourth shipment amounted to 73 
pounds per head because of the failure to fill, or an increase of 24 
pounds each in shrinkage over the first three lots. 
The two shipments from Oklahoma City were from the same feed 
lot as were ail of the steers shown in Table 7. They were about the 
same in quality and degree of fatness but were smaller in size than 
the ones shown in Table 7. so were shipped to the St. Louis market 
instead of to Kansas City. These cattle are therefore directly com- 
parable to those of Table 7, 
The shrinkage on the two shipments to St. Louis was 54 and 61 
pounds, respectively, or an average shrinkage of 57 pounds for the 
46^ hours' journey. The average weight was 1,077 pounds. The 
average shrinkage of the 680 head shipped to Kansas City was also 
57 pounds each, but they were about 200 pounds heavier, and the 
journey was of but 21 hours' duration. These figures clearly and 
conclusively show that the greater part of the shrinkage on these 
cattle occurred during the first 24 hours of the journey. 
The grand average of all consignments in Table 8 shows the average 
time in transit to be 10 hours, the average weight to be 862 pounds, 
and the net shrinkage to be 59 pounds per steer. 
Table 8. — Cottonsecd-mcal-fcd cattle in transit over 36 hours. 
Num- 
ber 
of 
head. 
Point of origin. 
Time 
in 
transit. 
Aver- 
age 
weight 
at 
point of 
origin. 
Aver- 
age 
weight 
at des- 
tina- 
tion 
after 
fill. 
Aver- 
age 
shrink- 
age. 
Remarks. 
112 
117 
83 
209 
47 
48 
Wagoner, Okla 
do 
do 
do 
Oklahoma City, Okla.. 
do : 
Hours. 
36 
36 
37 
37 
46 
46 
Pounds. 
842 
813 
849 
806 
1,034 
1,120 
Pounds. 
795 
761 
.800 
980 
1,059 
Pounds. 
47 
52 
49 
73 
54 
61 
Fe:l 120 davs. Weather was fine. 
Do. 
Fed 125 days. Weather was good. 
Arrived at market in a raging blizzard 
and would not fill. 
Had been on feed over 100 days. 
Cold disagreeable weather at market. 
Took a light fill. 
40 
862 
803 
59 
