SHRINKAGE OF WEIGHT OF BEEF CATTLE IX TRANSIT. 
21 
SUMMARY OF SEASON'S WORK. 
Table 9 is a condensed statement of all tlie preceding tables. In 
it are tabulated the shrinkage data on nearly 6.000 head of cattle. 
It must be remembered that the year in which this work was done was 
a very dry one. with little grass, which was conducive to a poor fill 
at origin and a small shrinkage in transit for range cattle. It caused 
no variation at all with the feed-lot cattle. 
In the first figure column of the table is shown the number of ship- 
ments made of each class of animals, while the number of cattle in 
each class is shown in the second column. This number ranged from 
-175. which were calves in transit over 36 hours, to 1.310. which were 
mixed cattle from 36 to 72 hours in transit. Column 3 presents the 
average weight 'at the point of origin. Columns 1 and 5 present the 
otoss shrinkage, or the shrinkage in transit. This gross shrinkage 
varies greatly with the various shipments of range cattle. The 
greatest variation was with cows, the shrinkage of which ranged 
from 33 to 105 pounds. There was very little variation in the shrink- 
age of the* feed-lot cattle. 
The till at market was also quite variable with the range cattle but 
more uniform with the fed cattle. The average fill on the calves was 
9 pounds on one lot and 14 on the other. The largest fill was taken 
by range cows and the smallest was naturally taken by the calves. 
The small fill. 14 pounds per head, taken by the fed cattle at market 
is to be noted. The conditions at market were most unfavorable for 
a fill on every shipment of these cattle. All of them arrived when 
everything was coated with snow and ice. 
With two exceptions, the weather was good when all shipments of 
range cattle were moving to market. Two shipments which were 
destined for Kansas City were caught in snowstorms and their 
shrinkage was heavy when compared with the other shipments. 
The variations in the net shrinkages were quite wide for the differ- 
ent shipments. The greatest variation was found with the mixed 
range cattle in transit less than 36 hours, and the next greatest with 
the range cows. The difference was not so great with the calves, nor 
with the fed cattle. The variation was greater with the fed cattle 
which were in transit over 36 hours than with the ones in transit for 
a shorter period. This was because of the excessive net shrinkage, 
73 pounds, on a single shipment which would not fill at market. 
The average net shrinkage for all of the range cattle was small. 
All of the 1.331 calves actually took enough fill at market to overcome 
the shrinkage in transit, and they gained in weight. The same was 
true of the mixed range cattle in transit from 36 to 72 hours, while 
the range cattle in transit less than 36 hours lost 3 pounds each in 
weight. There was a loss of 11 pounds per head on the range cows. 
