38 
BULLETIN 25, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
farm to the station. None of the shipments traveled over bare 
roads. The condition ranged from soft slushy snow to snow 3 
feet deep, badly drifted, and- covered with a hard frozen crust. 
This sort of footing coupled with a stiff, keen, cutting wind made 
travel slow and laborious. 
But 9 of the shipments were cool at the time of weighing. The 
29 that were weighed while warm indicate the prevailing custom to 
weigh as soon as the cattle reach the scales at the station. It is a 
fact quite well known that cattle shrink while cooling. Just how 
much this shrinkage is could, not be accurately established owing 
to lack of facilities and limited time. However, a few instances 
where weights were taken before and after the cattle had cooled 
showed from 15 to 20 pounds shrinkage in steers weighing 1,200 
pounds. 
The average time the different shipments in the table were on full 
feed was 100 days. The feed in nearly every instance was corn, 
hay, and oil meal. Considerable rough feed, such as stalks and 
straw, was fed. The hay was generally clover or timothy. There 
was also some alfalfa meal fed. In only 3 shipments was there any 
stock feed fed. 
Twenty-one of the shipments arrived at market during the night 
or early morning before daylight, the remaining 17 shipments 
reached their destination between daylight and noon. 
Owing to the scarcity of scales on the farms, there was but little 
opportunity to secure the shrinkage of the cattle in traveling from 
the farm to the station. In only two instances was this shrinkage 
secured. One shipment of 3-year-old native steers driven 10 miles 
through soft snow, not fed before starting and weighed cool on the 
farm and warm at the station, shrank 19 pounds per head from farm 
to station. This lot had been on full feed for 125 days. Another lot 
of 3-year-old native steers that had been on full feed for 90 days, 
trailed 5 miles through 30 inches of snow in a zero temperature, 
weighed cool on the farm before starting and warm at the station, 
shrank 21 pounds each from the farm to the station. 
The data in the table include a number of typical instances of the 
effect of extreme weather conditions on the shrinkage of cattle in 
transit to market. This is particularly noticeable in the case of the 
six shipments from West Side, Iowa, where the animals were driven 
distances varying from 3 to 7 miles through deep snow when the 
temperature was reported 30 degrees below zero. On some of the 
roads the snow was badly drifted, so much so that in one case the 
animals became stalled frequently and experienced much difficulty 
in extricating themselves. The cattle in these 6 shipments averaged 
1,270 pounds per head at the shipping station, 1,169 pounds on arrival 
