68 BULLETIN 25, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
are therefore a good indication of what may be expected during a 
normal season. 
In column 1 is shown the number of shipments of each of the 
various classes of cattle. Column 2 shows the number of animals in 
each of these classes. The third column shows the average weight of 
the cattle at the point of origin. It is seen that the animals from the 
Northwest are heavier than those from the Southwest; the south- 
western coats weighed from 860 to 907 pounds, while the northwest- 
ern cows averaged 1,020 pounds. The large difference between the 
weights of the mixed cattle from the two sections is partially due to 
the larger proportion of calves among the mixed cattle from the 
Southwest. 
The burning of the cattle yards and all of the scales but one at 
Fort Worth prevented the cattle from being weighed on arrival from 
the ranch ; hence their shrinkage in transit and fill at market can not 
be shown. The net shrinkage, however, is shown for all of the 
shipments. 
In the fourth column is shown the variation in the gross shrinkage. 
This variation of shrinkage for the different shipments in each class 
was not great, being 18, 25. and 26 pounds, respectively^ for the range 
steers, cows, and mixed cattle from the Northwest. The average 
gross shrinkage, as recorded in column 5, was 111, 97, and 42 pounds, 
respectively, for the same classes of cattle. 
The fill taken at market was very uniform for all classes, the great- 
est variation being 19 pounds for the mixed cattle. The average fill 
for the steers, cows, and mixed cattle from the Northwest was 41, 36, 
and 21 pounds, respectively. 
The last two columns of the table present figures for the range and 
the average net shrinkage for the various classes of cattle. It is of 
interest to note how much more uniform the shrinkage was on. the 
different shipments of cattle from the Northwest as compared with 
those of the Southwest, the range of net shrinkages being quite wide 
with the shipments from the Southwest. The range of net shrinkage 
on northwestern cows was from 65 to 83 pounds, a difference of IS 
pounds, while with the southwestern cows it was 26 to 60 in one case 
and 4 to 64 in another. 
The average net shrinkage on all of the cattle was as follows : 
Calves, 12 pounds; northwestern range steers in transit 68 hours, 
70 pounds; cows from the Southwest in transit less than 24 hours, 34 
pounds, and those in transit from 24 to 36 hours, 32 pounds. The 
mixed cattle of the Southwest shrank 26 pounds per head when in 
transit less than 24 hours and 42 pounds when in transit from 24 to 
36 hours, while the mixed cattle of the Northwest shrank but 21 
pounds per head while in transit for about 72 hours. 
