72 
BULLETIX 25, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of this bulletin are used, care should be taken to look up the results 
for shipments of cattle that were made under conditions similar to 
the ones which are to be used for comparison. The results shown in 
Part I are typical of a very droughty year in the Southwest, and 
therefore could not be used in estimating the shrinkage of cattle 
shipped from Texas during a good grazing season. The figures 
shown in Part III should be used for such. Nor would they be ap- 
plicable for estimating a shrinkage on cattle in the Northwest. 
The range cattle of the Southwest principally came from Texas, 
although there were some from Arizona and Mexico. From the 
Northwest the range cattle came chiefly from the Dakotas, Montana. 
Wyoming, and Nebraska. It is interesting to note that in the work 
of the Northwest there is not a shipment of calves recorded, while 
they were quite common in the Southwest. Texas has built up a 
reputation for calves as feeders and stock cattle, while in the North- 
west they are kept on the range until they are *2 to -t years old. 
The northwestern cattle are heavier, usually fatter and shrink more 
per head in shipping than do Texas cattle, but when the length of the 
journey to market is considered there is very little difference in the 
shrinkage. 
When care is used in trailing the cattle to the loading pens, not 
driving them too fast nor too far in a day and giving them five or 
six hours a day to graze on the way, long distances may be covered 
with no apparent injury to the cattle. On arrival at the pens it is 
well to give the animals a light feed of hay with a little water, or 
allow them to graze a short time before loading them, unless the grass 
is very luxuriant. An excessive fill of water or green fodder or grass 
just before loading is not good for the cattle, as it may cause them 
to scour in transit : then, too, they will not stand up as well in the 
cars. The scouring may affect the intestinal tract to such an extent 
that the cattle will not take a good fill at the market. 
All of the corn-fed cattle were finished during the winter or early 
spring months. While none of them had to be driven long distances 
to the loading pens, the roads were often in such bad condition because 
of snow and ice as to make the trip laborious and hard on the cattle. 
The cattle were usually fed and watered a short time before loading, 
and many times hay was put in the racks of the cars. The treatment 
they received in this respect was far better than that which was 
accorded to the range cattle. There is no doubt that the feed given 
the cattle before loading increased the shrinkage in transit, but that 
does not mean that it was not beneficial to the cattle and profitable 
to the shipper, because the cattle would naturally look better for 
having been handled this way, and they would sell at the market 
at a price which would more than offset the increased shrinkage. 
More care is always taken by the feeder than by the ranchman in 
