74 BULLETIN 25, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 29. — General summary of three years' shrinkage work — Continued. 
Class. 
-Num- 
Num- 
ber of 
cattle. 
Aver- 
age 
Gross 
shrinkage. 
Fill at market. 
Net shrinkage. 
Ratio 
of 
shrink- 
age to 
weight 
at 
origin. 
ber of 
ship- 
ments. 
weight 
at 
origin. 
liange. 
Aver- 
age. 
xiange. 
Aver- 
age. 
Kange. 
Aver- 
age. 
Mixed range cattle in 
Lbs. 
Pounds. 
Lbs. 
Pounds. 
Lbs. 
Pounds. 
Lbs. 
Per ct 
transit 36 to 72 hours . 
10 
622 
954 
25-110 
76 
9-47 
39 
1+1-51 
37 
3.88 
Mixed range cattle in 
transit over 72 hours. . 
6 
988 
729 
42- 96 
80 
16-40 
29 
7- 71 
51 
7.00 
Ranee calves in transit 
less than 24 hours 
8 
773 
185 
1 + 2 l- 17 
26 
2 0-13 
27 
i+14- 13 
X + 1 
1 + .59 
Range calves in transit 
over 24 hours 
8 
772 
193 
3 6- 11 
36 
4-33-17 
3 11 
1+9-13 
! + 5 
i +2. 45 
Mixed corn-fed cattle 
in transit less than 24 
hours 
4 
164 
1, 303 
59- 95 
67 
4-48 
16 
20- 64 
51 
3.91 
Mixed corn-fed cattle 
hi transit 24 to 36 
hours 
59 
1,853 
1,167 
47-128 
85 
19-52 
37 
18- 88 
48 
• 4.11 
Mixed silage-fed cattle 
ha transit less than 24 
hours 
14 
666 
1,168 
46-128 
76 
6-97 
52 
1+7-67 
24 
2. 05 
Mixed silage-fed cattle 
in transit 24 to 36 
hours!. 
4 
169 
1,204 
84-121 
101 
50-64 
58 
27- 75 
43 
3.57 
Cotton see d-nieal-fed 
steers in transit 30 to 
48 hours 
10 
1, 296 
1, 074 
61- 76 
72 
9-21 
14 
41- 73 
58 
5.40 
Beet-pulp-fed cattle in 
transit 60 to 120 hours. 
10 
1, 009 
1,390 
90-111 
100 
11-26 
25 
16- 99 
75 
5.40 
Beet-pulp-fed cattle in 
transit 38 to 120 hours. 
32 
2,614 
i + 5-132 
54 
I 
1 The plus sign (+) indicates a gain in weight instead of shrinkage. Attention is called to the 16 ship- 
ments of range calves, wherein the ratio of shrinkage to live weight (last column of table) is unduly low, 
because the great majority (13) of the shipments occurred in 1910, the droughty year. The 3 shipments 
in 1911, the normal year, gave a ratio of 4.9 per cent. 
2 Data on 635 head, 
s Data on 699 head. 
4 The minus (— ) indicates a loss in weight instead of a fill. 
Note. — The data were incomplete on the shipments where blank spaces are found. The cattle men 
tioned in the text but not included in the tables are not shown in this table, nor are the 7 shipments of 1.310 
cattle presented in Table 5. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
There is no way of entirely preventing shrinkage in the shipping 
of cattle, but by judicious care in handling and feeding the cattle just 
previous to shipping the shrinkage may be lessened. If cattle are 
to be in transit for 24 hours or longer it is a good plan to feed about 
two bales of nice bright hay for each carload a few hours before 
I loading. 
The reader should understand that the three tests in this bulletin 
are not directly comparable, but they do in a general way give a good 
idea of what will occur in shipping cattle under various conditions. 
The difference in the shrinkage of the cattle of Parts I and III was 
chiefly due to the season and factors which are influenced by it. Dur- 
ing the season of 1910 most of the shrinkage of the cattle occurred 
during the drive to the loading pens, because there was little grass 
and water to be secured along the trails and the cattle were so empty 
when shipped that the shrinkage was small, and the fill taken at 
market oftentimes overcame it. 
