sinned by Colorado markets. The largest local market of 
Colorado is Denver, which buys as many steers as all the 
other markets of the State combined, d he other principal 
market for Colorado cattle is Omaha. Very few steers are 
shipped directly from Colorado to Chicago, because as a 
usual thing they are not fat enough to bring a high price in 
that market. Ouite a number of shipments from southern 
Colorado are made to Kansas City, From most of the ship¬ 
ping points in Colorado, cattle will reach Denver with forty 
pounds shrinkage in live weight; will sell at Omaha or 
Kansas City with a sixty-pound shrink, and will weigh in 
Chicago ioo pounds less than when they started in Colo¬ 
rado. When steers are sold at the farm an allowance of 
four per cent, is made, which is just about what the steer 
will shrink in going to Denver, if the steers are to be ship¬ 
ped to Denver, they must sell there ior as much as they 
would on the farm plus the cost of freight, feed, commission, 
yardage, and expenses of the man who accompanies them! 
These items would be, per head, about fifteen cents for feed, 
fifty cents for commission, twenty-five cents for yardage, and 
about thirteen cents per hundred pounds for freight. The 
expenses of the attendant will hardly be less than fifty cents 
per head, making the total cost of marketing a i.ooo-pound 
steer $2.20. To make any profit from shipping the steer, it 
must bring more than twenty-two cents per hundred pounds 
above the price that could be obtained on the farm. 
If the shipment is to be continued to Omaha or Kansas 
City, there will need to be added about seventeen cents per 
hundred for freight, fifteen cents per head for feed, and 
another fifty cents per head for attendant’s expenses. 
These, added to the twenty pounds more of shrinkage, 
require that the steer shall sell in Omaha or Kansas City for 
an advance of twenty-eight cents per hundred pounds to 
agree with the Denver price. 
The expenses would be more from Omaha to Chicago 
than from Denver to Omaha, making a difference of about 
forty cents between these two markets. The costs of get¬ 
ting the steer from Denver to Chicago is, therefore, about 
sixty-eight cents per hundred pounds ; from the farm to 
Omaha, about fifty cents ; and from the farm to Chicago, 
ninety cents, these figures including the shrinkage. With 
these heavy expenses and the greater risk, it is no wonder 
that a large proportion of Colorado cattle are sold on the 
range or farm to professional cattle buyers, who are more 
experienced in the business. 
