The Opelousas courier., 1891-11-28

feeders open up III tne hlc VI eeaAuinS
animals. The torrents endured by the
cattle upon their two days trip to Chica-
90 can only be surnisel. No steer ha:
vet been given tongue to voice its sor-
rows. The whole body of animals
moves as one at every oscillation of the
car, When the train stops suddenly
they are th1own violently against one
another, and the final egress frora the
car often shows their ribs bare and
bleeding. After being turned out Of the
cars they are fed several times before ar
irving at their destination. Improved
cattle cars are slowly supplanting those
Of the old fashioned type. Profit, and
not philanthropy, has induced their use.
The new cars are divided into compart.
ments holding three steers each. Each
compartment is provided with hay racks
and water troughs, which are filed from
the roof.
Upon their arrival at Chicago or Kan
sas City the cattle are taken in charge by
the commission men. Cattle shrink rap
idly in flesh in a strange yard, and the
price of stock-vard feed is exorbitant. 1t
is, therefore, necessary to sell the cattle
upon the day Of their arrival. So the
commission man rides about the yard on
horseback till he finds a customer. The
steers are sold by the hundredweight,
and are Immediately weighed in a large
pen which is balanced upon a scale. Be.
fore entering the weighing pen the steers
are watered, and, as they have not tasted
water for twelve hours, they often con-
sumo 100 pounds of water upon a warm
and sultry day.
After drinking, the steer is forced
up an inclined plane and enters the
slaughter house. At Armour's establish
ment a trained steer is employed to lead
the cattle into the slaughter pen. The
decoy animal enters q shute leading into
into the slaughter pen aud the guileless
country steers follow confidently. When
they are once within the leader slips out
by a side exit and the herd finds itself
inclosed within a heavily planked alley.
The animals are driven one by n into
smaller pens opening upon either side.
Heavy doors bar their egress. A man
| passing along the way above strikes
the animal with a mallet and it falls to
the floor. -Four butchers rush in and
pass keen-edeed knives across the throat
of the steer. 4 chain is attached to a
leg and the body of the steer is swung
up into the air. The carcass is then
skinned, the head is cut off, the body is
cut in half and allowed to cool, is then
quartered, and, after hanging in cold
| storage for tw~cnty-tour hours, is stand
ard dressed beef, ready for shipment.
No portion of the steer is allowed to
go to waste. The hair is used for plaster,
| the hoofs are converted into gelatine, the
| horns are steamed and rolled out for
various uses, the tongues are canned, and
the shreds of meat about the head are
| scraped of and utilized. The hide is
cured, the skull is burned for bone ash,
the tail appears in oxtaiI soup, the blood
is utilized in making rare and expense
DIVES and chemicals, and the vase Is
used for fertilizer. Such exact aad
scientific methods of feeding and slaugh-
ter have driven the small feeders and
butchers out of competition in the West.
They can only afford to handle the poorer
grades of beef which are neglected by
the larger firms.
Before entering upon his fatteuing sea-
son the feeder lays out a detailed plan OF
action. A leaf from the account book
of a Nebraska cattle feeder will read
somewhat as follows:
330 range cattle.