The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-05-28
Aa,uable xavice to Cattle shippers.

z AaIuable Aavtce to Cattle Shippers.
In the preparation Of the quarterly
report Of the Kansas Board of Agricul-
ture, devoted TO ssThe Beef Steer" Sec
retary r. D. Goburn aimed to not only
secure the views Of those who are mas
ters in beef production, but also avail
nlmself ll[fl OF observations by others,
among them those who deal with the
stock when it reaches the market.
None have keener eye for the merits
and defects Of the beef animal, both as
TO MS Individual quality, condition and
tne treatment given him at home and
On his way to market, than the salesmen
VINO receive. care for and sell him to
the, saughterer or shipper. From the
counsel given by one of the most ex-
eehslVe livestock commission firms the
Lol1oWlng excellent advice for every
ieeoer and shipper is given, and is the
Iesult OF very extensive experience and
"1oe observation. They say: In the
nrst place, large majority OF the feed
efs make mistake in holding fat cat
Tie mat are ready for market: for In
stance, man is feeding 100 to $50
mead OF steers, and there are, say, one
nalr Or two-thirds of the cattle that are
Lat and could be shipped at any time.
very Few men will ship them out, for
the simple reason that all their cattle
ate not ready, and they hold on to the
sooa ones until the entire bunch is
ready. We, are continually advising
our customers to ship out all fat cat
Z nc Dx1l l@;,,
u1Vlde their risk. The cattle that are
lett have better chance to improve,
ana there is more profit to be made IL
ILLS way on account of the small mar
gin there is in keeping matured steers,
| as tnls class of cattle make little gain
compared with habitat steers. Another
mistake that5is made is in shipping cat
tie off grass. We have had a number
OF instances where our customers have
shipped cattle that were fed on the
grass without putting them in a dry 10:
Tor a day or two before shipment and
feeding nothing bit corn, \oats, ana
nay, and, by not doing so, the cattle
on arrival look grassy, their hair looks
shiny, they shrink ALMOST double what
they would if handled in the prop3r
way and t.2sy don't sell within 10 to Is
csesz per hundred (and in some cases
more) OF cattle that are put in a dry
loe anu led nothing but corn, hay and
i oats fora short tine before shipman ant.
tsoVerloading IS d Tsry bad feature. bur
we might add that we are not troubled
as much IN this respect as we were be-
tore the charge Of freight by cents per
lOo pounds became established. A lit
tie advice on this subject is still quite
necessary, as we have customers fire.
quently who overload their cattle, and,
as result, they make an extra shrink
age; they do not look as well at mar
ket, which, as you are aware, affects
the sale fully 10 cents per, hundred
pounds; this means direct loss to the
snlpper OF 10 cents per hundred, and
the extra shrinkage, which is quite a
large item, that could be saved with
proper management.
The best. investment a shipper ever
made was in putting extra good bed
ding in his cars. This is point which
should be well looked after, as it means
a big saving from loss of possibly dead
or crippled cattle, as we'll as the shrink
age We think another point that
could be well covered would be, where
parties are shipping stock, to classify it
as much as possible In this way tho
cars. are more evenly loaded, the stock
ships much better, and it also saves
considerable delay upon arrival here,
The work Of sorting and shaping stock
at this end is very small item, but,
by classifying the stock in the country.
it means economy of time at the mar.
ket. Cattle handle better if they do
not get too much water just before
shipment. The golden rule in shippinc
all kinds of cattle is to get them as
| quickly as possible from range, ranch,
farm or feed yard to market. Notably
is this the case with rangers. 1t has
been proven time and again that a
range bullock shrinks every hour after
| he leaves: his native haunts. It stands
to reason that all cattle will do SO,
but natives do not fret, nor are they
liable to get SO bruised as the former
1 Roller and Harrow Science tells us
that minute bacteria, called "soil fer
ments,' are what cause vegetable mat
! ter in the soil to rot or decay, and
i these ferments produce the food that
the plant lives on, and if a ferment can
not work in a soil containing SO per
| cent. OF air. or until all surplus air is
excluded, from the soil, it will be seen
how. Important it is to work out the