Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1898-08-05
Aa,u.ble Advice to Cattle sh.pp.r,.

IN the preparation or the quarterly
report Of the Kansas Board Of Agricul-
ture, devoted to THE Beef Steer" Sec
rotary 3. D. Coburn aimed to not only
secure the views Of those who are mas
tiers in beef production, but also avail
himself Of observations by others,
among them those who deal with the
stock when it reaches the market.
None have .keener eye for the merits
ana defects of the beef animal, both as
to his individual quality, condition ana
the treatment given him at home and
On his way to market, than the salesmen
VINO receive. care for and sell him to
the slaughterer or shipper. From the
counsel given by one of the most az
.enslve livestock commission firms the
!oiiowing excellent advice for every
ieeuer and shipper is given, and Is the
result OF very extensive experience and
Wlde observation. They say: In the
nrst place, large majority of the feed
ers make mistake IN holding fat cat
tie that are ready for market: for in
stance, man is feeding 100 to $50
mead OF steers, and there are, say, one
Iat and could be shipped at any time.
very rev men will ship them out. for
the simple reason that all their cattle
are not ready, and they hold ON to the
good ones until the entire bunch 10
ready. We are continually advising
our customers to ship out all fat cat
Tie as fast as ready. By doing SO they
divide their risk. The cattle that are
1877 nave better chance to improve,
ana there Is more profit to be made in
THIS way on account of the small mar
gln there Is IN keeping matured steers.
as this class of cattle make little gain
compared with habitat steers. Anothep
mistake that is made is in shipping CAT.
Tie ON grass. We have had a number
or instances where our customers have
shipped cattle that were fed on the
grass without putting them in dry lot
for day or two before shipment and
feeding nothing but 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 il handled in the proper
way, and they don't sell within 10 to Is
cents per hundred land in some cases
more) OF cattle that are put In a dry
lou and fed nothing but corn, hay ana
oats for short time before shipment
Overlooking is a very bad feature, but
we might add that we are not trouhlad
as much in this respect as we were be-
lore the charge Of freight by cents per
IoO 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 we'll at mar
ket, which. as you are aware, affects
the sale fully 10 cents per hundred
pounds; this means a direct loss to the
shipper 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 a point which
should be well looked after, as it means
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 the
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,
1t 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 shipping
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. It has
been proven time and again that a
range bullock shrinks every hour after
he leaves his native haunts. 1t 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.
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 dacav and