Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-01-18
FLOATING STABLES.
s@E LINERS WHICH CARRY
CATTLE TO EUROPE.
from 10000 to 100000 Live stesrs
Shippsd FROM American Ports Every
fesr-cattis Soon Get Thsir Ssa
I.ssa

From 10000 to zoo. 900 live steers
are shipped from north Atlantic ports
to Eupore every year. Most OF the
shipping is done from New York. Bos-
ton and Montreal. Some of II Ia done
from Philadelphia and Norfolk. and
quite a little bit from Baltimore and
Portland.
"A steamer has to be especially
risged up to take CATTLE" said the boss
cattlemaH OF a big Chicago house the
other day. They generally put them
between decks-that's under the big
deck on which passengers promenade
when she's u passenger ship. Down
between decks the floor Js divided on
into rows of wide stalls. about four
steers to stall. Two planks foot
wide set on edge and locked above and
below make the partitions between
stalls There will be four or fivc tiers
OF these stalls across the deck. There's
elcats In the dece for the cattle to hold
on by. In rough weather they'd slide
all over the deck from one side to the
other as she rolled II they didn't have
the clcats. You'd be surp. Led how a
big clumsy bullock gets no he can keep
his place In a rough sea after a couple
OF days aboard ship. It's fact they
don't tumble about sometimes as much
rs the men that feed them.
Cattle are fed thrc. times day. At
In the mornin. they are given water
and then hay. About II o'clock We
give them feed OF eornmeai or corn
cob. according TO what kind OF cattle
they arc-stail-fcd or ranch. Al /:
O'Clock We water them again. They
don't generally drink 30 much In tho
afternoon ns In the morning. but it's
nothing for thirsty steer to put down
six or seven full pals of water after a
warm night ut sea. At I o'clock We
feed them ngnin. hay or corn. That
ends them for the day. We allow
about nve bales of hny to hundred
bullocks ut each fccdinE-ihnts about
the average. Their meal feed will be
about n paiifui cach-mcai comes only
once a day.
We don't lose many cattle. I han
died 5000 last year and lost four. Two
OF them died from the heat while We
WNt' th atNN ou hhtr Ftu' u wan uok
weather. and these fellows had been
week on the road In the cars. Cattle
have to be allowed out of the cars
every forty-ci.ht hours. according to
Law. when they're comm. across the
country. but that doesn't always save
them In hot weather. The other two
steers I lost was in different way.
One Of them stran.icd himself with his
hcad-ropc In the ship. The other bull
lock broke his leg going ashore. How
ever. wc don't count cattle that way n
loss TO the firm. They're all insured
for about 500 apiece. and the insur-
nncc companies have TO make them
good.
THE worst disaster I ever saw IN
which cattle played part was when n
biz linor was on with $50 cattle In my
charge struck an iceberg In midoccan.
The ship had TO be lightcncd and the
cattle were chosen rs the sacrifice. We
risgcd up tackle and hauled them up
one by one. One of us stood by with
n razor-edgc knife strapped to the end
OF a six-foot pole. As the steers swung
overheard touch of the knife was
given to them and II was all over with
them. The head-ropc was so taut II
parted in flash. After they were
dropped over they turned and swan
after the ship-wc were going pretty
slow at the time. and some OF these
bullocks stayed with us long time.
up with their big eyes and trying to
climb up the sides OF the ship.
"All the cattle worth mentioning go
ing to England are landed ut Liver
pool or London. Those going to Scot
land are landed at Glasgow. II is Liv-
erpool. though that gets the big bulk
OF them. All cattle imported from this
country must be killed within ten days
after they are put ashore in England to
meet law with view to preventing
the spread of disease. Cattle are sold
almost as soon rs they are landed. An
average-sized bullock will weigh. say.
1880 pounds on the hoof He will net.
say, 500 pounds q dressed beef. or
course, part of that Is much better
than others. After dressing there's
about 600 pounds left. No part OF a
steer is left to waste. Everything can
be used for some purpose and SO is OF
some value. Altogether the firm gets
about 800. or may be little less. for a
steer in fair market in England.
what does It cost to get him there?
We'll, as near as can figure. 1t is from
$50 to 500 or a tritie more. Looks like
a good bargain. but that is under good
conditions. Our firm. is satisfied to
average 81 or 50 head on every steer
they handle. They shipped perhaps
10000 last year. Not so bad at the end
Of the year, No. but they're liable to
lose that much some years. and there's
not the money there was in It. Com
petition is crowding here as well as
everywhere else"