Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1910-01-21
COST OF SHIPPING
MEAT AND STOCK

| WA "a $1,000 = 4AN0
MEAT AND STOCK
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ISSUES
REPORT.
The Department of Agriculture has
issued report on the cost and meth
OILS of transporting meat animals. The
report says concerning the elements of
cost:
"Of the influences which during the
last half century or more have affected
the cost of marketing live stock, some
OF the most important were those relat-
ing in their transportation. The cost
of transportation, as discussed in this
article, includes not only charges for
freight, feed, attendance, yardage, and
other expenses of the road, but also
losses in transit and other items invol-
wing more or less directly the expendi-
ture of money, labor, and time in
moving meat animals from their ma
tive farms or ranges to places of
slaughter.
With this it discusses the historical
side of the matter, telling of the his
toric periods, driving and hauling,
primitive transport service, sources of
supply, live stock, routes and markets,
stock yards and feeding stations, carry
capacity of railroads, the railroad
freight charges, and the ocean trans
/ portation.
| CONCLUSION OF REPORT.
"It costs the carrier less to transport
given amount of meat than the live
animals necessary to produce that
meat. Seven carloads of live cattle
yield on an average five minimum car
loads, 10000 pounds each, of fresh beet,
or two carloads of $4,000 pounds each.
Packing-house products other than
fresh meat are carried in still larger
loads, and the saving to the carrier as
compared with live stock transporta-
ton is correspondingly greater.
"From Chicago to New York in 1908
the freight and other expenses of the
road on an export steer of average
weight 1880 pounds) were 81 to 81. 40,
while the freight on the average
amount of fresh beef yielded by the
animal, 700 pounds, would amount to
only SO. Is, not including the expense
of icing. From Kansas City to New
York the corresponding difference be-
tween live and dead freight is still
greater, amounting possibly to 1925 or
$3.50 per head
COSTS MUCH TO SHIP STEER.
''The total cost of shipping a live
steer from Chicago to Liverpool, in
cluding freight, feed, and attendance,
is estimated at 1880 to $16.70, or con
siderably more than double the cost Of
shipping the average weight of fresh
beef yielded by the animal.
"Over the long voyage from Argen-
tina to England the difference in cost
between live cattle and dressed meat |
would be great. Compared with the
freight rates on live cattle, quoted in
1903, when the last exports over this
route were made, the cost of shipping |
fresh meat is small. A rate quoted by
a leading steamship company carry
ing dressed beef from Argentina to Eng
land in 1908 was equivalent to 81 for
the average quantity yielded by an ex-
port steer, or about one-third of the
freight and still smaller fraction of |
the total transport cost for the live ami
NAL, which total included, besides
freight, the risks Of passing through
the torrid zone and the expense of feed |
and attendance for voyage of more
than three weeks.
ECONOMY TO THREE LINES.
''The growth of economy in the trans
portatiOn of meat animals has taken
place along at least three general lines.
One is the saving to the railroad and
steamships handling the traffic, which
phase of improvement is reflected In
lower freight rates. The size and effici-
ency of cars and vessels have been in
creased and cheaper methods have been
devised for handling traffic in stock
yards. A second phase is the reduction
OF loss in transit, saving which may
be credited to mechanical improve
ments, to legal regulations, and to the
change over large number of routes
whereby the freight charge depends
upon the weight of the live stock ship
ped and not upon the number of cars
used. The third direction of the growth
of saving is found in the tendency to
transport meat instead Of live animals.
This movement is illustrated by the
establishment of new slaughtering CEN
ters nearer the sources of supply than
are the older meat-packing cities east
of the Missouri River.