CATTLE-SHIPPING.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVI, Issue 2275, 3 August 1894, Page 4

CATTLE-SHIPPING.

There is quite a knack in knowing how to ship cattle three or four hundred miles to market without having a shrinkage of from 401 b to 601 b per head. Mr. J. 'Ward Wilson, of Traer, lowa, gives to the press a recent experi.. ment: —“ In trying to find out a better way than the usual custom of shutting off the grain feed, twenty-four hours before shipping we shut oft’ water the evening before, and gave them all the corn they could eat the morning they were to go. Having access to plenty of good bay all the time, they were not disposed to eat much. Now, if you ever noticed, a change of food after a constant diet of one thing is relished by others than steers. We had fed a loaf of sheaf oats once a week, and noticing that they left everything else and stuck to the oats until consumed, we concluded to fill the car racks with them. Having done so we loaded twenty 13001 b steers in each car, and shipped them three hundred miles with only 131 b shrinkage per head. At the end of their destination there was not a straw left, and we believe they would have eaten more if they bad had it. It will be noticed that a stomach full of corn and oats caused them to drink better at the stock yards than if they had been salted at home. We never salt, because it acts as a cathartic. This is a great item of economy. Try it.”