34 Bureau of Fakmkks' Jastitutes. 



The Types Compared. 



In making a comparison, only the Hereford will be used, but 

 the distinctions are equally applicable to either. Whih; in the 

 feed lot the Jersey made a gain of 2 pounds a day for nine mouths 

 and the Hereford 2.03 pounds a day for fourteen months. There 

 was practically no difference in the rate and cost of gain. Judged 

 by the record they made up to the time they went to market, the 

 Jersey would take rank close to the Hereford in both rate and 

 economy of gain. But the interesting part of the comparison 

 came later. The Jersey took on flesh rapidly and was exceedingly 

 fat and well finished. He was as good as it is possible to make a 

 Jersey steer. Yet, when he went to market he had to sell |2.12^ 

 below the top quotations, while the Hereford was one of a car- 

 load to sell 10 cents above the top for any other cattle on the 

 market. It is sometimes claimed that this distinction is partly 

 due to prejudice, but since I have followed cattle through the feed 

 lot and to market and onto the block, carefully ascertaining all 

 the facts for several years, I am convinced that the expert buyers 

 who fix the price for beef cattle in the great market centres rate 

 them strictly on their merits, entirely independent of any breed 

 or type consideration. The controlling factor is the utility and 

 inherent value of the animal for the practical test of the butcher. 

 The slaughter and block test clearly revealed the reasons for this 

 marked distinction in the selling value of these two steers. 



The Jersey belongs to a breed that has been developed for cen- 

 turies for the specific purpose of making butter; that is, putting 

 the product of its feed into the milk pail. They are rough, an- 

 gular and bony, and when fattened they do not put the fat into 

 the tissues of the high-priced cuts of steaks and roasts on their 

 back, as a representative of the beef breed does, but this steer 

 had 190 pounds of what is termed loose, or internal, tallow and 

 55 pounds of sue't on a 763-pound carcass; that is 32.1 per cent, 

 of the steer's carcass was tallow. Tallow was at that time worth 

 4 cents a pound, while the best loin cuts were worth 19 cents at 

 wholesale. And beside that, this steer only dressed 57.5 per 

 cent, of beef, while the Hereford dressed 67.5 per cent. Then, 



