358 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



PROF. TOMHAVE : I don't know how much the dogs have to do 

 with it, but the reason is, I think, that the bundles of muscle fibre 

 along the back contain very little cartilage and connective tissue; 

 they shorten towards both extremities, have considerable more carti- 

 lage, bone and connective tissues, due to the fact that there is much 

 more articulation than there is along the loin and the rib. There is 

 practically no articulation there at all. 



A Member: What is the age of those carcasses? 



PROF. TOMHAVE: 1 cannot tell you exactly so far as time is 

 concerned, but both are young carcasses. I would imagine from the 

 appearance of the bone that neither is more than 20 or 25 months old. 

 They are both young animals, as you notice from the color of the 

 bone. We can always tell whether or not a piece of meat comes from 

 a young or an old animal by the appearance of the bone. You find 

 that at the tip there is always more cartilage and the bone is more 

 porous and red in appearance. As the animal grows older — an old 

 cow for instance, you will find that that bone, when the backbone is 

 split, it becomes hard, white and brittle. The same thing is true 

 when you cut across the bone at any place, it has the appearance — 

 notice there that red appearance — that is an indication of youth in 

 a carcass. The same is true there. In an old animal, that bone is 

 very hard and white. 



A Member: Does the breed of the animal affect the color? 



PROF. TOMHAVE: Very little, so far as beef breeds are con- 

 cerned. When you get to dairy breeds, you find that you have a 

 yellowish bluish color, but so far as the beef breed is concerned, it 

 makes little difiference. 



A Member: Does the protein have something to do with the color 

 of the meat? 



PROF. TOMHAVE: It always does; the protein is necessary in 

 order to develop the muscle; you cannot get the muscle without 

 the use of protein. 



A Member: I have killed several Jersey cows myself and get as 

 nice, white meat as anyone. 



PROF. TOMHAVE: I'd want to be sure about that. I have 

 killed a good many Jerseys, and although they were fed just like the 

 rest of the cattle, I did not invariably find that underisable color. 

 No matter what you want to do with the carcass, the combination 

 of flesh and fat will always give you the most desirable cuts of meat, 

 no matter what it is used for, whether it is used for hamburger or 

 anything else, you get a much better quality of hamburger from a 

 good carcass than from a poor or inferior carcass. Now I am going 

 to play the role of butcher. I am going to ask you a fair question 

 and I want you to be fair with me ; suppose you come into my shop 

 and want to buy a roast for Sunday dinner; I am putting these two 

 out, I have them right on the table like that, and this is labeled 12c 

 a pound and this 14c a pound; how many would take the one on the 

 right hand side? Let's see your hands. How many would take the 

 one on the left hand side? Let's see your hands. How about the 



