No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 361 



SECRETARY CRITCHFIELD : Don't cut it if you don't care 

 to; you have told us where it is located. 



PROF. TOMHAVE : It spoils the loin. I want you to notice one 

 thing; not only do we have that difference when we make our cross 

 section, but let's compare the two. There you have the outside of 

 the two, no matter where we cut, no matter in what portion of the 

 carcass we work, we always find that difl'erence; that is the reason 

 that this carcass over there is so much better than the other one. 

 Notice that layer of fat there. I want to call your attention to one 

 thing, however, this animal was kept in the feed lot and fed until it 

 was very fat, you would found rolls of fat over the outside We 

 want that fat but we want it uniformly distributed over the outside 

 of the carcass and well mixed in with the lean, then it becomes a 

 commercial product. When we get it in lumps and bunches on the 

 outside, the butcher and packer must sell it as rough tallow. When- 

 ever you get a heavy bunch of fat on the outside over the rib or 

 back of the rump, it means that the butcher must cut that off and 

 throw it into the tallow ba sleet and it goes for four or five cents a 

 pound; whereas, if distributed evenly over the loin, it goes for 35c 

 a pound. 



SECRETARY CRITCHFIELD: Is it possible for the butcher to 

 tell how that fat on the outside is distributed before the animal is 

 slaughtered ? 



PROF. TOMHAVE: Absolutely. You can tell by running your 

 hand over the outside of an animal or even look at him, whether the 

 fat is evenly and uniformly distributed. You ought to be able to 

 tell exactly what is under that hide, and you can only learn that by 

 practice and observation. You take the hide off of an animal and 

 observe the carcass — 



A Member: Doesn't it make quite a little difference how the 

 animal is fed — it's putting on fat? 



PROF. TOMHAVE: Most decidedly. This one here received 

 possibly nothing more than a maintenance ration, was never fed more 

 than enough to keep up the minimum rate of body growth, to say 

 nothing of putting on a surplus amount of flesh and fat. 



A Member: I mean having it in chunks — doesn't it make a dif- 

 ference whether you feed a balanced ration? 



PROF. TOMHAVE: Oh, no, that is an inherited tendency. 



A Member: Entirely? 



PROF. TOMHAVE: Almost entirely. You can eliminate that 

 by breeding and selection. I want to call your attention to an- 

 other thing. Meat is tough after the animal is first slaughtered, no 

 matter how choice an animal you have. It takes four or five days 

 before there is a breaking down of the muscle fibre. There is a 

 chemical change that takes place in that carcass that makes the 

 meat tender. Now, in order to do that, in order to keep that car- 

 cass in good condition, you must be able to let it hang a week or 

 ten days or even longer. Carcasses sometimes hang three or four 

 weeks, before they are disposed of, but a carcass like this would be 



