No. 7. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICUL.TQRE. ' 325 



Comparison of Retail Price of Beef in Chicago and in Country Town. 



Cut. 



1,200 Pound Steer. 



Local. 



T3 

 C 



o 



J3 

 bo 

 '53 



Chicago. 



O 



P^ 



o 

 



o 

 O 



1,000 Pound Cow. 



•a 



c 



3 

 o 



bfi 



Prime of rib, 

 Porterhouse, 



Sirloin - 



Rump 



Round, 



Sum, 



Neck, 



Plate, 



Flank, 



Chuck, 



Skin, . 



Shank, 



Sum, 

 Total, 



14 

 17 

 17 

 12 

 16 



6.06 



10.43 



3.85 



2.65 



15.69 



38.70 



S 



8 



8 



12 



10 



10 



1.15 



4.61 

 1.16 

 15.28 

 1.92 

 1.92 



26.05 



65.76 



87.70 



A good 1,200 pound steer will net GO per cent, while a 1,000 pound 

 common cow will net only 50 per cent. More than half the" meat of 

 the steer is in the high priced cuts, less than half of that of the cow. 

 This table shows that whereas the Chicago retailer and the local 

 butcher get practically the same for the high priced cuts of a good 

 steer, the local dealer gets |35.53 for the low priced ones which the 

 Chicago dealer must sell for $16.75, or less than half as much. As- 

 suming that the steer cost five and a half cents per pound and the 

 cow three cents the profit to the local butcher was |35.82 or about 

 60 per cent, on the steer and |35.76 or 119 per cent, on the cow. 

 The profit to the Chicago butcher would be $16.10 or about 27 per 

 cent, on the steer and $7.50 or 25 per cent, on the cow. The local 

 butcher gets two-thirds as much for the low priced cuts as for the 

 high priced ones. He can thus afford to pay more for the common 

 stock than the city butcher can. The local butcher on the other 

 hand cannot pay so much for the better animal because he can make 

 more profit off the common ones and because he cannot realize so 

 much on the by-products. Thus some animals can be sold to best 

 advantage in a small town, others in large markets. 



Whether the farmer should buy his animals or raise them is 

 largely a question which each man must decide for himself. If 

 pasture is plentiful and convenient it will usually pay to raise the 

 animals. It frequently takes some months for the western animals 

 to become acclimated and recover from the injurious effects of the 

 long car ride. It may thus be found more profitable to raise the 

 animals than to buy them from the West, even if western animals 

 of the same size and quality can be had a few dollars cheaper than 

 the natives. Another advantage in favor of the feeder raising his 

 own calves is that he has complete control of them from the day 



