PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING 

 PART VIII 



The Beef Carcass 



Beef is a food which contains the 

 The Relative highest form of protein for human con- 

 Value of sumption, in the most palatable, 



Carcass Cuts stimulating and digestible form. It 

 is an energy producer, a muscle 

 builder and supplies mineral salts and the three 

 principal groups of vitamines. There is no substitute 

 for beef in the diet and, combined with vegetables, it makes 

 the ideal human food in the mixed diet, the nutritive 

 superiority of which long years of human history have 

 demonstrated. 



There are eight standard wholesale cuts from the carcass ; 

 the round, the loin, the flank, the rib, the chuck, the plate 

 and the shank, as shown in the illustration facing page 

 66, and the suet secured from the free fat of the animal. 

 There is a pronounced difference in the value of different 

 carcasses and in the value of the cuts produced from 

 different parts of the same carcass. The quality of the 

 carcass is dependent on the relative thickness of the lean 

 meat, its tenderness, the interspersion of fat among the 

 muscle fibers, the firmness of the flesh, the freedom from 

 bruised spots, the rich redness of the lean meat, and the 

 clear white of the sound firm fat. Carcasses poorly pro- 

 tected by fat cannot stand handling in the fresh meat 

 trade, while carcasses too darkly red in the lean and too 

 yellow in the fat indicate age or finish on feeds that pro- 

 duce a more perishable carcass. Two very important 

 factors affecting the value of the carcass are the lightness 

 of the bone and the relative proportion of the valuable 

 cuts. When beeves are handled in bulk, as in Armour and 

 Company's Dressed Beef Department, the average propor- 



Page Fifty-nine 



