PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING 



When cattle killing first became a cen- 

 Byproducts tralized business there were only two 

 standard products from the animal 

 marketed, the beef and the hide. Due to the utilization 

 of the byproducts in the modern packing plant, both 

 the dressed meat and the hide bring less than the animal 

 costs on foot, enabling the packer to shave to the lowest 

 degree, the margin between buying and selling price on 

 the cattle he buys and their products. A representative 

 condition is shown in the following steer, purchased by 

 Armour and Company in January, 1922: 



Purchase price, 1,117 lb. steer $ 83.77 



Selling price (wholesale) 658 lb. carcass $ 79.86 



Selling price, hide 7.06 



Killing and overhead costs 5.58 



Credits for raw byproducts 2.43 



Loss on steer .02 



Total $217.70 $217.70 



If it were not for the byproducts the loss on this steer 

 would have been $2.45. Armour and Company do not 

 always make a profit per head on their cattle. In iqiq 

 and 1920 an actual loss per animal was sustained, while 

 in 1 92 1 a profit of $1.00 per steer was made. 



The possibility of converting these materials which 

 formerly were waste products is based entirely on volume. 

 No small packing plant can afford to organize factories 

 for the manufacture of these materials, but must put in 

 the waste pile everything except what can be most easily 

 assembled. The sources of the byproducts are the hide, 

 the blood, the waste meat, the viscera, the glands and the 

 bones. From the hair and hide come all kinds of leather, 

 brushes, binder for plaster, felt, padding, hair for uphol- 

 stering and mattresses and glue. From the sinews, fats 

 and blood come bloodmeal, filler for leather, ammoniate 



Page Eighty-one 



