246 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



279. Use for beef. It is chiefly as a beef-producing 

 breed that the Galloways are famous. The quality of 

 their beef attracted much attention in the British markets 

 centuries ago, and they had the distinction of being classed 

 as " prime scots " at Smithfield long before these cattle 

 were known to the feeders of the corn-belt or the cow-men 

 of the western plains. The superiority of the Galloway 

 beef arises from the fact that it is always well marbled 

 and possesses a large proportion of lean meat intermixed 

 with fat. The packers and butchers have been striving 

 to educate breeders, stockmen and farmers to breed 

 animals with a greater proportion of natural flesh and less 

 wasteful fat. The Galloway has long been bred with 

 this essential feature in view, and thus he leads his rivals 

 in this respect, and brings higher returns per hundred 

 pounds live weight. 



This breed has been vastly improved since its introduc- 

 tion' into the corn-belt. Greater weights have been secured 

 in shorter time than was customary twenty-five years 

 ago, and the early-maturing feature has been much in 

 evidence. In the past, the statement has been advanced 

 by some persons that one could not mature the Galloways 

 so soon as individuals of other beef breeds. One need 

 only visit some of the leading Galloway herds throughout 

 the country, or review the various ages and classes of 

 individuals presented every year at the national shows, 

 to be convinced of the error of this statement. Ex- 

 perienced authorities who have handled two or more of 

 the leading beef breeds under similar conditions maintain 

 that the Galloways mature at any age just about as readily 

 as individuals of any other beef breed. To-day, the Gallo- 

 ways have many claims to favoritism. Experiments 

 at various agricultural experiment stations show that while 



