Ch.XXXV.] 



ON FAT CATTLE. 



393 



weights of many otliei" beasts of different breeds and ages, slaughtered in 

 various years, liave sliovvn a still greater disparity. Thus the average of 

 those stated as follows, by Mr. Ferguson of Woodhill, amounts to very 

 nearly the proportion which we have assumed ; but it will be seen that the 

 cattle, although individually of equal weight, when alive, yet, separately, 

 displayed an extraordinary difference, when killed, in their production of 

 beef and tallow, exclusive of hide and offal: — 



Live Weight, 

 st. lbs. 

 1.32 11 

 132 

 120 4 

 120 5 



Dead Weight. 

 St. lbs. 

 84 6 

 90 1 



77 9 

 C7 7 



Tallow, 

 st. lbs. 



IG 

 14 

 15 

 14 



5 







8 



12 



An Abeivleenshire Ox 

 A short-horned Ox . 

 A ditto Heifer 



A ditto Steer 



The difTiculty found in correctly ascertaining the difference between 

 those weights has led to the measurement of live stock, and tables have 

 been constructed by several ingenious and experienced men, by which 

 they are calculated according to the animal's dimensions. The manner in 

 which this is done is as follows : — The girth is taken by passing a cord 

 just behind tlie shoulder-blade, and under the fore legs : this gives the cir- 

 cumference; and the length is taken along the back from the foremost 

 corner of the blade-bone of the shoulder, in a straight line to the hindmost 

 point of the rump, — or to that bone of the tail which plumbs the line with 

 the hinder part of the buttock : thus — 



The girth and length are then measured by the foot-rule, and this mode of 

 measurement has been adopted by all the writers upon the subject, as being 

 equally applicable to every kind of animal. The weights stated in the 

 tables published by Renton, Cary, and IM'Derment— as will be seen by 

 some following extracts — nearly accord with each other; and having 

 been tested by animals measured when alive, and afterwards killed and 

 weighed, were found to approximate so nearly to the truth as to afford a 

 tolerably accurate rule for judgment on the ordinary run of oxen. 



The tables are calculated upon the stone of 14 lbs. avoirdupois, by multiplying the 



