378 



Feeds and Feeding. 



of the flesh over the carcass, which is one factor of ii.s worth in the 

 market, is not indicated by percentages of the several parts. A 

 thin-fleshod steer will not cut up percentagely much different from 

 one that furnishes thick cuts of meat. 



575. Judgment of the market. — Difference in quality is quickly 

 noted in the market and prices vary accordingly. The eighteen 

 steers representing nine breeds fattened by the Iowa Station, when 

 shipped to Chicago, were passed upon by a committee of three 

 stock buyers, with the results shown in the following table: 



Value placed by experts on steers of nine breeds sold by the Iowa 

 Experbnent Station at the Union Stock Yards, Chicago. 



Breeds. 



Hereford 



Short-horn 



Galloway 



Aberdeen- Angus. 



Red Polled 



Swiss 



Devon 



Holstein 



Jersey 



Here is a difference between the highest and lowest valuations 

 of $2. 12 per hundred weight, or about 32 per cent. 



In the slaughter test of the Kansas Short-horns and Natives 

 before referred to, the loins of the best Short-horns were rated at 

 18 cents per pound, while those of the Natives were placed as low 

 as 14 cents. There is not this difference in actual food value 

 between the carcasses or cuts, but the exactions of the market are 

 all-powerful and must be recognized as final in this discussion. 



576. Quality. — Beyond that wliich can be expressed in figures 

 or stated percentagely lies that indefinable something described 

 by the word ''quality," which enters into this as into all other 

 objects of barter. No one can compare a bunch of well-fed beef- 

 bred steers "with one representing the dairy breeds or natives with- 

 out being impressed by a difference not measured by the scales. 

 Speaking of the breed tests, Wilson and Curtiss write: "The 

 carcasses of the dairy breeds lacked in thickness of cuts, and the 



