24 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



83 per cent, in 1820 to 77.5 per cent, in 1840, 47 per cent, in 

 1870, 44 per cent, in 1880, 39 per cent, in 1890, 35 per cent, in 

 1900, and 32.4 per cent, in 1910. These figures do not mean 

 that our agricultural population has absolutely declined; on 

 the contrary, it was never so large in number as it is today, 

 with over 33,000,000 men, women, and children. The point 

 is that the consumers of food-stuffs in America have increased 

 at a much more rapid rate than have the producers. The 

 producer of live stock in this country is assured of ready sale 

 for all his products at remunerative prices. 



Excepting Australia and New Zealand, the inhabitants of 

 the United States are the most liberal eaters of beef, mutton, 

 and pork. The average per capita consumption of dressed beef 

 in this country was 78.4 pounds in 1918, and the total consump- 

 tion of dressed beef, veal, mutton, pork, and lard amounted to 

 193.5 pounds per capita. According to the latest available 

 figures, Cuba follows with 124 pounds, the United Kingdom 

 119 pounds, Germany 113 pounds, France 80 pounds, Denmark 

 76 pounds, Belgium 70 pounds, and Sweden 62 pounds. The 

 average for Australia is 262.6 pounds, and for New Zealand 

 212.5 pounds. 



The production of beef, mutton, and pork throughout 

 the world, outside of China, is estimated to be about 50 billion 

 pounds a year, dressed weight, including lard. The United 

 States by far leads all other countries in the production as well 

 as the consumption of meat and meat products. The census 

 of 1910 estimated that the meat produced in the United States 

 in the year was 16,940,000,000 pounds, embracing beef, veal, 

 mutton, lamb, and pork, including lard. If the extra-edible 

 parts are added, the grand total for 1910 was 19,712,000,000 

 pounds. Slaughtering and meat packing ranks first in value 

 of products among all the manufacturing industries of the 

 United States. 



Milk may be regarded as more fixed than meat in the family 

 dietary. The number of milk cows in this country has steadily 

 increased from the earliest enumeration in the census of 1850, 

 when the number of these cows on farms was 6,400,000, to the 

 last census of 1910, when the number was 20,600,000. The 

 estimate for 1919 is 23,467,000. The yield of milk per cow in 

 1918 was estimated to be 8.2 quarts per day for 287 days of the 

 year, or 588 gallons. Assuming that 80 per cent, of the total 

 number of dairy cows are of milking age, the total production of 



