50 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



suit the average family. There is also a demand for heavy 

 carcasses to supply hotels, restaurants, and dining cars, which 

 use large cuts. 



2. Shape of carcass. The ideal carcass of beef is com- 

 pact and has good width in proportion to length, short shanks 

 and neck, and full rounds, loins, and ribs. Large plates, hollow 

 loins, prominent hips, thin chucks, or rangy, loosely coupled sides 

 are especially discriminated against. 



3. Thickness of fleshing. There is a clear distinction 

 between thickness due to fatness and thickness due to mus- 

 cular flesh. Only the knife can completely reveal the thickness 

 of a side and the relative thickness of fat and lean; even expert 

 dealers are often mistaken as to the actual thickness of flesh 

 in an uncut side. 



Fig. 9. Beef Ribs. 



The rib cut on the left is too fat, the one on the right too lean, and the 

 cut in the center is correctly fattened. Note that the amount of lean meat 

 is practically the same in all three. 



4. Thickness of external fat. This is referred to as the 

 "finish." Perfect finish consists of a smooth covering of firm 

 white fat over the entire carcass, with the greatest depth along 

 the back, a white brittle "kidney" of medium size, and a lining 

 of flaky fat on the inner surface of the ribs. The rounds and 

 shanks are covered last in the process of fattening. Carcasses 

 show variation in thickness of external fat, ranging all the way 

 from zero to four inches. Beef fat is not palatable to most 

 people. The average consumer does not want more than one- 

 half or three-fourths of an inch of external fat, and if the carcass 

 weighs 500 pounds or less, about one-fourth of an inch is sufficient. 

 It is impossible to secure proper marbling unless a certain amount 



