TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 205 



was wrapped about the legs and laid over the inside of the carcass 

 thus improving the appearance, preventing drying out, and, in 

 some cases, furnishing the fat necessary for proper cooking of 

 the meat. The caul contains considerable fat, and as it was 

 usually discarded by the retailers of mutton and lamb, the Food 

 Administration rightly designated this style of dressing as waste- 

 ful and caused it to be discontinued. Cauls are now sent to the 

 rendering tank for the extraction of fats and oils. The pluck 

 consists of the heart, lungs, liver, windpipe, a portion of the 

 diaphragm, or "skirt," and more or less adhering fat. For- 

 merly, most lambs were sold "pluck in," and sheep were usually 

 sold "pluck out." The pluck is now used principally in the 

 manufacture of different kinds of sausage. 



The offal. In the plain- or round-dressed style of dressing, 

 the sheep loses the following parts in the order named: blood, 

 head, pelt, internal organs, and toes. The pelt is the skin with 

 the wool on, and it is a valuable product. 



The dressing percentage. From what has been said of 

 slaughtering and dressing, it is apparent that in order to dress 

 a high percentage of carcass, sheep must be (1) light in pelt, 

 (2) fat, and (3) neat in form, or free from paunchiness. The 

 dressing percentage of sheep is not so important as that of cattle, 

 because the waste has a higher value than the waste from cattle, 

 on account of the high value of the pelt. If a sheep is fat in 

 condition, and neat and trim in form, it will tend to dress high, 

 but the pelt should be as heavy as is consistent with the pro- 

 duction of mutton of high quality. As a general rule, the choicest 

 sheep and lambs, from a carcass standpoint, do not wear heavy 

 pelts, although a heavy pelt in itself is valuable, as will be shown 

 later, and between two sheep otherwise equal, the one with the 

 heavier pelt will bring the higher price on the market, even though 

 its heavier pelt lessens its dressing percentage to some extent. 

 Sheep and lambs range in dressing percentage from 40 to 65 

 per cent., but ordinarily dress from 45 to 55 per cent. Sheep 

 and lambs are combined in the census statements of meat animals 

 slaughtered in the United States. Their average live weight 

 for the four years 1899, 1904, 1909, and 1914 was 84, 86, 81, and 

 79 pounds. Their average dressed weight was 43, 43, 41, and 

 39 pounds. Their average dressing percentage was 51.2, 50, 

 50.6, and 49.36 per cent, respectively. Mutton carcasses usually 

 weigh from 45 to 85 pounds, while most lamb carcasses weigh 

 from 35 to 50 pounds. 



