208 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



sive. A light kidney usually indicates lack of finish, while a 

 very heavy one is evidence of overdone condition or uneven 

 distribution of fat. The purse, udder, rump, flanks, and brisket 

 are other points at which the amount of fat is plainly apparent, 

 but it should not be excessive on any of these parts. The lowest 

 grades have practically no outside fat, the amount of covering 

 varying more or less directly with the grades of mutton from 

 common to choice. The external and kidney fat should be firm, 

 brittle, and white. As with beef, the English consumer desires 

 fatter mutton than would suit the American trade. 



3. Quality. The term "quality" is here used somewhat 

 broadly, to include not only refinement of bone and fineness 

 of texture of flesh, but also color of lean and fat. The flesh 

 should be firm and fine grained, without the stringy, coarse 

 texture of aged or inferior mutton. The color of flesh varies 

 from light pink in lambs to dull red in mature mutton, and is 

 less variable than in beef. The fat should be clear and white. 

 General quality is more important in mutton and lamb than in 

 other branches of the meat trade, on account of the custom of 

 using the carcasses for display purposes in retail markets. 



4. Weight. This is of more importance in grading mut- 

 ton than in grading beef, as it is often a strong indication as to 

 whether a carcass is a lamb, yearling, or mature sheep. The 

 extreme ranges in weights of carcasses are, lambs, 15 to 50 pounds; 

 yearlings, 40 to 60 pounds; wethers, 40 to 120 pounds; bucks, 

 45 to 200 pounds; ewes, 50 to 200 pounds. The most desired 

 weights for a lamb carcass are 40 to 45 pounds; for mutton car- 

 casses, 50- to 65-pound weights are most desired. As with beef, 

 heavy carcasses are demanded by hotels, restaurants, and dining 

 cars. 



5. Maturity. As has been mentioned, the demand for 

 lamb far exceeds the demand for mutton, and the price of lamb 

 has been shown to be considerably higher. The packers' inter- 

 pretation of the word "lamb" is broader than the ordinary 

 understanding of the term, for both lambs and yearlings yield 

 a "lamb" carcass. Mutton carcasses are those of wethers two 

 years old or over, ewes, bucks, and stags. The maturity of the 

 carcass may be easily determined with a fair degree of accuracy 

 from the bones; in lambs the brisket is soft and red, and the 

 ribs and shank bones are colored with blood vessels; in mature 

 sheep the bones are white and hard. However, the break- 

 joint furnishes the best means of distinguishing lambs and year- 



