56 LIVESTOCK OX THE FARM 



and in a large proportion of lean meat of fine grain and good 

 flavor in the meat-making animals. 



It is clear from this that an animal of fine or good quality 

 is a high-power machine and can do more Avork of any kind 

 than an animal of coarse quality. Labor or meat, milk or 

 wool are produced better by the animal with quality than by 

 any other. 



Delicacy. — Quality must not be emphasized to such an 

 extent that other points just as valuable are forgotten. If 

 this is done an inferior animal results. An unbalanced animal 

 of little merit may be one with lots of good or fine quality and 

 not enough size or constitution. 



WEALTH OF FLESH 



The term ''wealth of flesh ^' was introduced by Amos Cruick- 

 shank, the famous early English livestock breeder who ought 

 by right to be called the father of improved livestock. By 

 this term is meant thickness of covering of lean meat. This is 

 a valuable point in all the animals of the farm. 



Since the muscle cell is the seat of action and power in the 

 animal body, a thickness of covering of lean meat or muscle 

 gives the horse more strength, the meat-, milk- or wool-making 

 animal more power to make its particular product. It also 

 furnishes a larger amount of lean meat in proportion to bone 

 and fat. This is what practically all consumers of meat are 

 looking for. One very seldom sees or hears of a person going 

 to a meat market and buying meat because of the fat they get. 

 As a rule when people buy fat meat it is because they are too 

 poor to buy the lean. 



The way to tell when an animal is well covered with lean 

 meat is to observe it when it is not fat. The entire body of the 

 thick-meated animal is well covered. The back should be 

 l)road, the hips and ribs well covered, the side and flank thick 

 and firm, and the flesh generally elastic to the touch, not soft 

 and flabby. If the flesh of an animal is made up of too much 

 fat it is either soft and flabby or firm and not elastic. 



When an indentation is made in the carcass of an animal 

 after death there is a tendency for it to remain. This is 

 similar to hard fat on a living animal. Soft fat can be thrown 



