FARM ANIMALS 57 



into waves by a sudden motion. Lean meat lias a character- 

 istic firmness and elasticity. 



Breeding for Lean. — When an animal is born it is endowed 

 with or has the possibility to develop a certain amount of 

 muscle or lean meat. With proper feeding, care and exercise 

 this can be developed. After it has been developed, no more 

 can be produced. More feeding will produce more fat but 

 no more lean meat. How then, can this characteristic of 

 our farm animals be improved? Only by breeding. 



In order to get this ''wealth of flesh" or thick covering of 

 lean meat one must use sire and dams that have this character- 

 istic, and then keep on selecting animals that are the best 

 developed in this respect. Along with this, of course, must 

 go feeding, care and environment. 



CONSTITUTION 



If an animal is to be a good and profitable animal it must be 

 healthy, strong and vigorous. That is, must be of good con- 

 stitution. It should be able to resist disease and everj^thing 

 else that has a tendency to destroy life, and it must also be 

 able to consume and put to profitable use large ciuantities of 

 feed. 



Since the chest cavity is the power house for this animal 

 machine, it must be well developed. This cavity contains the 

 heart and lungs. A capacious chest cavity indicates a good 

 constitution. The chest cavity should he broad and deep. 

 The width also should be carried well up and well down. Con- 

 stitution is determined by noting the spring of the ribs of an 

 animal, also the depth of the chest. The ribs should be well 

 sprung out from the backbone behind the shoulder and should 

 carry this fullness well down toward the elbow of the front 

 leg. The front legs should also be set well apart. The chest 

 should be deep so that when looking at the animal from the 

 side the chest wall is well dowai. As a rule, it should be down 

 even with the underline of the belly. 



Some people measure constitution with a tape line, but this 

 is obviously not the best way. An animal may have lots of 

 fat on the outside of its ribs, giving it plenty of heart girth, 

 but such a condition does not mean a good constitution. An 



