3 o GRASS BEEF 



heifers are rather preferred, "especially where the grass-land is 

 not quite the best of its kind. Some graziers are very partial 

 to cow-stock, that is to say, they buy up dry cows to fatten 

 instead of steers. 



The beasts, of whatever kind, are distributed over the fields 

 and are expected to feed for a period lasting about 20 weeks, 

 during which time each head, on the average, consumes the 

 bulk of the grass off an acre of land and, in so doing, increases 

 a little in size of skeleton and in weight of lean meat or muscle ; 

 this we must simply assume, for unfortunately little is known 

 on these two points. They also cover their bodies under the 

 hide with a thick layer of adipose tissue, they fill in the inter- 

 stices between the muscles with fat, the muscle tissue also 

 becomes infiltrated with fat, that is to say, the meat becomes 

 "marbled," as it is called, and while all this is going on, the 

 abdominal cavity becomes very heavily larded. At the end of 

 these processes the store-bullock becomes a prime beef beast 1 . 



The gross increase in weight made by these grazing beasts 

 has been assumed to be 20 imperial stone live weight: on 

 the average there is, inde'ed, some evidence in support of this 

 assumption in the weighings taken by Mr C. B. Fisher, of 

 Market Harborough, and published in the Royal Agricultural 

 Society's Journal for 18942. ^ appears to me, however, from 

 many observations and deductions, that, if no cake is fed on the 

 grass, this assumption overstates the increase made by the 

 animals ; and that if a sufficient number of weighings of good, 

 bad, and indifferent animals were taken over several seasons, 



1 The matter of the usefulness of this increase of fat for human con- 

 sumption is an important one. Dr F. H. A. Marshall and I carried out an 

 investigation on the subject for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 during 1917. A brief visumi of this work was published in the Board's 

 Journal for September, 1918, but the Government has not thought well 

 to publish the whole report. The numbers of animals we worked upon may 

 not have been great enough to establish the most reliable data upon which 

 to build knowledge, but our figures, if scanty, most certainly established 

 the need of reconsideration being given to the whole matter. We believe 

 that our figures show that the whole of popular belief about the matter 

 of fattening cattle is founded on a misconception as to what really takes 

 place. 



2 Anomalies of the Grazing Season of 1894, p. 667 et seq. 



