BREEDS OF CATTLE 125 



bulls 4 years old and over in good store condition will weigh 

 quite a ton, when fat 2,400 Ib. "Small" animals in the same 

 condition and of the same age would mean females weighing 

 1,000 Ib. and males 1,500 Ib. "Very large" exceed the former 

 and "very small" fall short of the latter figures. Between these 

 weights cattle will be found described as "medium sized." 

 Obviously, weight is not the only factor which determines size, 

 and frequently some qualifying adjective must be added. 



"Strong bone" denotes an animal well furnished with 

 weighty limbs and implies that the proportion of bone in the 

 skeleton generally is great compared with the flesh it carries. 

 An animal is said to be "coarse" not only when it is strong- 

 boned, but also when the excess of bone prevails at those parts 

 where it is least desirable. It is said to be "deep" when the 

 depth through the body is great compared with the length of 

 limb ; in the same way it is said to be "leggy " when the reverse 

 is the case. The expression "bony," on the other hand, should 

 be used to denote absence of an adequate supply of muscle and 

 other tissue wherewith to cover the frame; a "bony" animal 

 need not be "strong-boned." The reverse of "bony" is 

 "thick-fleshed"; an animal may be strong-boned and thick- 

 fleshed; if it is strong-boned and "thin-fleshed" or fine-boned 

 and "thin-fleshed," it will in both cases be rightly described as 

 "bony." "Quality," used without any qualifying adjective, 

 generally means a fine-boned animal showing no coarseness, 

 and, when applied to specimens of any one beef breed, further 

 denotes that its covering of muscle and other tissue is ample, 

 that is to say, it is "thick-fleshed." The word "neat" is used 

 to denote that an animal is symmetrical and well put together. 

 It implies that the various parts of the body are well propor- 

 tioned in length, that the bone is the reverse of strong (generally 

 fine in fact), and that the absence of all angular projections is a 

 marked feature in its appearance. If a beef animal is "neat," 

 it is largely due to a thick, regular covering of flesh on a well- 

 sculptured frame; in a milch-cow or one of a purely dairy 

 breed (that is to say, useful for butter or cheese-making purposes) 

 the feature is due to particularly fine bone being draped with 

 a soft, pliable hide. 



