INSIDE FAT. 131 



This is owing to the fact that a pig, in proportion to live- 

 weight, will eat, digest and assimilate much more food than 

 sheep or cattle ; and in addition to this, the food we use for 

 fattening pigs is richer and more concentrated than that we 

 give cattle and sheep. I think it is now generally admitted 

 that there is great economy in giving fattening animals all the 

 food they can eat, digest and assimilate. But there are few 

 breeders, even yet, who seem to realize the importance of 

 aiming to breed animals that will eat and digest a large 



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amount of food in a given time. 



When Bakewell sold his improved Leicester sheep to the 

 butchers, they complained that while the sheep appeared very 

 fat externally, and were so in fact, yet when they killed them 

 they found comparatively little inside fat. I find this to be 

 the case with Cotswolds and their grades as compared with 

 Merinos. 



I think it will be found that a well-fatted Texan steer has 

 more inside fat in proportion to total weight than a Shorthorn 

 or Devon. In a state of nature animals store up fat on the 

 kidneys while food is abundant. During a period of scarcity 

 this fat is used to sustaiu the vital functions and supply 

 animal heat. 



But our improved breeds have been taught that their wants 

 are regularly supplied. They have as much and as good food 

 in winter as in summer and autumn. When they have learned 

 this lesson, they use their daily food for their daily growth, 

 and consequently grow with great rapidity. I think this is the 

 starting-point of all real improvements in animals destined 

 exclusively for human food. It seems to me strange that the 

 old breeders attributed fattening qualities to form, rather than 

 the form to fattening qualities. They mistook cause for 

 effect. 



In many of our breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs, we have 

 pushed the improvement of form, fineness of bone and light- 

 ness of offal to near its utmost limit. We have aimed to 

 lessen the demands on the stomach by breeding away as much 

 as possible all useless or less valuable parts of the animal. 

 The next improvement to be made is to increase the digestive 

 powers of the animal. 



Last winter I was cutting fodder with an endless chain- 



