THE TYPES 183 



of the ends sought in the fat steer it is well for the judge 

 to know just what that quality consists of (paragraph 190). 



The beef steer is, however, required to do more than to 

 satisfy the demands of the beef-eating public ; he must 

 return a profit to his butcher, his feeder and his breeder. 

 The factors of quality already considered determine 

 whether or not the carcass will grade as prime and bring 

 the highest price, but there are other factors which fix 

 the other limit of the butcher's margin of profit that are 

 of equal importance. The butcher pays 8 cents a pound 

 for the live steer which weighs 1200 pounds on foot. 

 He immediately subjects the steer to slaughter and dressing 

 which converts him into two sides of beef and the dressing 

 offal, consisting of hide, head, shins and feet, blood, chest 

 and abdominal viscera and their contents. This, with 

 the shrinkage incident to the loss of moisture in chilling, 

 may amount to from 50 % to 25 % of the live weight of 

 the steer originally purchased . While with modern packing 

 methods every particle of the offal has some value, the 

 aggregate will not amount to as much as its original pur- 

 chase price. Furthermore, there are many pounds of 

 the dressed carcass that must be sold at from 25 % to 

 50 % less than they cost. Therefore the burden of 

 responsibility for the profit to be yielded by the carcass 

 must rest upon those parts for which a price much in 

 excess of cost can be secured. Quality being equal, the 

 steer that will hang, in dressed sides, the greatest amount 

 of his live weight and that carries the major part of his 

 dressed weight in those regions of the carcass which com- 

 mand the best price, is most profitable. 



20(3. The beef carcass cuts. The division of the car- 

 cass as it is cut up by the butcher should be anticipated 

 by the judge. These divisions are indicated by the follow- 

 ing diagram (Fig. 90). 



