Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 61 



It is perhaps well that there are cheap cuts of meat and cheap carcasses, 

 for there is a great percentage of population not able to buy any other 

 kind. The packer does not want all beef to be of highest quality. He 

 must take care of the second- and third-class trade as well as the fancy 

 trade. But the producer of market cattle must aim to produce the 

 highest quality of product, for this work requires skill, and skill always 

 commands a higher reward than unskilled effort. Anybody can pro- 

 duce medium or inferior beef, and the price obtained is in proportion. 



Grades of beef cuts. — As previously shown, carcasses vary in 

 respect to (1) size, (2) shape, (3) thickness of fleshing, (4) thickness 

 of external fat, (5) marbling, (6) color of lean meat, (7) color of fat, 

 (8) grain of meat, (9) flintiness of bones, and (10) size of bones. The 

 butcher or packer is interested in all these things, for each is of con- 

 siderable importance. The packer grades the wholesale cuts of beef, 

 as they vary in these points, into No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 grades. No. 1 

 cuts bring the highest price, and between No. I's and No. 3's there is 

 a marked difference. These three grades are all used on the butcher's 

 block. Cuts from inferior carcasses not suitable for block use, are 

 called "strippers;" these are manufactured into boneless cuts, barreled 

 beef, and sausage. 



Conclusions. — The study of the beef carcass therefore teaches: 



1. That well-bred cattle yield the best carcasses and bring the 

 highest price, 



2. The market wants young, highly finished cattle. 



3. Steers yield the most desirable carcasses. 



4. The best results come from a method of management which 

 offers no chance for a setback during growth and fattening. 



5. The breeder and feeder of beef cattle should secure as high 

 development of loin, back, and hindquarter as possible. 



6. To bring a good price, cattle must dress high. 



7. To dress high, cattle must be thickly fleshed, free from paunch- 

 iness, and good in quality. 



8. Broadly speaking, heredity regulates the lean meat, and man 

 regulates the fat. 



9. The feeding of mature cattle is almost entirely a fattening 

 process. 



10. Fatness is desirable because it adds weight, makes perfect 

 ripening possible, gives tenderness and juiciness to the meat, and in- 

 creases the dressing percentage. 



11. Cattle may be made too fat. 



12. Carcasses vary widely in weight, shape, thickness of fleshing, 

 thickness of outside fat, marbling, color of lean, color of fat, grain of 

 meat, and size and hardness of bones. 



