94 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



and if not, to mark them 'Inspected and condemned.' Condemned 

 articles are required to be destroyed for food purposes in the presence 

 of an inspector." 



In 1921, the federal inspection conducted at 892 packing plants 

 and other similar establishments throughout the country resulted in 

 the condemnation at slaughter of 2.73 per cent of cattle, .26 per cent 

 of calves, 1.63 per cent of hogs, .10 per cent of sheep, and .16 per cent 

 of goats. The average of all animals was 1.38 per cent. * Meat con- 

 demned after slaughter, including all meat and meat food products, 

 prepared and processed, amounted to .20 per cent. Nothing has done 

 more to instil confidence in packers' meats than has the rigid govern- 

 mental inspection. Packers' losses are frequently heavy on account of 

 this inspection, mainly owing to tuberculosis. Crippled animals may 

 go into the food supply. Diseased animals, diseased meats, and dead 

 animals are consigned to the rendering tank, the products of which 

 are grease, glue, and fertilizer. 



Government inspection at the markets is also conducted along 

 other lines to prevent the spread of disease among animals. Arthur 

 C. Davenport states ^ that all animals shipped from public rrarkets, 

 unless for immediate slaughter or steers for feeding, are subject to 

 inspection and treatment. Cattle over six months old going to the 

 country for breeding purposes must be tuberculin tested. Indiana and 

 Wisconsin require that all feeding cattle except steers must be branded 

 with an "F" to insure that they will not be retained for breeding. 

 Cattle or sheep having scabies, or cattle infested with the fever tick, 

 are dipped before shipment. All hogs shipped out must be vaccinated 

 for cholera and dipped or sprayed in a standard disinfectant under 

 government supervision. Practically all public yards maintain quaran- 

 tine divisions for yarding diseased animals. Davenport states that 

 430,100 cattle from tick-infested territory in the southern states were 

 handled at Kansas City in 1909, but due to successful efforts to extermi- 

 nate this pest, which causes Texas fever in cattle, only 15,356 southern 

 quarantines were handled at Kansas City in 1921. 



Brand inspection. — At markets where western cattle appear in 

 numbers, western cattle growers' associations and the state of Montana 

 maintain brand inspectors who examine all brands and cut out and 

 sell separately all cattle not the property of the shipper. The proceeds 

 of such sales are returned to the rightful owners. This prevents the 

 rustling of cattle on the range and their sale at large markets, and 

 recovers stray cattle overlooked by shippers. W. F. Wilcox, of Mont- 



lU. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1921, pp. 735, 736. 



2The American Live Stock Market— How It Functions, 1922, pp. 157-159. 



