128 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



many heavier, older, and plainer heifers that are nearly matured and 

 are very similar to cows. They show more prominence of hip, more 

 roughness, and more unevenness of covering than do younger heifers. 

 The number of heifers sold at the central markets annually is less 

 than one-third the number of steers. ^ This is because most heifers 

 are kept on farms and ranges for breeding and are marketed later as 

 cows. Inasmuch as heifers are not taken out for feeding to the same 

 extent as steers, a larger proportion of the heifers received at markets 

 are sold for slaughter. This explains why monthly receipts of butcher 

 heifers are less uniform than those of beef steers. Butcher heifers are 

 marketed in much larger numbers in the fall and early winter than at 



Fig. 36. — Good to choice butcher heifer. 



other seasons. However, the marketing of heifers is more uniformly 

 distributed throughout the year than that of cows. 



Cows. — Butcher cows are graded choice, good, medium, and 

 common. A very few individual fat cows received at markets might 

 be graded as prime. These are strictly fancy, well-bred cows in prime 

 condition. Some of them are purebred cows discarded and sent to 

 market because they are non-breeders. The supply is so limited as to 

 be practically unimportant. The highest grade of cows sold in carload 

 lots and regularly quoted, is choice, and there are not many of this 

 grade. Choice cows are prime in condition and good in form, but 



lU. S. Dept. Agr, Yearbook, 1921, p. 289. 



