Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



231 



but it should not be excessive on any of these parts. The lowest 

 grades have practically no outside fat, the amount of covering varying 

 more or less directly with the grades of mutton from common to choice. 

 The external and kidney fat should be firm, brittle, and white. As 

 with beef, the English consumer desires fatter mutton than would suit 

 the American trade. 



3. Quality. — The term "quality" is here used somewhat broadly, 

 to include not only refinement of bone and fineness of texture of flesh, 

 but also color of lean and fat. The flesh should be firm and fine 



Fig. 78. — Lamb carcasses. Beginning at the left, the grades represented are 

 choice, good, medium, and common. 



grained, without the stringy, coarse texture of aged or inferior mutton. 

 The color of flesh varies from light pink in lambs to dull red in mature 

 mutton, and is less variable than in beef. The fat should be clear and 

 white. General quality is more important in mutton and lamb than 

 in other branches of the meat trade, on account of the custom of using 

 the carcasses for display purposes in retail markets. 



4. Weight. — ^This is of more importance in grading mutton than 

 in grading beef, as it is often a strong indication as to whether a carcass 

 is a lamb, yearling, or mature sheep. The extreme ranges in weights 



