234 



Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



less thickness of flesh. The buck carcass is coarse and dark colored in 

 its flesh, and has a thick, oily "fell" (the white membrane covering the 

 carcass) . Many stags and some bucks closely resemble wethers and are 

 commonly sold as such. 



The wholesale cuts. — -The following diagram represents a side 

 view of a carcass of lamb or mutton, the dotted lines indicating the 

 division into wholesale cuts. 



Fig. 80. — Wholesale cuts of mutton. 1, Chuck; 2, short rack; 3, breast; 4, 

 loin; 5, leg; 1 and 3, stew; 1, 2, and 3, rack; 4 and 5, saddle. The chuck may be divided 

 into neck, shoulder, and shanks. 



The leg and loin together are called the saddle, and the combined 

 short rack, chuck, and breast are called the rack. The saddle and 

 rack are almost equal in weight. One rib is left on the loin. The 

 short rack includes from 9 to 11 pairs of ribs, depending on how the 

 carcass is divided between short rack and chuck. The chuck and 

 breast are usually sold together as one cut, called the "stew." In 

 average 45-pound carcasses of lamb and mutton, round dressed, and 

 pluck out, the weights of the various wholesale cuts, their wholesale 

 prices per pound, and total values are as given in the following table: 



High-priced and low-priced cuts. — The average price for the entire 

 lamb carcass is 21.4 cents per pound, while the mutton carcass averages 

 14.3 cents per pound. As in the beef carcass, the back, loin, and hind- 

 quarter yield high-priced cuts, while the forequarters and belly, con- 



