262 Types and Makket Classes of Live Stock ' 



the winter and early spring. The best prices are paid for them from 

 Christmas to the middle of March. 



Throw outs. — When bands of lambs reach the market they are at 

 once sorted into the mutton and feeder classes. The buyer of the 

 feeders usually has the privilege of rejecting those not suitable for feed- 

 ing purposes. The rejections, called "throw outs," are made up of 

 lambs that are lame, unthrifty, blind, uncastrated, undocked, over 

 weight, under weight, badly wrinkled, sore mouthed, burry, black, low 

 backed, or open fleeced. They are purchased by small city butchers 

 who have a cheap trade. They sell at common-lamb or medium-lamb 

 prices. 



Fig. 94. — Canner ewe. 



Canners are mostly old thin ewes, but the canner class includes 

 all sheep and lambs sold for slaughter that are so entirely lacking in 

 fat and so deficient in flesh that they cannot be sold over the butcher's 

 block as chops or roasts. They are also too aged and too deficient in 

 condition and vitality to sell for feeding purposes. Some canner car- 

 casses are sold to meat dealers who have a trade demanding the cheap- 

 est mutton for stewing or boiling purposes. Some are packed as potted 

 meats, meat loaf, "roast mutton," and sausage. ^ Canners are most 

 numerous during the fall and early winter months. 



Dead sheep. — Sheep which die in transit are valued chiefly for 

 their wool, and many of them arrive with the fleeces in such bad condi- 

 tion that the shipper gets no return. 



UU. Bui. 147, p. 230. 



