THE BEEF CARCASS AND ITS CUTS 221 



to live weight to vary from 63.9 to 69.38 per cent. A 

 common grade of cattle would be very likely to show less 

 than 60 per cent dressed meat under ordinary conditions 

 of feeding, while a good grade, well fattened, should yield 

 at least 65 per cent. 



The influence of the breed on the carcass is shown in 

 several ways. In a recognized beef breed, such as the 

 Aberdeen Angus, the carcass is thicker in its structure, 

 with the fat distributed among and over the muscles in the 

 most desirable way. Cattle of other than the beef type 

 yield a thinner kind of carcass, deficient in the distribution 

 of fat about the muscles, but with an excess of fat about 

 the intestines and kidneys. Such carcasses cut up into a 

 maximum of low-priced parts. For this reason the butcher 

 prefers to purchase examples of the beef breeds, because 

 from them he will secure the greatest percentage of what 

 the market demands, and will also suffer less loss in offal. 



Carcass beef refers to that which is the direct product 

 from the slaughter houses before being divided into the 

 smaller wholesale parts. The entire carcass, split through 

 the length of the spine, furnishes two sides of beef. Each 

 side is divided, usually between the twelfth and thirteenth 

 ribs, thus forming a fore and hindquarter. The fore- 

 quarter weighs about 52 per cent and the hindquarter 48 

 per cent of the entire side. "When a side of beef is thick 

 enough fleshed to be cut up in the retail trade, and sold 

 over the butcher's block, it is known as " block beef" or 

 "side beef." If not thick enough in muscle and fat, the 

 carcass is used in a class of trade where only a part of it 

 is sold over the block, in which case it is termed a ' ' cutter, ' ' 

 and is cut up for the low-priced customers. The side of 

 the carcass of beef is cut into important smaller parts. For 

 the purpose of mental calculations as to the cutting value 

 per pound of side-beef, says Hall, 4 "a carcass is regarded 

 as consisting of four parts which are approximately equal 



* Market Classes and Grades of Meat. Louis D. Hall, Bulletin 147, 111. Agr. 

 Exp. Station, 1910. 



