Iil4 CATTLE AND DAI1JY FAK'MLV,. 



the invest incut. On account of the amount of money required to start 

 a *(//"</'/. t IK- majority of them in th' Argentine llepublic are the prop- 

 erty of joi!it->tock coMipanics. many foreigners who hnow the economic 

 uses to \\hich all ihc parts of llu i animal can In- applied, having large 

 capital invested in these industries. As I have said, the time is passed, 

 when cattle \\i-re killed solely for their hides, and their carcasses were 

 lel't to rot on the pampas. Now ail the appliances of European science 

 and ait art- brought into requisition, and the entire animal is utilized. 



One nfthe lirst conditions of a slaughtering establishment is that it 

 should le near a navigable water-course, where the largest sea-going 

 vessels can anchor and receive the product. Those in this country are 

 located on rhe Uruguay, Parana, and La Plata i'ivers. Several very 

 extensive ones ;>.ie at Ensenada, where is a line bay, large enough to 

 receive a tleet of vessels. Another condition is the possession of im- 

 'mense p.istuie grounds supplied with an abundance of water, so that 

 the animals, tired out by th< ir long drives on the road, maybe allowed 

 to rot and recuperate before going to their slaughter, for, independent 

 ol the worthlessness of tired meat, the hide is with difiietilty removed 

 from such animals, being easily cut during the operation, thus resulting 

 in unsalable :-t'>ck. It is also necessary to build deposits, respectively, 

 lor the salt, the meat, the hides, and the tallow ; a long open shed for 

 cutting and salting the meat, and oflices lor overseer, peons, &c., all of 

 whirl) are located conveniently to the slaughter-house proper. 



in \\cli-organixcd Nftladcrns there are usually three 4 corrals, the first 

 and larg. st being builr of very strong stakes or brick wails, opening 

 widely to receive the herds driven slowly in by the peons. The second 

 corral joins this and is only large enough to hold a number sufficient 

 for the day's slaughter ; and the third still smaller, and opening into the 

 preceding, holds a bout twenty head ai a time, and terminates in a narrow 

 passage, through which there runs, on ;i level with the pavement, a plat- 

 form car MI iron rails. Aiound this small corral there is a high gallery 

 on which one c; - raik, while a bridge passes over the railway passage, 

 which is closed with folding doors. Through a pulley above these doors 

 is placed a long lasso, (he running knot of which i> in the hands of the 

 executioner, the other end attached to a yoke, of oxen led by a boy. 

 The executioner throws the lasso and cat (dies the nearest animal around 

 the horns, and calls !o the boy to pull. Thus t lie animal is dragged in- 

 stantly onto the platform, v, heiv instinctively he rests his head against 

 the. doors, v, hen the man plunges his knife into its neck between the 

 occipital and first vertebra 1 , thus severing the spinal cord. The animal 

 falls dead, the door opens, and the car is drawn outside, the doors clos- 

 ing behind the. carcass, \\hieh i.-; at once, deposited upon a paved way, 

 and t he car is ret 'ii ned to iis phir. , a lid another animal lassoed. 



The ilium to'* r is done, \\jih extreme rapidity. The animals lying on 

 the pavement arc bled imm< d lately, the blood running in a trough to a 

 special tank and uiicdor made into artiiicial guano. The process of 

 skinning the animal occupies but a moment. 1( is then cut into quar- 

 ters, hung in an open shed on hooks, and then cut up into small strips, 

 so that nothing icmains but the bones. The meat, thus cut up is piled 

 under thick lasers of salt sevcial f'-et high, During these operations 

 a pai t of the grease is put aside, v. i.ile the. bones of t he limbs and carcass 

 are removed to g real, u oodeu 1 ubs, heaii d by pipes eon\ eying t he steam 

 from t ii< boilers, t hiiscxt i act ing all t he grease which may remain. These 

 vat s aie capable of holding upwards ol' t hilly carcasses. The hides are 

 salted and piled like the meat. The paunch and intestiuffe arc made 

 into guano. The- tongues, hoofs, tails, ears, horns, hide-cuttings, &c., 



