114 JUDGING SHEEP 



centage of valuable cuts, it will be interesting to quote 

 some results obtained from an experiment at the Iow:i 

 Station under direction of Professor Curtiss. He found 

 in a lot of ten pure bred Oxford lambs marketed by the 

 Iowa Experiment Station, that the leg cuts constituted 

 31.87 per cent of the whole carcass by weight and sold 

 for 42.63 per cent of the total value. The leg, rib and 

 loin cuts together aggregated 73.74 per cent of the total 

 weight and sold for 92 per cent of the total. 



162. Consideration of the Consumer. The butcher 

 and the consumer are very similar in their demands, but 

 there are a few points that are of peculiar importance to 

 the latter, and among these may be mentioned the char- 

 acter of the flesh. A clear distinction should be drawn 

 between flesh and fat, or, as it may be otherwise stated, 

 between muscle and lean meat and tallow. The ideal 

 sheep from the consumer's standpoint is one that carries 

 a large proportion of flesh or lean meat with but a limited 

 quantity of fat. In live sheep this is indicated by a firm, 

 even covering over the parts of the body. The flesh has 

 a firm but springy touch and is smooth over all regions, 

 especially thick where it has the highest value. The con- 

 sumer asserts his preference for another feature and that 

 is a marked desire for lamb in contrast to matured sheep, 

 owing to the desirability of small cuts and the supposi- 

 tion that lamb is more tender than older sheep. 



163. The Qualities of the Fleece. In estimating the 

 worth of a sheep or judging it, not only is it fair to con- 

 sider the demands of the feeder, the butcher and the con- 

 sumer, but with these we must include the qualities de- 

 sired by the wool manufacturer. Though the returns 

 from the fleece are not very large, yet the sheep breeder 

 must consider them so that the ultimate profit may be as 

 great as possible. To arrive at a correct understanding 



