29G 



HISTORY OF HEREFOKD CATTLE 



examinations of samples of meat, cut from 

 several of the carcasses butchered at the Fat 

 Stock Show held at Chicago in 1880. It will 

 be remembered that the breeders of Shorthorn 

 and Hereford cattle entered several head of 

 select steers of the two breeds in a contest for 

 the slaughter prize, and also that during the 

 deliberations of the awarding committee the 

 feeling ran very high as to the relative supe- 

 riority of the meat. The microscopical tests 

 were made at that time, but not so thoroughly 

 as the State Board desired. The able paper of 

 Dr. Sprague has been condensed as follows, and 

 the result of that gentleman's examinations at- 



LOVING CUP, 

 Presented to Geo. F Morgan, inscribed as follows: Pre- 

 sented to Geo. F. Morgan, Rsq., by a few breeders in 

 England, in recognition of his labors to establisb 

 the Herefords in America, July 25th, 1883. 



tracted great attention from the producers, 

 meat cutters, and consumers of the country. 



Dr. Sprague introduces the paper by 

 anatomical comparisons, which, although tech- 

 nically of vast importance, do not relate to the 

 merits of the meat examined, and he then 

 states that: 



"The specimens examined under the micro- 

 scope, and also subjected to tests by cotiking, 

 were taken from the loin at the point of di- 

 vision of the fore, and from the hind quarters 

 of the two and three-year-old Shorfhorn grades. 



and from corresponding parts of the Hereford 

 grades of like ages, these being animals 

 slaughtered and dressed in competition at the 

 recent Fat Stock Show in this city. Specimens 

 from same part of carcass were procured of a 

 butcher shop on Adams street, where only high- 

 grade steers are cut up, and of low grade from 

 two South Division shops, and also from the 

 wholesale department of West Jackson street. A 

 careful examination in every state from 

 moisture to extreme dryness, running through 

 a period of ten days, shows no discernible dif- 

 ference in color, structure of fiber, or the 

 equable distribution of the fat vesicles and fat 

 among the muscular fibers of the show steers. 

 So after thoroughly weighing and sifting every 

 feature of the structure of fiber and fat in the 

 two breeds, as represented in the high grades 

 presented as specimens, we conclude that su- 

 periority must be determined by early maturity 

 — pounds of gain upon a given amount of feed; 

 relative weight of offal, and of best to poorest 

 parts, and by the test of public taste, based 

 upon the exterior form and finish, as from out- 

 ward appearance some prefer one breed and 

 others the other. The specimens of high-grade 

 steer beef procured on Adams street showed 

 nearly all the qualities of high marbling of the 

 exhibition steers, and there was no difference 

 in coloring, fineness of fiber, distribution of fat 

 vesicles, nor in flavor or odor when cooked, 

 though there was some difference in the degree 

 to which the fibers were filled with nutritive 

 substance. 



THE SCEUB MEAT. 



"But a comparison of the scrub meat, or that 

 part of it known as scalawags, with the high 

 grade, prompts us to ever in the future turn 

 our backs upon and refuse to take upon our 

 plate a cut from the class referred to. The 

 lean fibers from this class of carcasses are like 

 rubber, and are held together by a glutinous 

 substance; and not by cellular tissues and fat 

 vesicles, filled with fat and easily separated, as 

 in the case of the high-bred steers. The speci- 

 men pieces of the scrub meat — and this held 

 good with the six examined, commenced to curl 

 as soon as the drying process commenced, and 

 in three days the pieces were curled up at the 

 edges and "thoroughly dry; whereas the cuts 

 from the high grades remained moist and juicy, 

 and lay flat upon the paper, though on hand 

 three or four days before the others were pro- 

 cured. When dry the cuts of the scrub meat 

 had no flexibility, would break before thev 

 would bend, and when cooked were without 

 fat, juiciness or flavor, -while the specimens 

 from the high grades maintained all these 



