250 



JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



wide apart, and angular, this will be quite unlikely, and 

 further, will give evidence of coarseness. The rump should 

 be long, wide and level. We view the length by standing 

 at one side, and from this view-point also note whether it 

 extends in level form from hips to end of body. One of 

 the common defects of the rump is to droop from the hips 

 back, thereby reducing the flesh-carrying capacity of the 



hindquarter. Many 

 judges give scant 

 consideration t o 

 droopy rumped 

 animals, very cor- 

 rectly regarding 

 this as bad confor- 

 mation, and sadly 

 marring true ani- 

 mal beauty. As 

 one views the rump 

 from the rear, it 

 should taper but 

 gradually from 

 hips to point of 

 rump, being of 

 good width be- 

 tween the pin bones or points of the ischium. The na- 

 tural tendency is for the rump to slope away on each side 

 from the spine, but this should be only to a slight extent. 

 The more sloping the rump in any respect, the less its 

 meat-carrying capacity. In other words, the longer, wider 

 and more level the rump, the greater the yield of meat on 

 the pelvis. The covering of flesh over the rump should 

 be smooth, without any roughness or patches of fat, a fre- 

 quent defect of this part. Many fat cattle have heavy 

 lumps on the ends of the rump, on each side of the pin 

 bones. In fact, evidence of condition soon manifests itself 

 here. Feeders of show stock often find their cattle accumu- 

 lating such lumps of tallow on the rump as seriously to 



Fig. 139. — "Tlie rump should be long, wide 

 and level. We view the length by standing at 

 one side." 



