228 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 
the hide is heavy, loose and very pliable, and covered 
with a dense, soft coat of hair. The body of a well- 
fattened Hereford should be free from any paunchiness. 
The breast should be broad and full, but free from 
loose dewlap, the shoulders smoothly laid and broad on 
top, but not too open between the blades. The crops 
should be wide, the ribs well sprung and extending well 
backward, the loin broad and of good length, the hook 
bones by no means prominent, but down within the lines 
of the ribs, the tail-head on a line with the level of the back, 
and the rump-bones 
wide apart and well 
up, so as not to 
present a drooping 
appearance. The legs 
should be short, 
straight, strong in 
bone and set well 
apart. The line of 
the back should be 
practically straight and level from top of shoulders to the 
tail-head. The quarters should be full and well rounded, 
and the outlines of the animal, when viewed from the side, 
Fic. 36.— Hereford bull. 
should present a somewhat box-like appearance, and from 
the end more that of a barrel (Figs. 36, 37). 
The Hereford has great length and thickness of loin, and 
all the bones of his frame are so well covered that they can 
scarcely be felt through the thick covering of flesh. Along 
his back from shoulder to rump his spine is so deeply 
buried in flesh that the vertebra are not perceptible to 
the touch except at the small indentations, commonly 
called ties, near the middle of the back. These ties, 
usually one to three in number, are the attachments of 
