QUALITY AND CONDITION 343 



supported by short legs. However, many prime lambs have only 

 moderately short legs. Very long legs detract from the dressed 

 yield and from the appearance of the carcass when displayed, and 

 on this account lambsi that are decidedly upstanding do not grade 

 as prime. 



" Quality and Condition. — (1) General Quality. — The degree 

 of development in quality is one of the most important factors in 

 determining the value of fat lambs. General quality is indicated 

 by a medium-sized, clean-cut head, ears of fine texture, fine but 

 strong bone, a light pelt, and full, well-rounded outlines. All these 

 attributes suggest a freedom from that degree of coarseness which 

 adds to the waste in dressing, and from the unattractiveness which 

 works against the value of the carcass. 



" Of the items of general quality enumerated, lightness of pelt 

 is the most essential. By pelt is meant the skin and wool combined. 

 With a light-weight pelt, the skin will be comparatively thin 

 and free from folds or wrinkles, and the wool not very dense or 

 oily. The only time when the heavier weight of pelt seems to be 

 favored is in the spring, when both shorn and unshorn sheep and 

 lambs are being marketed. During these months the difference in 

 price between shorn and unshorn lambs varies from seventy-five 

 cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents per hundredweight in 

 favor of the unshorn lambs. The amount of difference depends on 

 the condition of the wool market and the time in the season when 

 the lambs are slaughtered. The difference usually becomes less as 

 the hot weather approaches, because it is believed that the carcasses 

 of unshorn lambs deteriorate in quality on account of the discom- 

 fort the lambs suffer in hot weather from being left in their fleeces. 

 It should be remembered, however, that this discrimination in favor 

 of the heavier pelt holds only when shorn and unshorn sheep or 

 lambs are compared. Of two lambs in the wool, the one with the 

 lighter pelt is always preferred, provided they are equal in other 

 respects. 



" The question is often asked why sheep or lambs with heavy 

 pelts are discriminated against when they carry a greater weight of 

 wool than those with light pelts. This question arises naturally 

 because wool is worth a great deal more per pound than mutton, 

 and it would seem that lambs with heavy fleeces should be credited 

 with the greater amount of wool which they produce. In a large 

 packing plant the slaughtering department usually delivers pelts 



