696 



Aberdeen- Angus Cattle. 



[Nov., 



Exposition in 1909, the only occasion when the Shorthorns 

 have won this great prize, states: " An Aberdeen- Angus steer 

 is an ideal animal from the butcher's standpoint, the ripe 

 Aberdeen- Angus has no superior. The average market per- 

 formance of black cattle as indicated by the prize list, demon- 

 strates their quality, the meat marbles well. They are high 

 dressers, being short-legged and chunky, the meat* is in the 

 right place with a high percentage of choice cuts. They cut 

 up with minimum waste, hence the popularity of beef carcasses 

 that have been divested of black hides, with the retailer. 

 Buyers are of necessity impartial to breeds; their mission is to 

 get good cattle regardless of colour or history. * Blood will 

 tell,' and when a buyer locates a drove of well-bred finished 

 Aberdeen- Angus, he knows he has an opportunity to buy 

 something'. They are smooth, the proportion of weight in loin 

 and rib (the most valuable parts) is uniformly heavy." Henry 

 du Plan, buyer for another large packing house, w^ho judged 

 car load lots in 1907. states: "No better cattle come to 

 market than Aberdeen- Angus. A load of black bullocks of the 

 same quality and finish as a load of any other kind, will invari- 

 ably elicit a bid 10 cents higher than the buyer would feel 

 justified in offering for others. The statement that the black 

 is an ' honest bullock ' explains this. When he starts a load 

 of black ones towards the scales, he does it with the conviction 

 that not only will he get a high percentage of beef, but it will 

 be good meat. One reason the butcher is partial to them is 

 that they are fine boned, and w-hen an experienced retailer 

 enters a beef cooler (refrigerator) to select material to replenish 

 his stock, he invariably begins a patient search for the black 

 ones, frequently surprising beef men by the certainty with 

 which he picks them out of the mass. A black carcass is 

 always a nice carcass, and my experience justifies me in stating 

 that there are fewer counterfeits in this breed than in any 

 other." Such is the universal opinion of meat experts, an 

 opinion so recently endorsed by the sale of Canadian cattle 

 bred and fed in Alberta and brought over at the instigation of 

 the Honourable Duncan Marshall, ^Minister of Agriculture, to 

 demonstrate the class and quality of the stock being raised in 

 the Dominion. There were 7 Herefords, 6 Aberdeen- Angus 

 and 2 Shorthorns, sold by auction to leading butchers, and 

 the Angus averaged £10 per head more than the other breeds, 

 and what is even more incisive 2d. per lb. higher in price. 

 The biggest classes at Fat Stock Show^s are undoubtedly 



