16 



Farmers* Bulletin 1068. 



behind the shoulder. Fullness in this region will give the animal 

 a more level top line and cause the body to appear truly cylindrical 

 ns viewed from the front or back. Long, well-arched ribs thickly 

 covered with smooth flesh are desirable. The back should be broad 

 and straight and carry a thick covering of flesh. The most, valuable 

 part of the carcass is the loin, which extends from the last rib back- 

 ward to the hip joints. It should be broad and thick and contain 

 considerable fat, evenly distributed throughout the lean meat. This 

 is equally true of other parts of the body but is particularly so in the 

 ease of the loin. In a thin animal the flank is primarily a web or 

 fold of skin which connects the lower part of the body to the thigh. 

 In a i at animal the flank becomes thick and causes the bottom line 

 to appear straight. There is also a fore flank behind the elbow of 

 the front leg. Both of these flanks should be well let down and in 

 the well-finished animal should be thick and level with the underline. 



E. HIND QUARTERS. 



The hips, rump, thighs, twist, and legs make up the hind quarters. 

 The hind quarters should be deep and as broad as the shoulders. 

 The hips should be smooth and show no prominence. The rump should 

 be long and wide and gradually round off smoothly from hips to tail 

 head. The rump should be free from patches and rolls caused by 

 uneven deposits of fat. The thighs should be deep and full and the 

 twist deep and plump. The twist constitutes the portion below the 

 tail head on the inside of the leg. The thigh is the outer aspect of 

 the leg. Both of these constitute the so-called quarter. The hind 

 legs, as in the case of the front ones, should be wide apart, short, 

 straight, and show a fine shank and fine-quality bone. 



Great emphasis should be placed upon the development of the hind 

 quarters because the cuts in this part of the body contain some of 

 the highest priced and best quality meat. The hind quarters in the 

 carcass contain about 23 per cent of the meat of the entire animal, 

 but it must be remembered that the hind quarters on the carcass are 

 proportionately smaller than the hind quarters on the live animal. If 

 the carcass cut is made comparable to the part on the live animal 

 it will be found that a large part of the loin will be classed with the 

 hind quarters. In making out the score card for fat cattle the 

 purpose has been to assign values to the various parts of the animal 

 corresponding to the relative market values of the corresponding cuts 

 and not to the corresponding relative weights. It is usually con- 

 sidered that the front half of the animal weighs 52 per cent and the 

 hind half 48 per cent. In figuring the relative market values of 

 these parts based on wholesale prices, the hind half of the carcass is 

 worth about 54 per cent while the front half is worth about 46 per 

 cent. This gives the reason why due emphasis should be placed 

 upon the score of the hind quarters and the loin of the animal. 



