14 BULLETIN 1089, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
extent by thorough cleanliness. In cold weather it is out of the 
question to wash carcasses, and therefore the greatest care must be 
used to keep them free from dirt. The man who does the butcher- 
ing should handle nothing but the carcass. Where proper slaughter- 
houses are available and animals are butchered before severe cold 
weather, portions of the carcass may be washed if running water 
and a brush are used. Cloths and a bucket of water should never 
be used, on account of the danger of spreading molds from one car- 
cass to another. Special care must be taken to avoid contaminating 
the interior of the carcass with contents of the stomach, which are 
apt to regurgitate up the gullet, since it is probable that the food 
contains the spores of molds. The gullet should be tied as a precau- 
tionary measure. 
A most important point in the prevention of molds is to keep the 
frozen carcasses at a uniform temperature, to give the molds no 
chance to grow. With fluctuating temperatures in the cold-storage 
room, molds gain rapid headway and the meat soon spoils. Further- 
more, alternate thawing and freezing injures the cells and thereby 
lowers the quality of the meat. 
Hides should be left on the carcasses intended for shipment out of 
Alaska. Skinned carcasses are much more likely to mold and also 
to lose their color and to shrink more in weight. When the hide is 
left on, the brisket is frequently left closed and the pelvis need not 
be split. If the brisket is not split the carcasses pack together much 
better. One point which must be kept in mind in this connection, 
however, is that the animal heat does not leave the body as quickly 
when the carcass is not skinned or completely opened. Reindeer hair 
is an excellent nonconductor and prevents the heat from leaving the 
body very rapidly. Hence, cold storage should be available to cool 
the animals as soon as possible after slaughter in summer. Cold- 
storage rooms should be disinfected at intervals. Information re- 
ceived from the meat inspection division of the Bureau of Animal 
Industry indicates that strong hot brine applied to the walls of a 
storage room is very efficacious in keeping down molds. 
Bucks should never be killed for food, as the meat has an objec- 
tionable odor and taste and spoils easily. Some bucks have been 
killed for marketing, but the practice is an indication of carelessness 
and bad management, especially where the killing is done late in the 
year, or after the rutting season has begun. If bucks are to be 
slaughtered they should be castrated just prior to this period, or 
about the middle of August. The animals will then fatten and be 
in condition to kill later in the season and will not have the strong 
odor and taste. 
