6 BULLETIN 1464, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
all animals which will produce meat that is wholesome and fit for 
human food. Any such animal may be slaughtered and consumed. 
Briefly slaughter cattle may be defined as a number of individuals 
which are bought and sold for immediate slaughter. As a rule they 
have attained an age of approximately 6 months or over. 
Cattle when slaughtered produce beef and considerable quantities 
of certain by-products, the most important of which are the hide and 
edible offal such as liver, heart, tongue, and fats (surrounding the 
internal organs). Experience has proved that there is a high degree 
of correlation between certain physical characteristics, chief of which 
are the sex condition, age, weight, conformation, finish, and quality, 
possessed by live cattle and the quantity and grade of the beef and 
other products to be obtained from them. Therefore on the market 
different cattle possess different degrees of merit and sell at widely 
different prices, largely according to the weight and grade of the car- 
cass of beef and the quantity and grade of the other by-products 
which buyers and sellers estimate the cattle will produce when 
slaughtered. Thus certain market classes, age selection, and weight 
selection groups, as well as grades of slaughter cattle, have arisen 
which are rather generally recognized and established in the trade 
at most of the large central livestock markets. These have been in- 
corporated into the system of market classes and grades of slaughter 
cattle shown in the following schedule which were promulgated as 
official standards in 1928. 
Slaughter cattle schedule 
Class 
Steers _ 
Age selection 
Yearling. 
2 years old and over_ 
Weight selection 
Lightweight, 800 pounds down_ 
Mediumweight, 800 to 950 pounds. 
Heavyweight, 950 pounds up 
'Lightweight, 1,100 pounds down. 
Mediumweight, 1,100 to 1,300 pounds 
.Heavyweight, 1,300 pounds up . 
Grade 
Prime or No. Al. 
Choice or No. 1. 
Good or No. 2. 
Medium or No. 3. 
Common or No. 4. 
Cutter or No. 5. 
tCannerorNo.6. 
Prime or No. Al. 
Choice or No. 1. 
Good or No. 2. 
Medium or No. 3. 
Common or No. 4. 
Cutter or No. 5. 
Prime or No. Al. 
Choice or No. 1. 
Good or No. 2. 
Medium or No. 3. 
Common or No. 4. 
Prime or No. Al. 
Choice or No. 1. 
Good or No. 2. 
Medium or No. 3. 
Common or No. 4. 
Cutter or No. 5. 
tCanner or No. 6. 
Prime or No. Al. 
Choice or No. 1. 
Good or No. 2. 
Medium or No. 3. 
Common or No. 4. 
Cutter or No. 5. 
Prime or No. Al. 
Choice or No. 1. 
Good or No. 2. 
Medium or No. 3. 
Common or No. 4. 
Cutter or No. 5. 
