10 BULLETIN 1360, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
segregations are never made. However, in drawing up a schedule 
for the country as a whole, every reasonable possibility must be 
taken into account, and the schedule must be made sufficiently elabo- 
rate to take care of all markets. 
These schedules are not the result of academic studies and discus- 
sions. On the contrary, the proposition was approached from ex- 
actly the opposite end. An earnest effort was made to find out pre- 
cisely what happens on the markets in the way of sorting or seg- 
regation, and a schedule of classes, grades, and other market groups 
was drawn up which covers a great majority of such operations even 
on the largest and most highly organized markets of the country. 
This schedule is designed to lend itself to almost unlimted ex- 
pansion or contraction. For example, if on a given market all 
animals are slaughtered and none of them are sold as stockers or 
feeders, the stocker and feeder schedules will be disregarded. If on 
that market the trade does not discriminate between yearlings and 
mature cattle the two groups may be combined. 
The same is true of the weight selections. If there is a market 
where buyers do not insist that livestock be sorted into weight 
groups but take the animals just as they come, the market reporter 
merely quotes a price range covering all weights. Likewise, at many 
markets, particularly the smaller ones, it is customary to buy, in 
mixed lots, animals that represent two or more grades. Where that 
is done the market reporter merely combines the grades included and 
reports a single price range on the lot. Such lumping of animals in 
job lots is usually poor practice, but if that is the practice at any 
market these schedules are sufficiently elastic to cover the situation. 
As marketing progresses from the primitive, there is a natural 
tendency toward greater refinement of practice and constantly in- 
creasing segregation. This tendency is a part of the existing strong 
trend toward specialization. Certain groups of consumers demand 
cuts of meat of certain weights and grades and the slaughterer 
in turn insists that the seller sort his live animals in such a way that 
he can purchase the animals which will produce the desired cuts of 
meat. 
CATTLE * 
Cattle are bovine animals which have attained sufficient age and 
maturity to make reproduction possible. Such animals may be 
incapable of reproduction because of having been castrated or 
spayed, or because of certain physical abnormalities. Cattle, when 
slaughtered, produce beef. 
As offered on our central markets, cattle probably present a wider 
variety of conformation, finish, and quality than any other kind of 
livestock. All are offered for sale, however, and all must be dis- 
posed of. Fortunately, uses have been found for practically every 
extreme and, generally speaking, a cash market awaits practically 
anything the producer may have to offer. A rather lengthy schedule 
is therefore required to provide a place for every group into which 
buyers and sellers may want to sort the cattle. 
‘AS a rule the group names used in this bulletin are used in the ordinary and gen- 
erally accepted sense. In a few instances, however, it has been necessary, in order to 
be specific and avoid confusion, to limit and modify somewhat the definitions of certain 
names and terms. In all such cases it should be understood that any deviations from 
generally accepted definitions are only for purposes of this schedule and to assist the 
reader in understanding the system of classifying and grading outlined herewith. 
