MARKET CLASSES AND GRADES OF LIVESTOCK 7 
reality a cause rather than an effect, is indicated by the fact that in the 
case of very young animals sex condition is entirely ignored as a price- 
determining factor. Hence’ the present schedule is inconsistent to 
the extent that vealers, lambs, and pigs are considered as classes, 
whereas they are in reality age selections. Sex condition as the 
basis of class is abandoned in these instances because, in a very 
young animal, sex condition has not had time to exert much in- 
fluence on conformation, quality, or finish. In other words, in 
vealers, lambs, and pigs the degrees of conformation, quality, and 
finish are not as a rule altered by the fact that the animal is male, 
female, or unsexed. Such animals, nevertheless, constitute market 
eroups of great economic importance and they are handled in such 
a way as to make it inadvisable to treat vealers, for example, as an 
age selection of the cattle schedule. Hence consistency is sacrificed 
for convenience and in deference to market practice. 
BASIS OF SUBCLASSES 
Subclass —A subclass is a subdivision of a class and consists of a 
eroup of animals which differ from animals in other similar groups 
in relative suitability for certain general uses. 
The subclasses are slaughter, feeder, stocker, milker, springer, 
breeder, and shearer. In the case of the first three (slaughter, 
feeder, and stocker), the chief basis of the subclass is degree of 
finish or fat. The other subclasses, however, are based on suitability 
for special uses which involve various considerations. 
Slaughter animals are those possessing sufficient fat or finish to 
meet the requirements of the consuming trade. This designation 
covers all animals which will produce meat that is wholesome and 
fit for human food. Any such animal may be slaughtered and con- 
sumed. 
Feeders are animals which lack sufficient finish to produce the 
highest grades of meat but which show evidences of ability to take on 
additional flesh and fat economically, most of the gain resulting 
from additional fat or finish rather than growth. 
Stockers are animals which not only lack sufficient finish to pro- 
duce the highest grades of meat but are usually immature and there- 
fore capable of material additional growth as well as the acquisition 
of additional finish. 
Briefly, the slaughter subclass includes all animals suitable for 
producing wholesome meat. Feeders are those which, with proper 
feed and handling, will produce a greater quantity of meat and 
usually of a higher grade than if slaughtered immediately, whereas 
stockers are those animals which, because of their age and imma- 
turity, are capable of making greater total weight gains than 
feeders, and which depend largely on growth to make the gains. 
So far as trade practice goes, no hard and fast line exists between 
these three groups. At a given time, wholly similar animals may be 
purchased by one man for slaughter, by another as feeders, and 
by a third as stockers. These three groups, therefore, are distin- 
guishable only in a general way and the ultimate test is relative 
suitability for a given use. Actually feeders and stockers are sub- 
divisions of the slaughter subclass. 
