MARKET CLASSES AND GRADES OF LIVESTOCK 5 
impossible to have a high degree of conformation without at least 
a fair degree of finish and quality, and best quality is invariably asso- 
ciated with reasonably high degrees of conformation and _ finish. 
This close relationship between the three characteristics frequently 
leads to using the terms rather loosely, and to considerable overlap- 
ping of definitions. 
One reason for selecting these three characteristics as the basis 
for much of the schedule is the fact that they are inherent in the 
animal. They are not subject to trade preference and, in a given 
animal at a given time, can not be changed. Furthermore every 
meat animal possesses a certain degree of each of these character- 
istics—conformation, finish, and quality. In fact the chief difference 
between animals from the standpoint of meat production, consists 
in variations in the degrees possessed. 
CONFORMATION 
Conformation is the build, outline, or contour of the animal. It 
is due largely to the size and shape of the bones and muscles and 
the proportions between the different primal parts, such as round, 
loin, rib, or shoulder. Hence conformation is chiefly attributable 
to breeding, though sex condition? also exerts a powerful influence, 
except in the case of very young animals. I‘at covering is responsible 
for marked modifications of conformation, hence feeding and care 
have an important bearing on the matter. Standards or ideals of 
conformation depend on the immediate use to which the animal is 
to be put. Grade for grade, a smoother and more rounded conforma- 
tion is demanded in animals intended for immediate slaughter than 
in those which are to be used for further feeding, 
FINISH 
Finish is fat. It includes both the fat on the outside of the ani- 
mal’s body and on the inside of the abdominal and thoracic cavities; 
also the deposits of fat which lhe along and between the larger 
muscles. Naturally in the live animal the interior fats can be 
judged only by analogy. Finish involves the quantity, quality, and 
distribution of fat. Like conformation it is dependent somewhat 
on inherited tendencies or breeding, but in the main it depends on 
the quantity, kind, and quality of feed, sex condition of the ani- 
mal, and on methods of handling. 
QUALITY 
Quality is, strictly speaking, a characteristic of the muscle or lean 
meat of the animal and of the intramuscular and intercellular fat 
contained therein. It also involves the relative size, shape, and con- 
dition of the bones and the ratio of bone to muscle and fat. In ani- 
mals intended for further feeding, quality involves still another 
characteristic, a characteristic which, though of vast importance, is 
rather intangible and difficult to describe fully, namely, the ability to 
economically take on added weight. This is not a concrete thing 
* Sex condition is a term used to cover the presence or absence of some of the essential 
organs which differentiate the sexes. Hence there are males and castrated males, 
females and spayed females, 
