MARKET CLASSES AND GRADES OF DRESSED BEEF. 15 
Of the three fundamental characteristics, quality is, by all means, 
the most important. All beef is bought and sold very largely on the 
basis of quality. Many factors are taken into account by the beef 
grader before he makes his final determination as to grade, but his 
main object is to arrive at the degree of quality of the beef. The 
reason for this is that quality is the thing with which the consumer 
is most concerned. 
The grader considers the firmness, color, and texture of the meat. 
He determines the age by the color and hardness of the bones, and he 
carefully notes the marbling or lack of marbling in the flesh. All 
of these things, however, are of value only as indicators of the qual- 
ity of the carcass or cut. Even conformation and finish are of com- 
paratively small consequence in themselves. They are, however, of 
vast importance because of the bearing which they have on the major 
consideration, which is quality. 
The consumer applies the ultimate test of quality when he eats the 
beef. Fortunately for the grader, however, there is such a close 
relationship, amounting in some instances to cause and effect, be- 
tween quality and a number of other more obvious and easily deter- 
mined factors, that it is possible for him to determine very accu- 
rately what the degree of quality is. For example, finish is easily 
determined and a high degree of finish almost always accompanies 
a fair degree of excellence in quality. 
Conformation is a still more obvious characteristic, and nature has 
so arranged matters that excellent conformation and a high degree of 
finish rarely exist without being accompanied by a commensurate 
degree of quality. Quality, therefore, is always uppermost in the 
mind of the grader, and carcasses and cuts of beef are placed in the 
various grades very largely on the basis of variations in quality. 
STANDARD GRADES OF BEEF. 
There are seven grades of beef: Prime, Choice, Good, Medium, 
Common, Cutter, and Canner. Using the corresponding numerical 
designations, the grades are No. A 1, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, 
and No. 6. In the following discussion, the terms and correspond- 
ing numerical designations are combined for the purpose of enabling 
one to associate them. 
N^ot all classes of beef, however, are divided into the full quota of 
grades. For example, steer beef and heifer beef each are divided 
into seven grades. No. A 1, or Prime, representing the highest, and 
No. 6, or Canner, the lowest grade. Cow beef, bull beef, and stag 
beef, on the other hand, are divided into six grades, No. 1, or Choice, 
representing the highest; and No. 6, or Canner, the lowest. 
The question arises as to why there should be this variation in the 
number of grades into which the various classes are divided. It 
might logically be argued that one of two courses should be pursued 
in the matter: Either the various grades should be standardized, 
without regard to class distinction, or each class should be consid- 
ered as a more or less distinct commodity. 
If the grades, as such, are standardized, then Good beef is Good 
beef, whether it be derived from a steer carcass, a cow carcass, or a 
bull carcass. If, on the other hand, the grades are not standardized 
as grades of beef, but merely as grades of the various classes of beef. 
