The  Meat  Industry  in  its  Relation  to  Agriculture.  141 
such  animals  as  may  have  been  born  in  the  spring  of  the  year, 
and  keep  them  until  they  are  about  two  years  old,  but  there  is 
no  hard  and  fast  rule  in  this  matter,  as  it  is  quite  obvious  that 
the  supply  of  food  will  be  the  most  important  factor.  A 
bullock  of  thirty  months  old  may  be  looked  upon  as  fully 
matured  and  ready  for  market,  and  beyond  that  age  it  is 
doubtful  if  it  pays  for  its  feed.  The  regulation  of  the  output  is 
also  of  great  importance,  and  the  careful  feeder  will  arrange 
that  he  is  able  to  draw  from  his  stock,  periodically,  a certain 
number  of  marketable  animals,  sending  such  to  market,  say, 
once  in  every  two  or  four  weeks.  By  this  system  it  is  possible 
that  he  may  encounter  some  losses,  but  it  is  also  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  he  will  participate  in  the  gains  when  the  markets 
are  good  and  will  thus  be  able  to  average  out  good  prices.  The 
whole  business  is  one  of  feeding  cattle  and  sheep  for  food 
purposes,  and  the  farmers  must  therefore  endeavour  to  please 
the  meat  purveyors  who  handle  the  animals  finally  before 
they  are  converted  into  food. 
Breeds  of  Cattle. 
So  far  we  have  spoken  of  cattle  in  general,  but  we  have  not 
forgotten  that  those  which  are  bred  in  the  United  Kingdom 
belong  to  different  breeds  which  have  been  improved  upon  by 
careful  selection.  There  are  about  twenty-three  well -recognised 
types  in  this  country,  and  all  of  these  are  represented  by  dif- 
ferent breed  societies,  whose  object  is  to  maintain  them  in 
their  pure  condition.  Unfortunately,  these  types  do  not  all 
conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  meat  purveyor,  and  it 
seems  unfortunate  that  the  breeders  should  have  taken  so 
little  advantage  of  the  experience  of  such  men.  The  Smith- 
field  Club,  which  may  be  taken  as  the  principal  live  stock 
society  in  the  United  Kingdom,  has  been  in  existence  since 
1799,  and  it  sets  forth  as  its  principal  object  the  encouragement 
of  “the  selection  and  breeding  of  the  best  and  most  useful 
animals  for  the  production  of  meat.”  Strange  as  it  may  appear, 
however,  the  actual  carcass  competitions  in  connection  with  the 
Smithfield  Show,  held  annually  in  London,  were  only  instituted 
in  1895  as  the  result  of  the  agitation  by  meat  purveyors,  who 
pointed  out  that  the  great  mountains  of  fat  which  were  exhibited 
at  the  Smithfield  and  other  live  stock  shows  throughout  the 
country,  were  not  what  they  wanted,  masses  of  fat  being 
altogether  waste  products  so  far  as  they  were  concerned.  Since 
then,  a marked  difference  has  taken  place  in  the  types  of 
animals  exhibited,  and  the  tendency  is  towards  making  the 
exhibit  of  live . stock  conform  to  the  meat  purveyors’  re- 
quirements. Breeders’  points  still  prevail  at  the  Smithfield 
Show  and  similar  exhibitions,  and  how  utterly  useless  these 
