Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-02-02
MORE LEAN MEAT.
The Immense Demand for 1t in Town
and City Markets.


There is in progress a decided
change in the public taste and demand
for beef, pork and mutton. with less
fat and more lean. 1t is not the lean
caused by poor or scanty feeding,
but that kind of meat which is pro-
duced by breeding the choicest class
of animals. in the direction of marble
lied meat, finely streaked with altern-
ate fat an lean. The hog which is n
mere lump of lard, is no longer &C.
ceptable to the consumer of fresh pork.
This kind of meat, especially in the
cooler parts of the year, is in immense
demand in our town and city markets.
Hence such butchers as pride them
selves in furnishing their choice GUS
toners with such pork chops or roasts
as can only be furnished from GER
tain class of hogs. are beginning
to be particular about the char
acter and condition of the
hogs they buy. And some of them
are necessarily educated 10 be the best
judges of the meat of the hog. Swine
feeders are beginning to wake up to the
question of producing an animal which
is composed of something more agree
able to the taste of the epicure. And
in the future hog breeders will have to
take this into consideration.
The same with mutton. In former
gears the lovers of this delicious meat
demanded the fat Cotswold. Whether
it be that the world is abandoning the
robust exercise of the farm or the
chase. and hence have not the taste
nor the digestive organs, to demand
such fat mutton, or whether higher
intelligence suggests something differ
ent, is needless to investigate. But
among mutton-eaters there is an in
creasing demand for more lean and
less fat, as is the case with Down NUT
ton. And in parts of the world where
sheep are raised as much for their
meat as their wool. this is going to be
a leading element in the question of
what breed of sheep to raise.
There has been and is yet a strong
current in favor of baby beef. or early
maturity And there is no doubt that
it is profitable to the producer to pre-
pare his beeves for market in the
shortest possible time. But there
comes complaint from the delicate
stomachs of beef eaters as well as the
gormand that such beef is too fat and
soft; that it is not streaked or marked
as the beef is which had been kept in
a good, healthy and growing condition
until it had attained two and a half
years, and then finished off by high
feeding. The demand is almost uni
versal at our butchers stalls for more
lean and less fat. especially through
the hot months Tallow, which used
TO be the most valuable part of the
beef, has become the poorest Forty
years ago the butcher robbed the
beef of nearly all the tallow, as it
was worth twice as much per pound.
Now they crowd on all they can. as it
is not worth half as much as good.
lean beef Formerly the great de-
maud for tallow for candles made the
latest beef the most valuable. Now,
when the ta,low has to be sold by the
butchers to the chambers to be worked
into butter, there is a loud demand for
different character of beeves. And
breeders will be compelled to make
this q leading question. In some
breeds of pigs. sheep and cattle, there
is strong tendency TO put on fat in
masses without n suitable admixture
of lean. 1t is evident, therefore, that
in the future selection and breeding of
stock. there will have TO be more at
tention paid to the character Of the
meats consumers have set their hearts
upon. - Scottish FARMING World