The Columbus journal., 1899-07-26

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In IN address At the Iowa Agricul-
rural College. Prot. Craig Of that COL
lege. said: It Is . safe proposition to
accept that every sheep has . fault and
1t 10 equally true that there are none
% bad but that they have their good
Qualitiea In estimating the good and
bad qualities Of sheep Il II then only
. question Of being able to see things
~ they really exist. 1t Il particularly
hard to do this In the case Of sheep,
because they car be trimmed and
dressed with great success In hiding
their defects. Owing to this deception
It Is practically impossible to form an
opinion from what one sees. It 10
necessary to handle the sheep thor
oughly. or. in other words, to see with
the fingers.
In handling the form Of Q sheep It II
best to keep the hand completely open.
as In this way the straightness Of the
lines can be best determined. and tho
wool will be the least disturbed. To
be thorough In examination this sys-
tenn should be followed: Beginning
with the head. with the finger drop
the lower lip Of the sheep and notice
the condition Of the teeth; notice the
covering Of the head, the eyes and
ears: see that there is no appearance
OF horns in those that should be horn
less: then pass to the neck, feeling
with the hands the course Of the neck.
and In that way determine the length
OF It. the thickness Of 1t. and the way
1t swells to meet the shoulder at tho
shoulder vein. Then pass down to tho
brisket. putting one hand on the floor
OF the chest and the other II the ton
OF tho shoulder, and In this way form
an idea as to the depth Of the sheep
through these parts. Then pass to the
shoulder, observe how 1t II covered
with flesh and the evenness on ton.
also taking the girth Dr. the spring Of
the ribs of the sheep. From the top
OF the shoulder, using one hand, fol-
low the line Of the back to the end of
the body. By carefully handling these
parts. tho fleshiness of the sheen. or
the way the ribs are covered. and the
straightness Of the back. are deter
mined. and at the same time the
spring Of the ribs Is made apparent
The width Of the loin should then be
taken. and the covering and the thick
ness Of 1t should be noticed. The
width at the hips should then be OBJ
served. and turning to one side ant
using tho two hands. tho length from
the hip to the hindquarter should be
made apparent between the two banda
Afterward notice the way the hind
quarter IL carried back. and the full
ness Of those parts should also be ex-
amined. Following down toward the
leg. the development Of the thigh on
the outside requires examination, and
then, with the hand. the quarters or
the twist between the legs should be
firmly felt.
The different parts Of tho lamb. from
the butchers standpoint, show. , wide
variation. The neck has the salue of
only ono cent per pound, the shoulder
two cents and the shank the same.
The rib. running from the point Of the
shoulder to the loin. has a value Of
nine cents per pound. and the same Is
true Of the loin. while the leg of NUT
ton has the highest value per pound
Of any part, and Is quoted at ten cents
per pound. The breast has the low
value Of two cents per pound in the
Chicago markets. From these facts 1t
will be seen that the development Of
the back and Of the leg are the most
important points.