Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-05-25
= JUDGING FAT CATTLE. :.
BY PROF. w. j. KENNEDY, OF IOWA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE,
AMEs, IOWA

Fat cattle are intended to furnish
food for man. The consumer desires
tender flesh: the butcher seeks TO sup
ply the needs OF consumers, anu
chooses animals for slaughter which
win nearest fulnll their needs. The
producer is guided, therefore, by the
demands of the consumer, made known
through the butcher,
10 correctly understand the Judging
of fat cattle IL is necessary 10 under-
stand the skeleton of an OK ana the
/ relation of the muscular parts 10 the
same.
Stripped OF all coverings OF skin,
/ flesh and membranes, the skeleton OF
! the OK appears TO Consist-not attempt
ing TO describe 1t with technical ac~
curacy-of "A mass OF large bones, which
shape the head. a vertebral column
consisting of many separate bones
tVertebUap, a bony box formed BY the
ribs and known as the thoraN, n the
fore and hind limbs.
The vcrtebral column supports the
head and thorax, and in turn Is sup
ported by the limbs. From the upper
side of the v~ertebral olumn a NUMBER
of bones of varying length project up
ward. These are known as the splnous
processes. and IL is to these that many
OF the muscles on the body are at
4 tached. The large pac enclosed by
the ribs contains the vital organs of
the body, and II IL readily seen thai the
size of this body cavity, or space Tor
the vital organs, is dependent upon the
degree OF spring, and depth, OF the
ribs. Large, vigorous vital organs are
desired i'm all animals and hence gem
erous size OF his body cavity is sought
for. A point deserving special notice
is the fact that the bones are proper
tional In all parts OF h body. SO true
is this, that Il is possible to determine
by measuring n one bone OF the BODY
the size and length OF all others. TX the
bones of the legs or OF the head are
large and coarse, all the bones or the
objection butchers have to an animal
coarse in the head or limbs.
Over this bony framework the
muscles which protect h vital organs
and which enable the animal to per-
form the functions of life, breathing.
eating. moving, etc, are distributed.
The hinduuarters have many large
muscles. extending from the hips to
the hooks; the DIN has large muscles
on it's upper, or external face; along
the vertebral column, I'm the angie
formed by the spinous processes ana
| ribs are several pairs OF muscular Tor
nations which bend the back w
ward or to one side. These extend from
about the region of the loin to the hrst
three large spinous processes OF the
back. while a portion OF one pair or
these muscles extends into the neck.
rho muscles of the fore limbs are
such as the animal needs TO move with,
I and while similar In many respects to
the muscles of the headquarters, they
are not so extensive. The region OF
the neck also has some very large,
powerful muscles.
Careful investigation has shown that
those muscles which are most used are
Coarsest in fiber, and toughest for hui
man consumption. On the other hand
those least used are fines in fiber and
most ender Thus ii Is that the mus
Giles of the neck are coarse tough and
undesirable for food; those OF the fore
limbs but slightly less SO, while those
Of the headquarters, back and loin, fur
nish the most tender cuts.
The foregoing explains the reason for
the high value placed on the cuts from
the back, loin and headquarters. In
the city markets the carcass is divided
into certain parts, and the value of the
parts above mentioned is triple that OF
the other portions of the body. Since
these are the valuable portions, IL lis
but natural that the butcher should
seek for animals possessing a high pro-
portion of valuable cuts. He finds this
I'm animals that possess certain definite
characteristics.
a broad back and long, wide hind
quarters AFFORD greater space for flesh