CHAPTER XIHIDES AND PELTS.

Green Hides — Condition — Scores — Prod Pole Damage — Clean Floors — Leather Yields — Pattern — Proper Storage For Hides — Grading — Grubs in Hides — Salt to Be Used — Building of Packs of Hides — Trimming of Green Hides — Switches — Shrinkage of Hides — Sheep Pelts.

—Next in value to the beef is the hide and the handling, curing, etc., of this particular part of the animal, until it is ready to be delivered requires careful attention to obtain the best results. For convenience in handling green hides a special hide truck, shown inFig. 51, is usually employed. The platform of the truck is 3¹⁄₂ × 5¹⁄₂ feet, with a 1¹⁄₄ inch hardwood plank eight inches high on one side and on front end. The wheels are about eighteen inches in diameter.

FIG. 51.—HIDE TRUCK FOR CARTING BEEF HIDES.

—The first consideration, of course, is the condition of the hide. There has been marked improvement in recent years in the handling of hides. Formerly, where unskilled workmen were killing only a few cattle daily, or weekly, they did not become proficient in the removal of hides and the hide was more or less damaged by scores and cuts. When cattle are killed in large numbers it is necessary to make adivision of labor, and instead of one man doing many parts of the work, he simply does one part continuously, and hence becomes very skillful; the “take-off” of the hide, particularly, is improved. That this condition is appreciated by tanners is evidenced by the difference in price paid for country and packers hides; the tanners paying from ³⁄₄c to 1c more per pound for packers hides because the hide has been properly taken off, while a country hide, which is usually taken off by workmen less skilled has been cut and scored, the scores being particularly objectionable.

—A score in a hide is made by cutting into it when removing, far enough to damage the grain of the leather, and when it comes from the tannery, scores show very plainly and in many cases one-half of the thickness of the leather is lost by this defect. Hides taken off properly, should not show these imperfections, in fact, should be as smooth as though slipped off the animal, were that possible, instead of by a knife, and with skilled workmanship such is the case. One man doing one particular operation continuously, the “take-off” of hides has been so improved that less than ten hides out of a thousand are found to be “No. 2” quality when taken out of the cellar in a well-regulated house.

The “take-off” of the hides particularly should be watched by the killing foreman and the workmen’s attention drawn to the slightest defects continuously, as much depends upon the reputation a house may have for its take-off. Many of the small scores which are found to materially damage the hide when tanned are invisible when the hide is taken out of the packer’s cellar, as owing to discoloration, salt, etc., it is impossible to see many of them, but they are all visible when the leather is turned out. Consequently, if a house has a reputation for bad “take-off,” buyers usually aim to buy the hides from a plant with a good take-off. Hence it will be seen that in this particular department it means a great deal to have a good reputation for “take-off.”

FIG. 52.—DIAGRAM OF HIDES.

—Outside of the “take-off” there are several other points which should be watched carefully on the killing floor in the handling of this particular article. The hides should not be damaged with prod poles by the men handling cattle in the pens. The floors should be kept as clean as possible, especially where the cattle are thrown out of the knocking pens, as blood is very objectionable on the hides. It is liable to cause decomposition when the hide is in pack, and if it does sufficiently for the hair to slip on the hides, it becomes a “No. 2.” Another bad feature is that a bloody hide will discolor the flesh side of the skinnext to it in pack, and it is always advisable to get the hides out as bright and clean as possible, as buyers prefer them so.

Another reason why they should be kept as dry as possible is that the hides are weighed as taken off for general record and also for estimating the cost of the beef. If the hides are allowed to get wet they will absorb four or five pounds per hide, which if deducted from the calculations, will represent a false credit of 40c or 50c per head on the cattle. It is best to keep them as dry as possible, so that weights used for figuring and record purposes may be accurate. If the hides go into the packs excessively wet, when shipped, they will necessarily show an excess shrinkage from green to cured weights, causing confusion as to actual shrinkage.

—While it is advisable to have hides carry as much moisture as is acceptable to the buyer, it is not profitable to have them too wet, as the buyers watch such matters and if a lot of hides from a certain house do not show the yield in leather which they should, purchases made after that from such a house are made proportionate to the yield, hence the additional weight that may be gained is more than lost in the price realized. There is a happy medium to be sought in this matter where the seller gets all that he is entitled to and the buyer is satisfied with the yield he obtains.

—The diagram,Fig. 52, shows the pattern of a packing house hide and, as nearly as can be indicated on paper, it shows the part removed by each workman.

—This is a point usually not given due consideration, some packers reasoning that as long as their hides are in a building, little else is to be considered. The following figures which are accurate, will give the reader an idea of the loss that lack of attention in this particular matter may represent. It will be noted that the test extends over a period of one year, representing a test on a total of 198,341 hides.

A total of 87,587 hides were cured in houseNo. 1, which consists of a cellar under refrigerated rooms. While no attempt was made to refrigerate this room there was a natural radiation to the floor above which held the temperature at from 55° to 60° F. in hot weather. There were but two openingsin the cellar and naturally little circulation of air, hence the moisture of the cellar was retained and the hides show a shrinkage of 14.74 per cent from the green weight on bed to shipping weight.

A total of 110,754 of these hides were cured in houseNo. 2. This was on the first floor of the building and no refrigeration was used in any of the departments. There were several openings into this room, permitting the outside air to circulate through the building and a great deal of moisture naturally absorbed. It will be noted by comparing the reports that the shrinkage in this cellar was 16.67 per cent from thegreen weight to the shipping weight, showing an excess of 1.83 per cent, which would show a loss of 154,686 pounds. This, at an average of 10c per pound, would indicate a loss of $15,468.60 sustained by having this number of hides in this particular cellar, as against what would have been realized had they shown no more shrinkage than those in houseNo. 1, so that it will readily be seen that it is of vital importance to the owner to see that the hides are stored in suitable storage, that there is as little circulation as possible of outside air through this department, and that all doors and openings are kept closed as much as possible. This is paramount, in case hides are sold, seller’s weights, at works. On long shipments involving many transfers and exposures, the matter is not of such consequence.

—This is a question which must be governed largely by the local conditions. Many small killers find it profitable to sell their hides without selections, rather than to try to make the different selections with a comparatively limited number to select from, whereas, where cattle are killed in large numbers it is advisable to make just as many selections as is profitable, being governed, of course, at all times by the market quotations and demands. The usual grades of hides are termed as follows:

—Native steer hides are hides from native steers which are free of brands. Another selection of natives is what is called “spreadies,” which are hides taken from native cattle free of brands, cuts, scores, or grubs and must be six feet four inches wide at the shoulders.

—This is the term used to designate all hides taken off southern cattle where the hide is very thick and heavy. Brands are not taken into consideration on these selections.

—These are either natives or western hides which are branded on the butts.

—These are hides from the western cattle, which are too thin for Texas and are branded on the sides.

A distinction is also made in all these hides as to weights, sixty-one pounds and up being heavy, sixty pounds and below being light and fifty pounds and below being extra light.

Cow hides are selected as natives and branded cows; bullhides as natives and branded bulls. While all bull hides are not sold as such, hides with a thick neck or pate are sold under this term.

—There are two cattle “bot-flies” or “warble-flies,” as they are often termed. One of these (Hypoderma lineata) is found in the United States, being found more frequently in the southern part of the country. The adult is about the size of a honey bee. The female deposits her eggs in summer in the region of the heel of the animal, causing very much discomfort. In licking the irritated spot the eggs are taken into the mouth of the animal and hatched, the larvae entering the esophagus or gullet and finally working their way into the cellular tissue beneath the skin of the back. In early spring they develop, forming lumps known as “warbles,” and become what are known as “grubs.” After working their way through the skin they drop to the ground, into which they burrow and pupate, finally emerging as adult flies. The damage caused by these insects to the hides amounts to millions of dollars per year, as in general practice five grub holes constitute a “No. 2” hide, on which there is a deduction of one cent per pound.

According to the rules of the trade, Texas and branded cows are grubbed from November 1 to June 1, Colorados are grubbed from December 1 to June 1, native steers, native bulls and native cows are grubbed from January 1 to June 1. No allowance is made after June 1 for grubs in hides taken off after that date.

—The kind of salt generally used in large plants for this purpose is a rock salt, which is a mined product run through crushers and screens. Large lumps are more or less objectionable and if allowed to be used will injure the appearance of the hide. Hides in a pack weigh very heavily per cubic foot and the lower hides are subject to a considerable pressure, or weight. Large lumps of salt between the hides in the pack make bad looking indentations, although they do not necessarily injure the hides for tanning purposes.

Three parts of rock salt and one part of fine salt make a very good combination. The fine salt quickly forms a moisture which the hides will absorb, preventing quite a perceptibleshrinkage as shown by careful tests. When a pack of hides is taken up the “second salt” is saved and by using one-third new with two-thirds of old salt it can be used over. It will be found that this addition of new salt about makes up for the loss in salt that is dissolved in the pack during the curing process.

Salt for the hides should be kept clean. If there is a great deal of manure and dirt mixed with the salt, it discolors the hides, injuring their appearance. When the salt is found to be dirty and out of condition it is advisable to screen it, using a screen same as is used for screening sand. The salt is thrown against the screen, the finer salt will sift through and the coarser salt, dirt, etc., will gather at the bottom of the screen. Salt that has been through the screen will be found comparatively clean and ready for use; that which has not passed through should be washed. While this will dissolve a considerable amount of it, it will, at the same time, wash out most of the impurities. If handled in the above manner, a careful workman should be able to salt hides with from thirty-one to thirty-five pounds of salt per hide.

—Packing hides is an operation which should receive close and careful attention. In the building of the pack, the outer edges should be kept high all the way around, so that the center of the pack will hold liquid. When the pack is finished it should be leveled off at the top so that it will be as near even as possible. The natural moisture in the hides, together with the salt, will form a liquor which the hides absorb, and if the pack is built slanting, so as to allow the liquid to pass off, it will be found that the hides are continuously drawing on the sides, and when they are taken up the shrinkage from green weights will be considerably in excess of those from packs properly built.

—Before the hides are packed they should be examined for brands, etc., and be distributed to their proper packs, according to assortment. The switch is cut off from the tail, any loose ends of the hides are trimmed off and the ears split. Unless this is done, it makes an uneven pack on account of the thickness of the ears; furthermore the salt does not have a chance to penetrate the ears and they areliable to spoil. Any loose pieces of meat that the butchers may have left on the hide should be taken off, as well as any excess amount of fat. The hides after being trimmed should be allowed to lay for three to five hours to cool. If the hides are put into the pack without doing this, it is likely that, when the pack is taken up, some hides will be found on which the hair has slipped; these are necessarily No. 2 hides, and as the uniform rule is 1c per pound less for No. 2’s than for No. 1’s, it will show a loss of approximately 50c to 60c per hide. Another bad feature of having “slip-hides” is the fact that if the buyer finds them at all, he is always suspicious that there are others in the pack which are out of condition, that he has not seen, and that they will come out of the tannery with unsatisfactory results.

When hides are put in the pack, extreme care should be used to see thatevery partof the hide is exposed to salt. The legs should be straightened out flat and the pates thoroughly spread, so that the salt may reach every part. Hides should lie in pack and salt for from twenty-five to thirty days before they are fully cured. At the expiration of this time they are ready for shipment, and are taken out of salt, inspected and each one rolled into a bundle and tied.

—The switches should be spread out on the floor and given a thorough chance to cool off, when they are thrown into a pack by themselves and heavily salted. They should be watched closely, as there is unavoidably considerable blood and moisture in them, and if any sign of heating is found they should be overhauled and resalted.

—No set rule can be made as to how much hides will actually shrink, but if the foregoing directions are followed closely and intelligently the shrinkage may be kept at the minimum, which will usually range from 12 to 15 per cent. This is governed largely, as before stated, by the amount of water which the hides take up on the killing floor, which if weighed with the hide will nearly all seep out when put into the packs and cause an excess shrinkage from the original green weights. Further the storage has a great deal to do with it, but if proper care is taken the shrinkage should be kept within the figures given.

—The handling of sheep pelts, especially in hot weather, requires careful attention. The pelts, as soon as taken off, should be spread out in a room where it is as cold as possible without being refrigerated, and allowed to cool off for at least twelve hours before salting. This is especially necessary when the animal slaughtered has a very heavy fleece; with shearlings there is little or no necessity for taking this precaution. Fleece skins, however, hold the heat, so that when put into a pack and salted, if not properly cooled, they soon begin to warm and decompose, and as soon as the wool slips, the leather of the skin is ruined.

After the pelts have been spread out and allowed to thoroughly chill, as suggested, they should be salted in piles not to exceed thirty inches high by putting one skin on top of another, flesh side up, and using a fine solar salt, care being taken that they are thoroughly salted around the heads and leggings. After they have been in salt for a week, it is well, especially in warm weather, to overhaul them, shifting the packs so that when through, the top pelts are on the bottom and vice versa. After they have lain in salt for two weeks they are ready for shipment.

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