Adjective meaning "covered with
boils." Used by men that worked at
meat canning
plants in late
19th century America, specifically
Chicago, in reference to some of the
cattle they killed. Apparenty,
old,
decrepit,
diseased cattle would be searched out from around the country for the express
purpose of making into
canned meat, as no one would notice that the
beef they were eating was
rancid and sickly anyway.
"Steerly" animals were generally those which had fed on whisky-malt--leftovers from breweries. This would do horrible things to the animals and make them deformed and nasty. However, they were used for food anyway, and the American public was none-the-wiser for a very long time.
Almost makes you want to become a vegetarian, huh?
For more information about the horrors of the meat-packing industry, read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle