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The Complete Guide to Becoming A Slaughterer and Meat Packer
What you'll really do, what you'll really earn, and whether you can handle the work — before you spend a dime on training
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Slaughterer and Meat Packer Actually Do?
Let's get one thing straight from the start: this is not a desk job, and it's not a job you can do half-asleep. A slaughterer and meat packer is someone who works at the very beginning of the food supply chain, converting live animals into the cuts of meat you see wrapped in plastic at the grocery store. If you're reading this, you already know the basics. What you need is the dirt — what the actual hours feel like, what the air smells like, what your body endures, and what tools you'll live with. That's what this chapter is for. By the time you finish it, you'll have a mental image of the work that's sharp enough to start making your decision.
The Core Work: Two Halves of One Job
The official job title is often split into two overlapping roles, and which one you do depends on the size of the plant you work in. In a small processing facility with twenty employees, you'll likely do both. In a large plant that processes thousands of animals a day, you'll be assigned to one specific station and you'll do that station's job for your entire shift. That's the first thing to understand: the work is repetitive by design.
The slaughtering side is the one that gets all the attention. This involves stunning the animal, hanging it, bleeding it, and then removing the hide, head, feet, and internal organs.