oops fastest.

its all you big beef git r done....take fdarn with u he can be ur caddy and hold ur knife bag..lol...

hehe. I can hold knife bags too....I have many years of training and experience.

mmmmm  45 mins, what the hell the other two going to do ????? O EXCUSE ME, I had a flash back to my young blood days  LOLOL

AHHHH  Tia, I wish that was so, I love the business, MiSS IT, but I'm sooooo slow now I couldn't catch a meat wrapper walking across the cutting room.

butcher29 wrote:

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its all you big beef git r done....take fdarn with u he can be ur caddy and hold ur knife bag..lol...

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 I owe you for this one.......Payback is a mother

When I was a young buck I wanted to be the fastest, and I was ONE of the fastest. But  you know what?  After several trips to the ER, an ambulance ride or two, some surgeries to re-attach tendons, a missing finger tip, a 12 inch steak knife held to my ribs and being told to slow down and stop making others look bad, etc, I decided to instead be one of the smartest and most profitable. That worked out much better for me. I haven't broken down hanging beef in 25 years and haven't even cut meat professionally in 16, though you never forget.

I wish i was there i would also apply.

Good questions CarniceroLarry, here are more details;

Each team of three has 45 minutes to break the hind quarter. It is judged partly on speed but only such that you finish within the time frame. The judges then look at trim, [they look in the bone "barrel" as well] presentation, case-ready cuts, variety, skill, etc. Each team can merchandise it however they would like. That is the part that is so fun to watch. There is a team of butcher brothers from Mexico City who have won the last 2 years hands down and they do some really cool cuts that are different than what we do in the states. Basically the team that turns that hind quarter into the most well utilized, delicious looking "meat counter" of ready to sell, grill, roast, you name it wins.

I also like your idea about the wholesale plant competition. Hmmm........

Oh and Thanks for the bump "Old Man" ;)

Id love t do a competition, Im told that Im fast all the time, but you have to consider your source.

A couple times I severed tendons that operate the index and middle finger of my right hand (I'm left handed) once with a 6" boning knive and once with an 8" chuck (breaking) knife. Both times were when breaking down beef and the knife slipped.  That was back in the old days when there was more emphasis on speed than safety. I once took the tip of my middle finger off on a band saw but that was not breaking down beef. Another time I was boning a chuck on a cutting table, my knife slipped off the blade bone, hit the NYLON cutting table and in an instant bounced off the table and into my stomach, severing an artery and just missing my intestine.  That one was the ambulance ride. I do not think that would have happened if we were still using wood blocks instead of nylon cutting tables.

Of course I saw much worse in thise days, much worse, but as I got older and wiser, I got slower and safer.