More want local beef, but fewer want tough job of cutting it
DES MOINES, Iowa — Kent Weise loves his work, but after 38 years slaughtering cattle, lugging carcasses that can weigh more than 1,000 pounds and slowly, methodically slicing cuts of meat, he understands why few people want to go into the business anymore.
Amend Packing Company owner Kent Weise butchers beef in Des Moines, Iowa. Demand for local beef is surging but people who slaughter cattle and slice the beef say few people want to go into the business. Between 1990 and 2010 the number of U.S. slaughterhouses had dropped from 1,200 to 800.
