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That one Tuesday where every forequarter seemed to have a broken blade
Last month we had a stretch where I sharpened my knives three times in one shift. Usually I can go a full day on one steel, but that Tuesday was something else. The steers were all coming in from a single lot near Amarillo and the connective tissue was like leather. I blew through two band saw blades on primal cuts before lunch. The forequarter bones were splintering bad, sending chips into the ribeye roll. Had to trim out almost ten pounds of scrap from one side alone. The kill floor guys said the cattle had been stressed coming through a drought. Anyone else deal with whole lots that just fight you different?
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oscarc121mo ago
That line about "fought you different" really stuck with me because my buddy Dave from the Omaha plant told me about a lot just like that. He said their kill floor sent through a batch of drought-stressed cows from Nebraska and every single forequarter had the blade snapping like twigs. He had to stop three times just to pull bone fragments out of the ribeye rolls, and his band saw operator went through four blades before lunch. By the end of that shift he said the meat looked like someone had been trying to grind concrete in there. I guess when the cattle are that stressed everything just gets tough and brittle at the same time.
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michaeld481mo ago
Man that sounds rough, I feel your pain! Had a similar run last spring where a whole load of Holsteins came in and every single forequarter felt like it was packed with gristle and rock-hard sinew. I resharpened my breaking knife like four times before noon and still ended up with a sore wrist for a week.
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