2/19-22/13

The next few days we worked on improving our technique by taking it slow.  I never realized how much was involved in cutting up meat.  Knowing where to cut to make as much profit as possible was frustrating at times until we understood the different values of the pig.  Once we understood things like the belly (bacon) sold for a lot more than other areas, we took extra care in our cuts.

Slow and careful
 

 

We weren't the only ones in the lab.  A few MSU students worked alongside us for a paycheck.

Though we may have been a disruption, these young people were kind and helpful in showing this old man everything they knew. When the end of the week rolled around, we had an evaluation of all we had learned about cutting pork.  I'm happy to say we all passed and though we are still very inexperienced, we have a basic foundation to build our skills on.  Next week we start on beef.

2/18/13

Today we witnessed beef slaughter, but before I get to that I want to introduce the main people we will be working with.

            Ryan Varner Asst. Meat Lab Mgr.                                                                      Jennifer Dominguez  Meat Lab Mgr.

  

Jennifer was kind enough to allow 11 vets to come and disrupt her lab with a million questions yet showed the patience of a superior manager.

Ryan grew up butchering meat with his father and his skills were extraordinary. The thing I appreciated was his patience, though he deals with students daily we had to test his limits. How he always seemed to have a smile on his face is beyond me.

Now the key player in our instruction was Ms. Sarah Wells.  She had spent a few days with us at KBS but now we were on her turf.  Over the course of our stay on campus she became a very important person in our lives.

Sarah Wells

Back to the beef slaughter.  Today they slaughtered 5 beef cattle.  Now none of us actually participated in the process as we don't have the required skills.  The staff here does everything humanly possible to ensure the animal doesn't suffer unnecessarily.  Though I don't want to get on my soap box these animals were raised for this purpose and I love beef.

The process of slaughter is first the stun followed by the animal being bled out. Then the animal is skinned, gutted, split and moved to the cooler to age before being cut for the consumer.

Skinning

Gutting

Splitting

 It was an interesting morning but now it's back to cutting pork. We will cut this beef next week.

2/17/13

We finally made it to campus and are staying in the Kellogg Convention Center.  It is another top notch hotel with all the amenities.  We've been given meal tickets to use at the dorms.  I have to say MSU's dining facilities are second to none.  We eat breakfast and supper at Brody Hall since it's across from the hotel.  We eat lunch at Shaw Hall as it's close to the meat lab.  These halls have food courts with a large variety of choices.

Our first day in the meat lab....geared up with supplies from JBS...... we are ready to cut something!

We started cutting pork partly because it is cheaper and smaller. Sarah Wells helped walk us thru the basics and allowed us to start cutting. The flash cards we studied at KBS were helpful, but dealing with the real thing is the only way to learn.

Things went well and we were all happy to get some hands on experience after all our classroom work!

2/10/13 - 2/17/13

It is the last week at KBS and of course the most intense.  We are in two training programs. The first program lasting two full days was the ServSafe Food Production Manager Certification.  This certification is nationally recognized and will be just another tool for us to use.

Rita Klavinski  and Jeannie Nichols

This course involved all aspects of food safety.  We covered time and temperature controls of various types of food to ensure the safety of those who consume it. We discussed the different types of foodborne illnesses, the bacteria or viruses that may cause this, and how to prevent them. In all, it was pretty interesting and since a written test was required for certification we all paid attention. I'm happy to say that all 11 of us passed.

Dr. Boreen

The other three days of the week were spent on HACCP, which stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. This certification required 25 contact hrs. with our instructors Dr. Al Boreen and Sarah Wells. Dr. Boreen, among his various duties, helped set up the meat lab and was the manager there until his retirement.  He now teaches this class all over the world.  Sarah Wells is an instructor in Animal Science Department and works in the meat lab teaching at MSU. She will be our instructor when we get there. I have pictures of her when we get on her turf.

HACCP, in general terms, is a plan to ensure the safe production of food products.  The plan involves how and where health hazards may be lurking in the course of production. A flow chart is developed and the critical control points are identified.  Appropriate measures are then made to prevent the risks of food hazards.  That's the basics.........and now we're off to MSU. 

2/7/13

Today was Red Cross CPR and first-aid training.  All of us had been trained before but things have changedsince back then.  The breath to compression ratio and they didn't have portable defibrillators available last time I was certified.

Oliver and Lewis

The instructor had us all demonstrate our skills before we could be certified.  This being Friday, we had our one on one with Tom just make sure everything was going okay. After meeting with Tom we had a free weekend to relax for next weeks classes.

2/6/13

Today we had Dr. Randy Showerman, Dir. of Ag. at MSU.  He shared his knowledge of 4-H and FFA. We talked about a lot of different ag related subjects from beef cattle to corn.  What most of were most interested in was MSU and what we would be doing there. I know after sitting in a class for the last 3 weeks I'm ready for a change.  Dr. Showerman asked what type of recreational things we would like to do and we all gave our input. I'm looking forward to it.                      

Dr. Showerman

Since we've been studying meat cuts, Dr. Showerman had a jeopardy game made up on his power point.  We were split up into 2 teams - MSU  vs U of M.  Since Notre Dame wasn't an option, I went with the MSU team.  The MSU team we had an added advantage of being able to look at a meat chart during the first half of the competition.  I don't know why but the other team seemed to have a problem with this, go figure :)   Anyway we all had a good time!

2/4/13

Today we had Taylor Harrison a student in animal science.  She explained the different breeds of beef cattle and the pros and cons of each breed.  It was interesting, but most of us just want to start cutting some meat.  I never realized how many women were involved in agriculture.  I guess I fell into the old stereotypical thinking.  Farming = fathers and sons.  Taylor grew up in 4-H and showing beef cattle and although this is her last year in 4-H, she remains active in agriculture.  In the afternoon we went to the academic center to learn basic computer skills.  We all have varying degrees of computer skills, some of us plain don't have any. 

2/5/13

In our class today we had Jennifer from the Xerces Society.  Jennifer works in Entomology, the study of insects.  

                                                        Jennifer

Some wondered what this really had to do with meat cutting, but it seems all things related one way or another. We leaned how different insects can be beneficial to field crops and considering feed corn and grain are used to feed cattle, the connection was made.

In the afternoon we visited the manor house here at KBS.  We were given a tour which explained the history of the house and Kellogg family.  We also learned how the property was given to MSU.  On the way out we had to get a photo of the whole group of Vets to Ag.