The Slaughterhouse

After Diamonds, and maybe Tourism, Beef is one of Botswana's largest industries. Since I have been here I have consumed more beef than I care to mention and have seen cows roaming in fields, across highways, and through neighborhood streets. That was why it was so exciting to see the middle of the beef industry, where live animals turn into the meat I eat everyday.

(If you are sensitive to gory descriptions in any way you probably should skip this post)

Last week the study abroad program took my group to a slaughterhouse/ butchery. When we entered we got dressed in white pants, white lab coats, hair nets, helmets, and huge white rubber boots. When we had finished that long process we scrubbed our boots and hands and entered the factory. The first thing I saw was half a cow dangling from a hook. Then I looked up and saw various body parts dangling above me. We dodged the hanging meat and walked throughout the factory until we came to the beginning of the line. Here cows were entering one by one. They would be led individually into a small corral where they would be stunned by electric shock. Then a man with a pressurized rod gun would shoot them through the head. Another man would wrap a chain around one of the cow's legs and a machine would lift the cow into the air. This method of killing the cow leaves the cow brain dead, so it can't feel or think, but it leaves the heart pumping. As it moved down the line another person would slit its throat, letting the heart naturally pump the blood out of the cow. One creepy part of this process is that because the heart is still pumping the muscles are still twitching and sometimes the cow still kicks, but I had to remind myself that this is just a result of the natural bodily functions and not a reaction of the cow feeling anything (the cow IS dead). Needless to say, blood was EVERYWHERE. As the cows moved further down the line we followed. In the next few steps the head, hooves, and skin are removed and you are left with a very odd looking footless mass of muscle. Each person along the line had a specific job, removing a specific part of the body. One man ran a machine that cut the entire cow directly in half down the spinal cord so we got to view a perfect cross section of the animal. Another man made small cuts along the stomach which allowed him to remove all the inards in one, swift movement. Piece by piece each cow was slowly disassembled like a piece of machinery. Each body part was put on a hook and moved to the next station, and we walked below these dangling organs as we moved from place to place. In the next room workers were checking the safety of the meat and then sending it on to the freezers where it stayed chilled for 12 hours. On the other side of the freezers the meat from the previous day was being removed and moved on to a room where skilled butchers removed the meat from the bones. The meat was seperated depending on its type and grade while the bones where removed and turned into bone meal. Then the pieces of meat traveled to the packing room where they were vacuum sealed and labeled. They were then boxed and frozen before being shipped out to the rest of the world.

The entire process was gory, yes, but also completely fascinating. Within this one establishment I got to witness a complex process that is completely entangled with almost every area of study (anatomically, socially, environmentally, economically). Upon leaving I also felt like I was fully aware of what takes place in order for me to consume beef. I am no longer a blind consumer who can ignore the costs, I have witnessed live animals becoming consumable meals. And although for lunch that day I opted for chicken instead of beef (it was a little too soon for a burger) I will not be becoming a vegetarian anytime soon.

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