Butchery has been a respected profession since ancient times. From small groups of hunter-gatherers all the way up to sprawling modern cities, butchers have played an essential role in the flourishing of any civilization. The craft of butchering evolved from simple means rooted in necessity.

Ancient humans would have needed to figure out ways to create sharp rocks in order to scavenge meat from carcasses killed by carnivorous animals. Some of the earliest evidence can be seen with butchered giant tortoise and sloth carcasses in ancient sinkholes in Florida. As tool making improved over time, the art of butchery became more refined.

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The profession really began to thrive during medieval times in Europe. The butchers of this period were highly respected due to their cutting-edge adoption of hygiene practices ahead of the curve compared with most of the population. Death and disease from unsanitary conditions ran rampant during medieval times, and butchers were able to utilize hygienic practices to prevent spread of disease and food poisoning from meat. They formed guilds to share techniques and improve skills. By the 1200s, the butcher was revered as a trade of high standing equal to a mason or physician.

The Best Quality Meat Comes From Small-Scale Butchers

The butcher was the center of villages, towns and cities, a fixture of communities small and large. A trustworthy butcher was a master of their craft, preparing meat with skill and providing families with quality nourishment. These small-scale local butchers worked with animals sourced from nearby farms and built relationships with their customers, who were also their neighbors. These days were not so long ago, times when local economies were naturally supported by the residents and imported food was not yet a relevant subject.

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Today, the meat industry has undergone massive changes with the widespread use of factory farming techniques. The ill effects of these practices are rampant. The animals are kept in cruel, cramped conditions that are completely inhumane.

Due to the filth and disease that naturally results, they’re pumped full of antibiotics to keep them alive. Hormones and steroids are administered to increase their size, resulting in more monetary profits. They’re exposed to huge amounts of toxins and pollutants, as is the water and soil surrounding these cesspools. These factory farms are awful for the environment, detrimental to our health and ethically intolerable.

Ethically Raised Meat Delivered Straight To Your Door

Artisan butchers who stand for the honor that has historically surrounded their profession refuse to work with these operations. It’s easy to see why. When factory farmed animals are taken to the huge industrial slaughterhouses where they’ll be butchered, they often are in such poor health they’re unable to walk.

They’re slaughtered as quickly as possible and workers are often unskilled, resulting in animals that are still alive while the butchering begins. In many factories, the butchering process is partially or even completely done by machines. Because their profits are directly related to the number of animals killed, the line continues relentlessly, stopping for nothing.

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Thankfully, there are still excellent, small-scale butchers dedicated to their craft and humane practices. They utilize timeless, traditional methods of butchering meat by hand, eschewing mechanized and unethical practices. There is exceptional care taken with each animal and these old school butchers produce only a tiny fraction of the meat that industrial farms make. This time and attention allows butchers to ensure that every part of the animal is used. Nothing is wasted and cuts are made to maximize quality, not speed.

Beck & Bulow: The Best Small-Scale Meat Delivery Service

At Beck & Bulow, we use utmost discernment when selecting the butchers we work with. The animals our meat comes from are not only raised with honor and respect, but are butchered with consciousness and expertise. Our local butchers work on very small scales and produce the most beautiful, quality cuts of meat. One of our butchers works exclusively with bison, a third generation family-owned business. Then there’s the Amish butchers we work with, lifelong masters of their craft with five people working on each individual animal at a time. Everything is done by hand, with the highest level of skill and attention.

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We’re passionate about high quality meat that’s delicious, ethically raised and butchered with care. We know that this makes our meat really stand out because of the way it tastes, looks, and the way it makes you feel. Every aspect of our meat is done the right way, because to us that’s the only way. These animals are strong, robust and raised wild or essentially wild, and our butchers are masters of their craft. You’ll be able to feel the energetic difference of consuming meat that’s raised the way nature intended and treated with respect every step of the way, from our ranch to your door.