I have broken down whole carcasses for 26 years, the last 11 as head butcher of a shop that moves roughly 2.4 tonnes of beef a month. I train apprentices on seam butchery, dry ageing, and counter work, and I have put 14 of them through their Level 3. My knife roll weighs more than my luggage allowance and I have made peace with that.
CHART A Skill cuts diagram
Every skill has a cut. Every cut has a use.
№
Cut / Skill
Grade
Best used for
1
Round · Whole-carcass breakdown
PRIME
Side of beef to counter-ready in under 4 hours
2
Loin · Seam butchery
PRIME
Muscle-by-muscle work, 96% saleable yield
3
Flank · Sausage & charcuterie
CHOICE
House recipes, 18 varieties, 2 regional awards
4
Rib · Dry ageing
PRIME
Runs the 28 to 60 day chamber, 3% trim loss target
5
Chuck · Apprentice training
CHOICE
14 apprentices certified since 2015
6
Head · Counter & customer work
SELECT
Saturday queues of 40+, no fainters since 2019
CHART B Work on the block
Head Butcher
Hagrid & Sons Quality Meats · Aberdeen
2015 – Present
Run a 6-person shop floor moving 2.4 tonnes of beef, 900 kg of pork, and 400 kg of lamb monthly.
Built the dry-ageing programme from one shelf to a 380 kg chamber, now 22% of shop turnover.
Cut carcass waste from 9% to 4.5% by moving the whole team to seam butchery over 18 months.
Senior Butcher
Granite City Provisioners · Aberdeen
2007 – 2015
Broke down 12 to 15 beef sides weekly for a wholesale operation supplying 30 restaurants.
Standardised cutting specs across 4 sites, holding portion variance under 15 grams.
Won the North East Sausage Championship twice, 2011 and 2013, with a pork and Stornoway link.
Apprentice, then Butcher
Duthie Bros. Family Butchers · Stonehaven
1998 – 2007
Completed a 4-year apprenticeship covering beef, pork, lamb, and game bird preparation.
Took over the Saturday counter at 21, serving 200+ customers a shift.
Papers & tickets
Master Butcher's Certificate, Scottish Federation of Meat Traders · 2012