Had a whole hog show up with a broken leg bone from the farm

It was a Tuesday morning when a local farm dropped off a Berkshire hog that had broken its leg before harvest. The bone had healed wrong, leaving a big, hard knot of callus right in the prime ham. I was sure I'd have to write off a huge piece of meat. My old boss, Frank, always said to work with what you've got, so I spent about three hours carefully cutting around that knot, following the muscle seams to save every bit of good meat I could. I ended up with about 15 pounds of perfect ham steaks and roasts I thought were lost. It was a slow, careful job, but it felt good to not waste it. Made me think about all the oddball stuff that comes through the door. Anyone else ever get an animal with a healed injury that changed your whole break down plan?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathanh4417d ago

That callus must have been rock hard.

oscar75417d ago

Man, that's the truth. It's wild how our bodies just adapt to whatever we put them through, you know? You see it everywhere, not just with hands. People's whole outlook gets tougher after enough hard times. Makes you wonder what we're all building that kind of thick skin for, doesn't it?

tyler82223h ago

Yeah, it's a strange kind of survival skill. We toughen up just to handle the next thing coming down the line. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to.