All careers

Slaughterers and Meat Packers

Perform nonroutine or precision functions involving the preparation of large portions of meat. Work may include specialized slaughtering tasks, cutting standard or premium cuts of meat for marketing, making sausage, or wrapping meats. Work typically occurs in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale establishments.

What you’d do

  • Remove bones, and cut meat into standard cuts in preparation for marketing.
  • Sever jugular veins to drain blood and facilitate slaughtering.
  • Tend assembly lines, performing a few of the many cuts needed to process a carcass.
  • Shackle hind legs of animals to raise them for slaughtering or skinning.
  • Slit open, eviscerate, and trim carcasses of slaughtered animals.
  • Stun animals prior to slaughtering.
  • Skin sections of animals or whole animals.
  • Cut, trim, skin, sort, and wash viscera of slaughtered animals to separate edible portions from offal.

Skills that matter

  • Speaking
  • Active Listening
  • Critical Thinking
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Monitoring
  • Operations Monitoring

How to get there

Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

Also called

  • Boning Room Worker
  • Meat Packer
  • Meat Processor
  • Meat Wrapper
  • Meat Packager
  • Saw Man

Related careers

See all careers

  • Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

    • Bright Outlook
    • Rapid Growth

    Use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood.

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Butchers and Meat Cutters

    Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments.

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals

    Attend to live farm, ranch, open range or aquacultural animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses and other equines…

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products

    Grade, sort, or classify unprocessed food and other agricultural products by size, weight, color, or condition.

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Food Preparation Workers

    • Bright Outlook
    • Numerous Job Openings

    Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing…

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

  • Animal Breeders

    Select and breed animals according to their genealogy, characteristics, and offspring.

    Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one