My Days on the Farm

Ok, sometimes you say something on television, and then you regret it. That happened today! Tom was interviewing Ryan O’Reilly of 415 Entertainment. He wrote a book called “Snapshot”, about a gen x-er who decided to abandon the family business and hit the road to find himself.

So, I decide to comment on MY family business. My grandfather owned and operated a meatpacking company in Northeast Texas for most of his life. When I was a kid, I had to wear boots when I would walk around the plant, and I told Tom about these knee high boots on the air. Our producer’s sexist jokes aside, I’ll explain the knee high boots after the jump. Only read if you can really handle how meat is processed before it hits your dinner table.

OK LAST WARNING, IF YOU WANT TO STILL ENJOY MEAT, DON’T READ THIS!

When I was 8, I really wanted a pair of tall white boots. The style at the time was knee high, and I wanted the kind that the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders wore. (oh, they were live in in the Fox studio with Shep a few months ago, I honestly could not stop laughing) but at the age of 8 living in Dallas, the cheerleaders were everything!

Ok, back to the meatpacking plant. So, we had what we called “the kill floor”, which was the room where the cow was dragged in by the back hooves after being shot, and then skinned (leather) and then bled out (by the neck) and then cut into halves. From the kill floor, the meat was moved into a giant cooler, and then later sent through to be cut and packaged in another section of the facility.

Hey, I warned you.

So, I decide to do what my grandfather told me NOT to do, walk back to the kill floor in my brand new white boots. Oh the yelling! He was so mad at me. I was up to my knees in blood, and the white boots were covered.

So, I did not go into the family business. And neither did Ryan O’Reilly. But, I still eat meat. And if Jeff Flock wants to do another slaughterhouse segment for Fox Business, I will be happy to tell more stories.

Hungry?

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