Missouri high school teaches kids how to cull, butcher and cook animal carcasses to battle soaring grocery bills

Students at a Missouri high school start their school day with morning hunting, then proceed to butchering and cooking animal carcasses. 

At Maysville High School in Maysville, MO,  a farm-to-table class has been offered by family and consumer science teacher Amy Kanak and agriculture teacher Brandi Ellis since 2022.

Students learn to hunt, dissect and identify animal organs, process the harvested meat, and prepare it for cooking as part of programs offered by the Missouri Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter.

'It forces them out of their comfort zone a little bit,' Ellis told the New York Times, adding that the classes are important as Americans battle soaring grocery bills.

The average American household spends $1,080 per month at the grocery store, and in the golden state of California, the average household splurges $297.72 per week.

Students at a Missouri high school start their school day with morning hunting, then proceed to butchering and cooking animal carcasses

At Maysville High School in Maysville, a farm-to-table class has been offered by family and consumer science teacher Amy Kanak and agriculture teacher Brandi Ellis since 2022

Students learn to hunt, dissect and identify animal organs, process the harvested meat, and prepare it for cooking as part of programs offered by the Missouri Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter

As two years of rampant inflation takes its toll on grocery budgets, the cost of food at home has risen 2.6 percent in the last 12 months, according to HelpAdvisor's analysis of data from the US Census Household Pulse Survey.

If students know how to hunt and process a deer, which yields 55 to 70 pounds of processed meat, or prepare a chicken, which averages 70 percent of the meat and skin of its original weight, they may have a much more affordable option.

Students at Maysville High School in Maysville, located an hour's drive north of Kansas City, were already raising livestock, learning to hunt, and assisting their parents on their farms before enrolling in agriculture classes.

Garrett Bray, who was a senior in 2022, learned hunting from his father and has been hunting from a young age.

Brendan Barton, a junior at the time, owned 17 breeding sheep, ten market lambs, two cows, two heifers, two butcher calves, and three breeding swine, as the school shared on Facebook. 

In the new farm-to-table class, many students picked up a knife and made a cut for the first time as important part of the process of understanding where their food comes from. 

Family and consumer science teacher Amy Kanak(left) and agriculture teacher Brandi Ellis(right) have taught the course since 2022 

In the new farm-to-table class, many students picked up a knife and made a cut for the first time as important part of the process of understanding where their food comes from

In one class about animaral reproduction, students were tasked with identifying each section of a real female reproductive tract!

In different class units, students were tasked with identifying animal organs, processing raw meat, and bringing it to the table.

At times, they learned safe hunting tips and found themselves embarking on early morning hunting trips before field dressing and quartering the harvest. 

They also identified and felt different parts of reproductive tract, heart, lungs, and other organs they harvested from animals. 

One specific class was dedicated to pork, as students broke down one side of pork into retail cuts, labeled, and prepared it for cooking. 

In photos shared on the school's social media account, Sophia Redman, a freshman in 2022, can be seen holding a knife and made the initial cut into a deer. 

Local residents and businesses participate in the program too, with wholesalers donating their meat and farmers giving out their livestock. 

In different class units, students were tasked with identifying animal organs, processing raw meat, and bringing it to the table

One specific class was dedicated to pork, as students broke down one side of pork into retail cuts, labeled, and prepared it for cooking

Later, students learned to cull, defeather, and remove the organs and feet of chickens before marinating them and placing them into the oven

In December of last year, a neighbor called Ellis and asked to donate their seven 'overly aggressive' roosters to the program. 

Later, students learned to cull, defeather, and remove the organs and feet of chickens before marinating them and placing them into the oven. 

The school shared photos of kids enjoying their meals including grilled chicken breast and deep-friend drumsticks. 

Hyatt Processing, a local processing facility and meat wholesaler, donated pork for the school's agricultural science classes. 

Photos capture a dozen of kids breaking down the pork rack and cutting meat before they moved to the kitchen table and marinated it for pork tenderloin. 

Photos capture a dozen of kids breaking down the pork rack and cutting meat before they moved to the kitchen table and marinated it for pork tenderloin

Many students enrolled in the agriculture class at Maysville High School proceeded to work part-time at local butcher shops, meat wholesalers, and farms. 

Kloie Wade, a sophomore in 2021, went to work at Hyatt Processing for her supervised agriculture experience, a mandatory component of the FFA's program. 

At the facility house where multiple giant beef carcasses were hung, the young girl can be seen tenderizing the meat and packing ground beef with an apron on.

'She has already learned how to wrap, tenderize, package burger, clean the area and cut meat! Her boss is impressed that she is willing to work and learn new skills,' the school said in a post.