"It’s the only program of its kind in the state and one of a handful throughout the country," said Butchery instructor Joe Parajecki who teaches the protein ID class.

Parajecki has been a butcher for 26 years. He is also one of 90 master meat cutters in the world. His love and appreciation for teaching the lost art of cutting meat run deep.

"If we don't bring butchers into the world. Nobody is going to be there to cut the meat, and if there's nobody to cut the meat, what do we eat?" Parajecki said.

With limited options to learn how to get into the trade, The Artisanal Modern Meat Production Program at Madison College was created to fill the need.

"That's the reality these students are all part of keeping the industry alive," Parajecki said.

Future butcher Amber Ferry is one of 8 students learning how to cut all kinds of meat. 

"All kinds of different cuts, how to prepare, pretty much anything. you’d find in a grocery and more," she said.

"Where a Ribeye comes from where on the carcass, where the New York Strip comes from," said Parajecki.

Amber is taking the program so that she can open a butchery at her family-run farm." We need to be able to cut our beef at home," she said.

The need for more skilled local butchers is a reality the pandemic exposed for many Wisconsin farmers who faced meat processing capacity challenges.

"We're struggling to find places to get them in at meet lockers are full and they're booked out about two years," Ferry said.

Now, Amber and her family will have the option of doing it all themselves on their schedule while providing their community with fresh meat from the farm to the table.

Every Monday all the meat that students cut is then sold in the student-run butcher shop at the Truax Campus. Learn more about the program here.