Hit my 1000th lamb breakdown today, didn't see that coming

I've been breaking down whole lambs for about 6 years now at the shop I work at in Tacoma. Today I counted my ticket stubs out of habit and realized I've done over 1000 of them, which is wild because I still feel like I'm figuring it out. What changed my mind is that my knife work is way more consistent now, and I can do a full breakdown in 22 minutes flat when I used to take almost an hour. I always thought experience meant you got faster, but really it means you make fewer mistakes and waste less meat. Has anyone else hit a number like that and suddenly felt like they actually knew what they were doing?

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the_paul1mo ago

Man, that's wild... I read somewhere that most butchers say it takes about 500 to really get the feel, but hitting 1000 sounds like you're past the point where your hands just know what to do without thinking much.

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