Every year, the Butchers of America gathers six candidates from across the country to compete in the World Butchers Challenge, and in 2025, Raymond Williams of Los Alamos will represent Team USA.
For those unfamiliar, the World Butchers Challenge is known to many as “The Olympics of Meat.”
“We have three hours and 30 minutes to break down half a beef, half a pig, a whole lamb, five chickens,” explained Williams.
He says his mother, Shirley, first taught him how to cut meat when he was 9-years-old.
Williams then picked up butchering as a trade, working in mom-and-pop shops, the Vandenberg Space Force Base commissary, and teaching inmates at the Lompoc Federal Prison.
“We have a full slaughterhouse; the inmates take care of the animals. We go from slaughter, to cut, to wrap,” Williams said about his job as a vocational instructor.
“I was constantly getting messages from the inmates about what a great job he was doing and how much they were learning from his class,” said Matthew Hoskins, former supervisor of education at the prison.
Williams says he and his five team members will spend the coming year fine-tuning their butchering skills during monthly practices in Sacramento. He adds that the Team USA group hails from New York, Montana, Pennsylvania, Utah – and the small town of Los Alamos.
“It is huge! We have such a tiny, little small town and everybody has really come together for Ray, and we are all very excited,” added former Los Alamos Valley Men’s Club president Kim Iness.
“We are co-owners of Whiskey Bent BBQ. Everything Ray does is no surprise to me. I think he should have been chosen for the team before he even tried out,” Matt Dockstader told KSBY.
Ahead of the 2025 competition, Williams says his catering service, Whiskey Bent, will be raising money for the Paris trip by hosting raffles, butchering classes and giveaways.
He adds that making Butchers of America’s Team USA would not have been possible without the support of his wife, Wendy, and the local community.
“To think that I started this as an interest that I liked to do way back when I was a kid. It has come all the way to this, going to Paris, France to butcher, it is just an amazing feeling,” said Williams.
It is expected that nearly 3,000 spectators will be coming out to the 2025 Paris World Butcher’s Challenge – one of those being Matt Dockstader, Raymond’s best friend since high school.
When asked what it means to see his best friend from high school going to Paris to cut meat, Dockstader replied, “I am going to be carrying his suitcase! I will be right there next to him the whole damn time."
The 2025 World Butchers Challenge is slated for March 30-31 in Paris, France.
