This is quite ugly, but I have to go to work and this is just the first thing that popped into my head. It uses the local $/ like you described. 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

local $/ = "\nField 1:  ";

my $data = <DATA>;
$data =~ s/Field 1:  $//;
chop($data);
print "[$data]\n";

while (<DATA>) {
    s/Field 1:  $//;
    $_ = "Field 1:  $_";
    chop;
    print "[$_]\n";
}

__DATA__
Field 1:  abc
Field 2:  asdfasdf
Field 2:  asdfasdfase
Field 2:  aaa
Field 3:  ss
Field 1:  def
Field 2:  abc123
Field 3:  blah
Field 1:  asdfa

[download]
Output is: 
[Field 1:  abc
Field 2:  asdfasdf
Field 2:  asdfasdfase
Field 2:  aaa
Field 3:  ss]
[Field 1:  def
Field 2:  abc123
Field 3:  blah]
[Field 1:  asdf]

[download]

In reply to Re: Help to slurp records - $/ maybe? by jgallagher
in thread Help to slurp records - $/ maybe? by Limbic~Region

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.