Butcher called...pigs are ready for pickup

[hatchaholic]

We took our 3 pigs to butcher the week before Thanksgiving. They called today and said the meat was ready, well all but the the hams, bacon, and fatback. Dressed out, the weight was 592 lbs total. Individually, 205, 200, and 187. We guesstimated they weighed in around 250 when we took them.

I do have a question, though. How many coolers (100 qt, I think..) will it take to bring home all this meat? Having trouble visualizing that much meat!!

Thanks, ya'll!

 

[greyfields]

Those are really nice hanging weights. The hanging weight is roughly 2/3 the live weight, so they were a little bigger on the hoof than you're guessing.

You'd be hard pressed to fit one pig in those really huge Costco size coolers. My butcher boxes them for me in cardboard so I can rush them home. Remember the meat is all frozen, so it's like being on ice. Except it is ice itself, if you know what I mean.

Unless you're driving hours on end in hot weather, I would'nt worry about it.

 

[hatchaholic]

Thanks, greyfields!

Well, it's actually a 2 hour drive, one way, to the butcher. I think the weather is supposed to be in the 50s-60s that day.

We have 4 coolers lined up to use. I hope that's enough.... The bacon, fatback, and hams aren't ready yet, so I'm guessing we'll have enough room to haul.

I hate having to go that far, especially since we have a processor 10 minutes away from my house, but this one is USDA inspected. And, the one by my house doesn't do any kind of curing at all.

 

[greyfields]

That's just about how far I drive, too. 200 miles roundtrip to the nearest USDA facility which will deal with small producers.