Buying pigs for meat.. Would this be a good deal?

[Wolf-Kim]

Adam and I were thinking of purchasing a pig straight from the farm for our next pig pickin' instead of purchasing one from the local meat market.

We were talking to the farmer we get our grain from and he had an extra pig he would be willing to sell to us. Although, our pig pickin' is in November and the pig is already around 200 lbs. He said he would sell it for $100.

So I have a few questions for those of you who raise/buy pigs for meat. Would this pig be any good if I bought it now, and waited until November to slaughter it?

Do any of you slaughter your pigs yourself? We wouldn't need cuts, because we cook the whole pig. How would do you kill a pig at home?

Is $100 a good price for a 200 lb pig?

Thanks!
-Kim

 

[wynedot55]

sounds like a great price.a 200lb pig is 30 days away from being finished.so you wouldnt have that much in feed cost.your getting him for .50 a lb.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

But that would be .50 per pound of live meat, correct? When they say it is a 200 lb pig, is that is regards to live weight or the processed weight?

So if he is 30 days from processing, he wouldn't last until November for our pig-pickin then, huh?

-Kim

 

[jkcove08]

I would not wait all the way until November to slaughter it. JMO... If it is already 200 lbs you are going to want to wait until it is around 280 to 300 lbs and it wont take more then another month or 2 at the most to reach that weight. Is there anything wrong with him, belly rupture, hurnia(sp?) anything like that. If so it might die before then too. Also if this is a male pig you will want to make sure that it was castrated or it will have a very different flavor to its meat due to the hormones. Some people dont notice it but other will. I am wondering why this farmer is willing to sell a 200lb pig for $100....... I butcher our pigs here at home. We cut the throat and bleed it out. Sounds bad but you can not take a 22 and shot it in the head unless you are at point blank range. Thier heads are EXTREMELY hard and small bullets have been know to not penatrate to kill. Good luck, Jenn

 

[greyfields]

That's a great price. They are generally 6 months old when ready to process (I like 275-300 range). So, if it's 100 pounds already it's probably 3-4 months old. You'll be ready more like September.

 

[dangerouschicken]

A good deal. We usually pay close to $500 for a finished/butchered 250lb. hog.

 

[MayberrySaint]

That pig will weigh about 420 lb on Nov 1...

 

[boilerjoe_96]

It won't wait until november. Butcher in 30 days...or kill in 30 days and freeze in a BIG freezer. Best option is to probably find another pig for your pig pickin'...... Will still be a good pig for the family though...

$50 per cwt is about market price these days for a hog like that.

420 lbs would probably be too big for 'pig pickin'(disclaimer: I am not from N Carolina so not familiar with specifics of pig pickin....we only have Pig Roasts in Indiana....

 

[zippychickens]

You guys are making me drool! All this pig pickin' talk is making me hungry.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I guess we'll just have to wait and find another pig. We buy grain from the farmer so he has earned an honest reputation with us. So I don't think he's priced it low just to get rid of it, they have 5 hogs, 2 for him, 2 for his sons, and an extra just in case. So he was going to sell us the extra since we asked.

I never realized that pigs grew that fast, being ready to butcher in about 6 months.

LOL. I guess a 420 lb pig would be too big for the pig cooker.. LOL.. We usually buy a 120-150 lb pig(already slaughtered and ready to cook)..

-Kim