How much $ to raise a pig to butcher?

[FarmGirl01]

I fed them for 150 days to about 250lbs.

 

[HobbyChickener]

I am not the type to complain about someone elses opinion but I am going to. This one really gets me.

Greyfields,
I would LOVE for you to come and see my pig operation. You are constantly complaining about "Us Commercial" pig growers. Yes my pigs live on concrete. In VERY well lit tempature controled barns. They NEVER EVER have "slop" thrown to them. "Slop" and rooting in contaminated mud is the prime reason that pigs got the wrap that they did for being wormy and poor meat quality animals. Mine are all fed a good nutritious feed which is largely fresh ground corn. No they don't sit out in the sun all day but they also don't sit in the rain, snow, 100 degree temp, and the single degree temps. No it is not the ultimate animal life but it is also not the horrible abuse that you are always claiming that it is. All I ask is that you don't judge us all by the small part of it that you actually see.

Hobby

 

[MissPrissy]

It is very easy to misinterpret other members intent and 'voice' in written word. Please remember the rules of this forum.

Play nice on the playground.

We do not need to lock another thread that has very useful information for us all.

 

[s6bee]

Quote:
I am curious about this as well. What would the actual breakdown be if someone could do that for me I'd really appreciate it. ( lbs. of bacon, loin, etc. )

 

[FarmGirl01]

I wish I could do that. I started to count the pieces of meat as I was packing them away in the freezer. With the two hogs, we will have enough meat for a year.
Maybe someone else kept a record of theirs.
Last night I cooked ribs. They were so good.

 

[greyfields]

250 lb hanging pig yields around 140 lbs of finished meat. This is a rough break down from my last hob. This is just a sum of what I sold at the market, and I'm pretty sure I took a bit for our own freezer.

Chops: 12 lbs
Pork Steak: 12 lbs
Shoulder Roast: 10 lbs
Tenderloin: 2.5 lbs
Baby Back Ribs: 2.5 lbs
Spareribs: 5 lbs
Ground Pork: 18 lbs
Leg of Pork: 40 lbs
Bacon: 10 lbs

 

[cjeanean]

has anyone considered butchering their own???? I know when we were kids my dad bought a cow and a pig and butchered them himself, we had a TON more meat than the butcher told us we would have, and it was an interesting process. Just an idea, don't know if anyone would want to try that.

 

[FarmGirl01]

We know how. Its just that we aren't sure how to smoke the meat. I wouldn't want to take a chance.
Also we traded our hams for country ham. Soooo good. The butcher packages the meat so nice with easy to read labels and just the right amount in each package. Really worth it for us.
And one last reason. At the end of the year we butcher deer for us and the neighbors. By then I'm sick of packaging up meat. Gena

 

[LoneCowboy]

Quote:
That seems really low. Should be about 70% of wet weight and that's before gutting. So you should get 175 lbs out of a 250 lb pig before kill. At least that's what the book and everybody else has told us.

 

[SeaChick]

I believe we get about 60% of packaged meat from the pig we buy locally. That's 60% of hanging weight. More when we take leaf lard, back fat, and offal. I enjoyed feeding the heart, liver, etc to the chickens this winter. They were pretty happy about it, too!