My hogs are on death row

[miron28]

how do you find a mobile butcher? i am thinking about getting some cows and i don't have a trailer to haul them with. i was hoping to find a mobile butcher anyone know how to find one? i looked in the phone book but can't find any

 

[hatchaholic]

What kind of trailer do ya'll use? Is it specifically a livestock trailer? Any pics?? We are having a hard time finding one.

 

[sara]

In actual cost it was about 200.00 per hog including the price of the piglet. I have an idea how much the butchering will be, but it depends on hanging weight where they are going. I did get my pigs a little larger so I didn't feed them as long as normal, so the price is a little lower than most.




I think my pigs are cute, even now at butchering weight. I've always liked pigs though. Some people might think they are ugly.

 

[sara]

Quote:
We have a 16 foot gooseneck livestock trailer. That's what we use to haul all of our stuff around.

 

[hatchaholic]

Quote:
I think they are cute, too. I love my pigs!! They are really cool to have around. I'm going to really miss them, but we are already working on the next batch!!

 

[JCM]

We raise livestock on our small farm. We are also butchers. We have a USDA Processing Facility in Kentucky. For a family, I would recommend only taking the hog to 250-280 lbs. That's about our market weight. There is little loss to a hog. A good hog should dress at about 75%. We only charge 45 cents per lb dressed wt to process and a $45 slaughter/rendering bill. So a 250 lb hog would cost approx $130.00. We also smoke the bacons and slice them $$2.00 per lb. A 250 lbs hog would have a green belly wt of approx 24-25 lbs and the yield of bacon would be about 20-22 lbs for both bellies with an additional cost of approx $48 making the total around $180.00.

Gosh, folks in Kentucky must be getting a bargain compared to the other post in Washington.

As for how much meat do you get, well that depends on how much fat has to be trimmed away and how you decide to have one cut. Typically, you would get the bacons as aove at around 20lbs or so. Standard cuts around here would be pork chops @ about 40 pcs or so for both sides (depending on how thick you like them cut). Then you would get approx 8-10 boston butt roasts, if you like ham roasts you could get approx 8-10 or hams roats and approx 6-8 shoulder roasts or if you like fresh ham steaks and shoulder steaks you would get...well, alot of them. Also pork steak are popular (off the butt portion of the shoulder) and you would also get alot of those considering 8-10 butt roasts would not be in sliced pk steak. Then there's the spare ribs and boy do I love the spare ribs. You get two full racks (one from each side) or if you chose to have boneless pork chops, you would also get the baby back ribs and two pork tenderloins. Just depends on what you like. There's also the backbones which are great for soups and such. If you chose to have boneless chops and baby backs you would also get the backbones, which are also great for soups, but we cook them like ribs. There are alot of options on a hog. Best of all...little to no waste. You also have several hocks, another great soup seasoner. Even with all of those cuts, you are still bound to get 25-30 lbs of sausage.

I would have to say finished meat out of a 250 lb market hog would yield approx 170 lbs of meat or better. But again, it depends on how you choose to have it cut.

Our family has been processing hogs for 40+ years. I would have to disagree slightly with the previous post on yields. I believe you can get more for less, but it depends on the processor rates in your area. Ours are much lower than stated here.

 

[greyfields]

Everything is far costlier out here, from fuel to feed. I'm very pleased with the job I get done at the USDA facility (the butcher is from Edinburgh, and his work is better than any american I've seen). $0.82/lb is high, but I could get it about $0.15 cheaper if I wanted to drive an additional 250 miles roundtrip. It's never really penciled out put that way.

I'm having a 28 lb ham for Bonfire night here.

 

[JCM]

Thank you. I find that interesting. We have the finest USDA small processing establishment from Missouri, Arkansas, Tennesee, Indiana, Ohio, and beyond with a 100% clean track record and skilled generational butchers. High tech temperature controls under constant external monitoring, etc... with a 95% returning customer base. We originally started in Michigan, but later moved to Kentucky where we have been processing for 25 years. Our customers travel as much as 4 hours (one way) to receive our quality services. And our rates are high for our area...so kuddos to you, if that's a bargain for your area. As long as you're happy with the processor that you use, price shouldn't really matter. Since there are some questionable processors out there.

 

[sara]

Back from the butcher. The hogs weighed 244, 278 & 289 lbs. Tomorrow I will post a picture of the halves hanging. It was very interesting. This is our first time doing this.

 

[ozark hen]

We had our two picked up about 3 wks ago. They charged 43 cents per pound to process. twenty dollars kill fee and .20 cents per mile...we were 17 miles from them. I had them named and they would come to me when I called them. But................I have had no remorse. the meat is awesome. I do not care for thick cut bacon but this curing process made the bacon sooooo good. yum
We divided up one hog between four of our daughters as a Christmas present. None of the girls have deep freezes and didn't want much.................then...............they tasted it and want to have more next year. Since this was a first time experience of raising them. I was a bit apprehensive, but no more, I am looking forward to raising more next spring. It took five months to get them to butcher weight...about 200 pounds. We are talking of building them a larger pen next year and getting four or five of them. They were easy to raise and as long as they are in a very secure area...ours got out three times in five months...then they are no problem. Must admit, it was easy to return them to their pen when they did get out. they just ran around the yard laughing like..yoo hoo, this is fun...did not root up the yard but did eat grass. They were fun and very clean animals. They always used one spot to defecate. I was impressed at their cleanliness. They loved for me to hose them down and I made them a large mud hole to keep cool in. They had a large dry "pig house" to rest in and plenty of shade when needed.