[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Pigs 2009 (Page 4 of 5)
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Feral, I don't know if you mentioned it but how big is the hutch you have? Will all 3 fit in there at the same time? How much water do the 3 drink a day? I have wanted to rebuild the old pig pen here on my family's farm, but don't have water run down there. They drink a LOT of water. esp when it's warm or hot I've got a 100 gallon pig waterer and when it's 80's/90's they knock it down to about half in 2 days. when small. (40-75lbs) Even last winter when all the hoses were froze up and it was cold I had to carry 2 to 4 5 gallon buckets down every other day. |
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The hutch is 8' X 10' and is ample for 3 hogs. You could probably put 6 in there. Water is pretty much why we don't have pigs now......wanted to move them out before things freeze. Like Bozeman said, they drink a lot. A market weight hog will probably drink 2 gallons of water a day, if not a bit more. Doesn't seem like much, but multiply it by a few hogs and it adds up. Hauling water in 5 gallon buckets in January gets old fast, or so Mrs. Feral tells me.  Can't say much about the processing except that moving the pigs went extremely smoothly. We don't get our meat back 'til Monday. I'm letting them grind the sausage meat as that's included in the kill/cut fee, so I'll just have to wrap and vac pack things and spice the sausage. Won't be all that exciting except for doing the bacon and pancetta. |
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Pig's back. Basically two coolers full. Having the sausage trimmings ground is cheating, I guess, but it's also a big timesaver. A full pig gets us about the following: 40 7/8" cut chops, 70 pounds ground pork, 2 pork bellies. The meat from the chops is a dark pink.....shows the difference between a confinement-raised animal and a pig that has had the opportunity to romp and root out in the sun. It really is an unmistakeable difference in the meat. The chops aren't pale at all. The bellies are thin but magnificent. I'm working now on getting them rubbed down with a cure. Gotta run.           |
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WOW! Just WOW! I predict some good eats in your future!
Keep in mind that if you put too much into the freezer at one time, it can decrease the temps inside the freezer enough to defrost some of the items that are already frozen. They will re-freeze, but you might have some things (ice cream is bad about this) that just aren't as good when they are re-frozen. |
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Quoted: Keep in mind that if you put too much into the freezer at one time, it can decrease the temps inside the freezer enough to defrost some of the items that are already frozen. They will re-freeze, but you might have some things (ice cream is bad about this) that just aren't as good when they are re-frozen. 10-4 on that.....I'm spreading this meat out over 3 different freezers. It would be difficult to put all this meat up at once if you were working with one freezer. |
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Pig's back. Basically two coolers full. Having the sausage trimmings ground is cheating, I guess, but it's also a big timesaver. A full pig gets us about the following: 40 7/8" cut chops, 70 pounds ground pork, 2 pork bellies. The meat from the chops is a dark pink.....shows the difference between a confinement-raised animal and a pig that has had the opportunity to romp and root out in the sun. It really is an unmistakeable difference in the meat. The chops aren't pale at all. The bellies are thin but magnificent. I'm working now on getting them rubbed down with a cure. Gotta run. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2437.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2440.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2442.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2444.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2446.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2448.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2452.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2456.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2457.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/IMG_2460.jpg WOW.....congrats....I am jealous......hungry to. 
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| This looks awesome. This past weekend was my first time making brats. 25 pounds came out to about 110 links, total cost was $1 lb + $8 for casings and cure. The bellies that you have look like they are going to make great bacon. I get to participate for the first time this December with the slaughter and then we will make summer sausage with some of the pork and any deer that has been taken this year. Tomorrow night is going to be some kraut + brats + taters + onions = good cold weather meal. Congrats on your successful season. |
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Feral, did you sell some of the meat, such as the hams? And if so, then not to be nosy about specifics, but in the end, what is the final financial situation? I.E. did you break even $$ wise & got a ton of meat too, make a profit, got the meat for less $$ than it would have cost to buy, etc?
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Quoted: Feral, did you sell some of the meat, such as the hams? And if so, then not to be nosy about specifics, but in the end, what is the final financial situation? I.E. did you break even $$ wise & got a ton of meat too, make a profit, got the meat for less $$ than it would have cost to buy, etc? I sold two of the pigs, kept one. Put 1900 pounds of feed into these guys which is better than last year. I made a few bucks selling them and also received some goods and services in exchange. Toting everything up, I figure that my family's finished meat ended up costing us ~$0.50 per pound after paying the butcher. |
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Put 1900 pounds of feed into these guys which is better than last year. Toting everything up, I figure that my family's finished meat ended up costing us ~$0.50 per pound after paying the butcher. Ferel What was the total weight on the hoof for the two pigs? And what did you end up netting from the butcher? Nice looking meat by the way, good job Thinking about getting two pigs next spring here. Was thinking about keeping them around 7-8 months so I dont have to deal with the frozen winter conditions. If two will eat 1900 pounds of grain in that time frame, it might be worth my while to do this. |
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What was the total weight on the hoof for the two pigs? And what did you end up netting from the butcher? Nice looking meat by the way, good job Thinking about getting two pigs next spring here. Was thinking about keeping them around 7-8 months so I dont have to deal with the frozen winter conditions. If two will eat 1900 pounds of grain in that time frame, it might be worth my while to do this. Had three pigs, not two. Hanging weights were in the 140s which implies live weights ~215 pounds. Fairly light pigs, but they also were fed for somewhat less than 5 months. In retrospect, I wish I had kept them for a few more weeks. How much you get from the hanging weight depends on how you cut, or have cut, the pig. We did nothing but chops, ground pork, hams and bacons and yielded about 110 pounds from the one we kept. Keep in mind that the 1900 pounds-of-feed figure may be somewhat misleading as I did supplement their rations with squash that I grew and fruit I picked up at a local orchard. Conservatively I fed them several hundred pounds of each. Not sure how much difference it made to the overall feed bill, but I'm sure it made some difference. By the time I hauled them, the three were eating 50 pounds of feed a day. Next year, provided I get feeder pigs, I'm gonna get them several months earlier I think and still shoot for a October/November butchering date. I'm giving serious consideration to getting a sow though. If I do that I won't buy any more feeders. |
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Thinking about getting two pigs next spring here. Was thinking about keeping them around 7-8 months so I dont have to deal with the frozen winter conditions. If two will eat 1900 pounds of grain in that time frame, it might be worth my while to do this. won't work wayyyy too long they'll be huge and mostly fat. We'll easily to get 250+ in 5 months. The last set the big one was 235 HANGING weight in almost 5 months to the day. That's about a 280lb pig. |
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We'll easily to get 250+ in 5 months. The last set the big one was 235 HANGING weight in almost 5 months to the day. That's about a 280lb pig. I'm still scratching my head a bit on why my weights weren't a bit higher. I'm wondering if it was too much supplementing with fruit and squash? Also wondering if the pen let them run too much.....and these were some pigs that loved to run. Seems like every time I looked at them they were racing each other around the pen. |
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Thinking about getting two pigs next spring here. Was thinking about keeping them around 7-8 months so I dont have to deal with the frozen winter conditions. If two will eat 1900 pounds of grain in that time frame, it might be worth my while to do this. won't work wayyyy too long they'll be huge and mostly fat. We'll easily to get 250+ in 5 months. The last set the big one was 235 HANGING weight in almost 5 months to the day. That's about a 280lb pig. One of mine this last spring hung at over 250, and the other was close behind! I processed one myself earlier, that probably was around 200, hanging. Butcher asked me why I let them get so big, and an old farmer friend asked me why I killed them so soon. 
He lets his go 300-400, says he likes a BIG ham! Even at a live weight of 300, mine were still very lean, almost not enough fat for sausage. |
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We'll easily to get 250+ in 5 months. The last set the big one was 235 HANGING weight in almost 5 months to the day. That's about a 280lb pig. I'm still scratching my head a bit on why my weights weren't a bit higher. I'm wondering if it was too much supplementing with fruit and squash? Also wondering if the pen let them run too much.....and these were some pigs that loved to run. Seems like every time I looked at them they were racing each other around the pen. Mine run all the time (they are just too funny for words) ummm, maybe cuz you use the crappy cheap food, just like I keep telling you. 
was it cold? They don't gain as much in the cold I"ve noticed. |
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Mine run all the time (they are just too funny for words) ummm, maybe cuz you use the crappy cheap food, just like I keep telling you.
was it cold? They don't gain as much in the cold I"ve noticed. Crappy cheap food. 
I think the fact of the matter is that I should've kept these hogs for a few more weeks. Probably would've bulked 'em up a bit. I might try the hi-test feed next time around. Have to drive an extra 20 miles to get it though. One thin I'm curious about is whether you let your hogs self-feed or you feed them a given amount of rations at a particular time? |
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Mine run all the time (they are just too funny for words) ummm, maybe cuz you use the crappy cheap food, just like I keep telling you.
was it cold? They don't gain as much in the cold I"ve noticed. Crappy cheap food.
I think the fact of the matter is that I should've kept these hogs for a few more weeks. Probably would've bulked 'em up a bit. I might try the hi-test feed next time around. Have to drive an extra 20 miles to get it though. One thin I'm curious about is whether you let your hogs self-feed or you feed them a given amount of rations at a particular time? free feed. If a hog ain't eating, it's sick. EATING machine. I just keep the feeder full and throw them something fun at least every other day (scraps, squash, leftovers, whatever) they like their treats. yeah, I don't schedule my hogs to be butchered til they are at the weight I want them at. The butcher only needs a week or two notice. |
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yeah, I don't schedule my hogs to be butchered til they are at the weight I want them at. The butcher only needs a week or two notice. You're lucky with the whole kill truck thing. Hauling the pigs is a bit of a headache for me as I have to drum up extra help to unload them at the butcher. I wish somebody around here would run one––would eliminate shrink as well. Our butcher isn't quite as flexible either....needs more notice. I don't want to switch though as I actually trust this guy to be giving me back nothing but MY meat. (As a general side note......take your 1, 2, or 3 animals to a USDA-inspected butcher and you're almost certainly NOT getting "your" ground meat back. Primal and sub-primal cuts......maybe. Ground meat? No.) Anyway, picked up our hams yesterday.....makes it all worthwhile in the end. We had hamsteaks sliced off the hams––one hamsteak makes a meal for us. The remainder of both hams were divided, giving us 4 sizable hams for special meals. 
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It's time to start a new thread, "What breed of sow should I get?" answer: anything with some Yorkshire in her recent family I've heard people say that Yorkshires "do well in the barn, but not on pasture." Don't know if that's true or not, but I need a pig that'll thrive outside on pasture. I'd give her an A-frame, but that would be about it. Also, would like to have a mellow sow as I don't want her roughing up the kids. |
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well, my pigs are growing like hogs.
Unbelievable. boys definitely grow faster than girls Pigs like thanksgiving too. There is no wastage wherever we go for T-day. "just throw it all in a bag, anything left on plates, etc, we'll take it ALL" come home, put in pig treat feeder, 5 minutes later, all gone. |
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Kind of a silly question. Was the butcher that you brought them to a one stop shop? Or did they get slaughtered elsewhere, and the "sides" brought to the butcher? They're a "custom butcher" running under state (not USDA) inspection. Bring the animal(s) at a pre-arranged time and they kill them and cut them up, returning the meat to you at whatever level of processing you feel like paying for. Which is to say you can get your meat returned to you in whatever cuts you want, vac-packed and frozen. We had them do our hams this year but took everything else as fresh meat and packed it at home. Keeps the costs down that way. In PA at least, I don't think you can bring dead livestock to a custom butcher and have it processed. I could be wrong on that, but that's my understanding of things. I know for sure they won't touch "downer" animals. |
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In PA at least, I don't think you can bring dead livestock to a custom butcher and have it processed. I could be wrong on that, but that's my understanding of things. I know for sure they won't touch "downer" animals. From my research on this in Colorado that's the rule here too. It has to be alive when they touch it. We take our meat birds to a USDA facility and they all have to be alive, and then inspected before being killed. |
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We have bought a side of beef twice now. We cut a check to the butcher, and another to the Farm that raised them. I didn't have much interest in what happened in between, until now. We are about ready to order another one now. I think I'll pay the farmer another visit, with a list of questions.
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Kind of a silly question. Was the butcher that you brought them to a one stop shop? Or did they get slaughtered elsewhere, and the "sides" brought to the butcher? They're a "custom butcher" running under state (not USDA) inspection. Bring the animal(s) at a pre-arranged time and they kill them and cut them up, returning the meat to you at whatever level of processing you feel like paying for. Which is to say you can get your meat returned to you in whatever cuts you want, vac-packed and frozen. We had them do our hams this year but took everything else as fresh meat and packed it at home. Keeps the costs down that way. In PA at least, I don't think you can bring dead livestock to a custom butcher and have it processed. I could be wrong on that, but that's my understanding of things. I know for sure they won't touch "downer" animals. A guy I know here sells farm labelled pork and beef on farm, so he hauls to a USDA approved site up in PA. I have used a local guy who will kill,scald, and scrap and deliver (for $40) to an excellent local butcher. Local Amish usually tack on $25-30 for kill/scald/scrape on top of their butchering fees, so they are one-stop shopping. We used them this year for all the local fair livestock after the sale, with good results, although they did hike the processing fee up a little, and couldn't take ALL the animals at once, but generally folks were happy with them. |
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Could someone link me to the 2008 thread? http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=615324 http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=619834 |
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Could someone link me to the 2008 thread? http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=615324 http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=619834 Thanks! I really enjoy your posts, keep them coming! |
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Final Update
I just sold off my pigs, so thought the numbers would be interesting. We got them 9/4/2009. The hog hut and fencing and waterer we already put up two years ago, so this year just pigs, straw, food and butchering fees. We butchered them on 1/5/2010, almost 4 months to the day. Honestly, it was too soon, they were a little smaller than we would have liked, but it was hard to tell and it's been a cold hard winter. Should have held them 2 more weeks. We bought them at almost exactly 40lbs each, 155 total lbs, one was a week behind, so he was smaller. These were all barrows (male), which was new, our last sets have always been female (no preference, just the way it worked out). Hanging weights (killed, skinned, head and feat gone and gutted. 220, 200, 190, 170 (last year they were 230, 210, 205, 190) for 780 total lbs. We bought 38 50lb bags of Purina Hog Chow (starter, grower, than the last 6 were finisher. $13 to $14 per bag for starter and grower, finisher is $20). 1900lbs of food, along with lots of squash and goodies. We sell them for $2.35/hanging lb PLUS butchering fees. Gross sales: $2235 (610lbs) pigs: $155 Food: $605 Butchering fees: $1036 Net: $438 plus, we kept the small pig (170lbs), so we get free pork all year. (2 of us, we like pork )
We weighed a few of the finished ones, it appears that finished is about 75% of hanging weight. So, a 100lb hanging half yields about 75lbs of finished meat. Did they have hocks, neck, liver, etc, don't know, the percentage was consistent across 3 half pigs. Good number for further use. a 1/2 pig comes out between $325 and $400 finished. (was true last year too, even with bigger pigs) Hope this helps. |
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Thanks for the update and stats.
Always like to see how otherfolks do it. Our feed runs a little lower here, grower ration is right at $10.(Southern States) A little cheaper at the Amish mill, so if I'm over that way, I'll buy there.(been lucky- only feeding maybe 30-35% ith purchased feed) It seems folks are more willing to pay a premium out there for quality. We know some folks nearby that do command a premium price for their branded pork (and beef, and poultry) but they have spent years building up a dedicated clientele, so it can be done here. Although most folks balk at paying anything above the CHEAPEST price they can find. Rereading your post, I see you mentioned them being skinned? I had two of ours processed commercially last year just because I wanted smoked hams, etc. The third one, I skinned and processed as I do deer. Did you not sell hams? Thanks again, Dave |
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Rereading your post, I see you mentioned them being skinned? I had two of ours processed commercially last year just because I wanted smoked hams, etc. The third one, I skinned and processed as I do deer. Did you not sell hams? My butcher skins 'em and we still got hams. |
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Thanks for the update and stats. Always like to see how otherfolks do it. Our feed runs a little lower here, grower ration is right at $10.(Southern States) A little cheaper at the Amish mill, so if I'm over that way, I'll buy there.(been lucky- only feeding maybe 30-35% ith purchased feed) It seems folks are more willing to pay a premium out there for quality. We know some folks nearby that do command a premium price for their branded pork (and beef, and poultry) but they have spent years building up a dedicated clientele, so it can be done here. Although most folks balk at paying anything above the CHEAPEST price they can find. Rereading your post, I see you mentioned them being skinned? I had two of ours processed commercially last year just because I wanted smoked hams, etc. The third one, I skinned and processed as I do deer. Did you not sell hams? Thanks again, Dave yeah, we got hams but unless you do USDA butchering, you can't sell individual cuts. we are just selling the pig and they are "paying the butcher" for THEIR meat. (it's a technicality, but key) also, I think you'll find (we certainly have) that cheaper food just requires more of it, so the cost is similar, but you move a lot more bags of food buying the cheaper stuff. |
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Thanks.
They folks I mentioned with their own branded products actually haul all the way up to PA to a USDA approved facilty. As far as the feed, around here it's basically Southern States OR whatever the Amish mix up. TSC does sell something too I guess. But about 2/3 of what we're feeding IS premium: premium, out of date, FREE dog food. Actually had some cat food, but protein was up around 37-40% so I fed it very sparingly, cur with grower and dog. |
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Gross sales: $2235 (610lbs) pigs: $155 Food: $605 Butchering fees: $1036 Net: $438 plus, we kept the small pig (170lbs), so we get free pork all year. (2 of us, we like pork )
It's hard to argue with a profit. 
If I did the math right, it looks like you brought them to market weight for $0.77 per pound hanging with feed conversion of ~2.4:1. I think that's a pretty darn good result. It definitely pushes me toward trying that more expensive feed next time around. 
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| Next week I'm picking up 2 Hampshire/Blue butt mix pigs, male and female. This will be my first time actually keeping track of expenses since I landed a good deal. A friend is buying his pig, and paying for me to feed both of them, so all I have to do is pay for my pig and make sure they are fed and watered. What feed do you guys recommend? We have some local mill that does a 16% hog grower which is what I fed my last 2 pigs from start to finish and was happy with the results, but I just fed the pigs a scoop each in the morning and a scoop each in the evening(half gallon scoop) from 100lbs on rather than let them feed at will. I got lean pigs at 200lbs live weight in 5 months. Slaughtered early because one escaped and 9mm was the only thing that would catch it. |
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Outstanding thread. Thank you very much. I wish you were one of the PA boys on the border with me in WV. I need to get some pigs again. Glad you enjoyed.
I'm dithering on whether we'll have pigs in 2010. We're gonna feed out a couple beef steers this year and, realistically, I'm not sure we need to put a pig AND a half or so of beef in the freezer in the same season. Besides, after having pork as the primary meat in the house for a couple years, we're a little 'porked out.'
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Outstanding thread. Thank you very much. I wish you were one of the PA boys on the border with me in WV. I need to get some pigs again. Glad you enjoyed.
I'm dithering on whether we'll have pigs in 2010. We're gonna feed out a couple beef steers this year and, realistically, I'm not sure we need to put a pig AND a half or so of beef in the freezer in the same season. Besides, after having pork as the primary meat in the house for a couple years, we're a little 'porked out.' Understood. That's why we stopped raising hogs at my dads...moved on the beef. |