Posted: 9/5/2008 12:59:50 PM EDT
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So, 150 days ago, we brought home our first two feeder pigs. We got robbed. Feeder pigs should weigh about 40lbs and cost about $40 Well, these cost $40 all right, but 2 weeks later they only weighed 17 and 23 lbs and they had definately grown. We won't be buying from these people again.  After a few issues (that we learned a lot about), they grew strong, they grew healthy, they grew fast. (and they poop a lot!) Damn smart animals We measured them and used the equation to figure weight (supposed to be with 5lbs) on Tuesday and one weighed 227, one weighed 223. The kill truck came Thursday morning. It was sad. The pigs come running over for their morning treats and POP right in the head.  Shit, I gotta go, you guys got this under control? cuz I can't watch. (I freely admit I'm a pussy on this) So, went to the butcher today to do our cut sheets (first time for all this) hanging weight, 184lbs and 180lbs That's damn good. 80% of wet weight? Damn good. Very efficient. That's a lot of freaking pork we have coming. The guy says the hams should be 15-18lbs each!, 10-12lbs per bacon slab. I'm impressed. We're going to sell 1 (two halves actually) and keep most of the rest of hte other one. We should about break even. (meaning our pork is free) cleaning up the pen for 4 more next time. Looking for Berkshires. Pretty easy overall. |
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Thank you for that report. We've considered buying a hog (post butchering) and have discussed raising a few like you did when we move next year. My wife has already started on me about the killing. I keep telling her you have to be prepared not to name them, but I'm sure it's still hard when the time comes. What did they eat? Did you feed table scraps, let them graze and supplement with corn? If so, how much corn did they eat? Do you have a smoker? The shoulders should be great. R. |
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We do a lot of business with the local BBQ place (and they gave us their stale rolls every week for the pigs & chickens) and they said we could bring anything over to smoke. so, we're having the shoulders left as one big roast and we'll go smoke it there. They got mostly Purina hog starter til about 50lbs and then Purina hog grower. It was very spendy. But I think the results do speak well, that's one damn lean hog. Next time we're going to try more pigs so we can buy in bulk. (getting a used bulk feeder too, you can only get bulk in like 1000 or 2000lb loads. They got the rolls from the restaurant (chickens too), some table scraps (it's only the wife and I), lots of squash from the garden. (pigs love squash) Not tons of table scraps. They certainly got some and dropped off the plant tomato's that weren't ripe, etc, but I'll bet it was less than 1% of their diet. they eat A LOT, esp when big. try buying a 1/2 a hog from someone first. We bought some cuts and they were freaking amazing!!!! and that kinda did it for us. They do stink, put it on the side away from the house and the wind. They drink a lot of water, they need lots of clean fresh water. Very strong, very smart animals, the pens have to be well built. |
took me about two hours T-posts every 8', hog panels (which are 16' long) wired to them at 3 points (high low, etc) The hut took maybe 4 hours to build, maybe less, wasn't any big deal. They just need a place out of the sun/wind/cold, etc |
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Can you tell us more about the kill truck? Was this one of the self contained mobile butcher shops that do all the processing on site? You also mentioned that you were going to sell some of the meat. How does that work? I was read "Everything I want to do is illegal" by Joel Salaton and he talks about all the hoops you have to jump through to sell processed meats. Again, thank you for this post. I think several of us have longer term plans and like to learn about how some of this works while we're waiting (paying off debt or saving money to buy our place). R. |
My understanding is that all is well-and-good provided you aren't selling processed meats. What you're selling is the hog itself. If you process some hogs and sell Joe Smith a bacon and a ham then you're subject to all the bureaucratic hurdles that are designed to keep guys like you and me from selling food. But if the hog goes to the butcher labeled as "the left side of this hog is Joe Smith's" then you're good-to-go. Joe then deals directly with the butcher and gets his pork processed however he wants it. That's what I'm hoping, anyway.........as our three piggies are coming to live with us next weekend. Already have two of them sold, I think.  |
Pretty good pork! If you can feed them no corn or potatoes at all for the last two months the meat will be tastier. You know that pigs like pumpkins and squash, right? And a lot of good pie squash and pumkins grow like weeds and produce more that anyone not commericially growing can use, right? And squash and pumpkin hills do well with winter-rotted pig poop, right? There is a pretty easy way to substantially supplement their diet very close at hand -- just chop up the pumpkins and squash, toss into boiling water (or raw, if one of the sweeter varieties), and slop the hogs! Have some chickens? Excess eggs go into the boiling water too! Have a small cow? Extra milk for the piggies! They really make a lot of disposal issues moot, and it all goes nicely to meat. |
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yep, grew lots of squash, although it turns out piggies don't like zuchinni, so that was a bust (but hey, we have chickens and they like it) Yep, the kill truck just does the kill. They kill it, gut it, skin it and hang it. Then it goes back to the butcher to freeze (hogs don't age, not like cows or lamb) and then the butcher does the cuts and the bacon/ham curing. For a USDA butcher (and you usually have to bring the animals in alive), you can sell the processed meat to anyone. We do our chickens this way. (lot easier to move chickens than hogs) For a non-USDA butcher (most of them), you can't sell the meat. You can however, sell the live pig/live cow/whatever or portions thereof. (1/2, 1/4, whatever). Some people do it as Feral indicated, the customers pay the processor. However, that's a PITA, we pay the processor, you pay us. Everyone gets one check. We don't go below 1/2 a hog. (just too much to deal with, some of those people split, but that's their problem) That's how we get our cows too. We pay the cow guy, he pays the processor for our 1/4 of a cow. But you can't sell 2 lbs of pork chops, 1 ham, 5lbs of bacon, etc to someone from a non-USDA butcher. Some states have a Dept of Ag that you can sell IN-STATE if they are approved. But, like USDA it's more (because they have to pay the inspector to watch) and you have to get the animals there alive. I have heard of, although never seen USDA mobile trucks. (in fact in Friday's WSJ there was an article) |
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Oh, one more question I failed to answer. No, we didn't clean the pen very often this time. I think that was a huge mistake, I think next time we're going to try to clean it better. It's still going to stink (they poop in their mud puddle, nothing you can do about that) but it should be better. |
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BozemanMT, Did you say what breed of pig you had? Or did I miss it? We have Durocs. Great meat pigs. We gotta find something like the kill truck you mentioned. We kill them and a family friend that is a retired butcher would do the cutting for us (taking a portion as payment). He is over 80 and really starting to be unable to get around. Butchering is an art and amazing to watch an experienced butcher. Everything I try ends up as ground meat be cause I suck. |