My First Pig

[Ninn]

Well, I picked up my pig from the meat packer today. 215# of fresh meat at 37 cents per pound and 90 # of smoked meat at 70 cents per pound. Total expense, including butchering-177.55. Is that good?

My entire freezer is filled up with my very own pig!!! We are having ham and eggs for dinner tonight. I love knowing exactly what went into making that ham.

Now I am looking around for another freezer and someplace to purchase 1/4 of a beef. (chicken is still cheaper at the supermarket, as I cannot raise my own just yet.)

I am so proud of myself. My first really big step toward self sufficiency is taken, resulting in fewer trips to the market.

[Farmerwilly2]

Was the $177.50 paid to butcher and cure your pig, or did you buy a butchered and cured pig? Not sure I understand that part. I do understand how good it feels to have meat in the house though. Enjoy it and save a big old hambone for a pot of beans.

[Cornhusker]

305 pounds of meat, that thing must have been enormous.
I'm guessing 500 # live weight?
I love home raise pork and there's nothing like the feeling of having a freezer full of meat.

[Wisconsin Ann]

Way to go! Home grown pig is 'da bomb'. and I'd say 177bucks for a freezer full of pork is a darn good deal

[Up North]

Good Show, Ninn
Take a walk down the pork aisle and look at prices in any respectable supermarket, and you will feel good about your decision.

[Shirley]

Oh you are making me anxious to raise another pig for butcher. Nothing tastes better than home grown pork!

[Ninn]

The total listed above was for butchering and curing. I did a run down last night of the expenses we had to get the pig this far:

60 for the piglet
185 for feed all summer long
177.55 for butchering and curing
and I'm guesstimating around 75 for all the fruit and veggie scraps she got off the table.

Bacon currently sells for about 5.50 a pound around here, and I have nearly 20 pounds of bacon in my freezer, so even just using that as a guide, I did good. I gave away a good sized bag of meat to a family friend before I even got home yesterday-good thing, too. Otherwise, it would have gotten wasted, as it would never have fit in my freezer!! It is so tight in there that nothing else will fit.

We had ham steaks and eggs for dinner last night. Hubby was thrilled with the ham. Kevin too-he hates ham and he loved this. MMMMMM-brown sugar cured ham steaks.

Funny thing, though. Sarah (my pig) did not look very big next to the other pig that my friend bought the same day. She was always smaller, and had a kind of smushed in face. Their pig weighed in at over 500 pounds before being dressed out, was half again as long and half again as tall as my pig, too. They only wound up with about 400 pounds of meat. Wonder if she was more bone weight?

[hoggie]

Do they remove the fat when they butcher? After a certain size the ratio of fat to meat becomes higher.

hoggie

[Ninn]

YUP! trimmed down quite nicely on every single piece. Vaccuum sealed in little bags and clearly labelled for me, too. I will be calling this place back to see about purchasing a pre-processed 1/4 beef as soon as my bigger freezer gets here.

[hoggie]

That may be why they didn't seem to get as much meat from their pig - their's may have been more fat?

hoggie

[nomad7inwi]

We too just got our first pigs back from butcher on Saturday. So far we've had porkchops, bacon, & ham steak. It is without doubt (and without prejudice) the best pork we have ever had!! The other 2 pigs we sold paid for the whole venture - pigs, feed, & butchering. We have reinforced the pen and on the lookout for more to raise.

Ours were considerably smaller, the largest weighed in at 280 the smallest at 200.

I know how proud you must be. We are too. Chicken, Rabbit & Pork in the freezer, veggies in the garden, hopefully some extra to freeze or can, milk goat in the barn, oats, hay & straw, (all grown here) in the barn. After all the work and doubts this summer its such an awesome feeling to look and say look what we've done! Not bad for less than a year.

I don't think you should count the cost of veggie scraps in her total cost, that would have been wasted anyway.

You got her to 400 # in just this summer? How old was she & how big was she when you got her?

Congratulations to you!! Happy eating.

[Ninn]

i have no idea how old she was, but she weighed about 75 pounds when we got her, and didn't quite reach my knee for height. does that help?

[AshleyB]

Great Job! We are going to raise our first pig this fall and winter, and I can't wait!

[Kim_NC]

Very happy for you! Sounds like you did quite well enough with it for a first experience.

We're currently rasing our first pigs....enjoyed what you shared concerning yours.

[bonnie in indiana]

if I did it right that come to $1.38 a lb. Did I do it right

215 fresh meat
90 smoked
equals 305 lbs of meat

60 for the piglet
185 for feed all summer long
177.55 for butchering and curing
equals $422.55 for costs

$422.55 divide by the 305 lbs of meat
equals $1.385 per lb

[A'sta at Hofstead]

Good for you, great feeling isn't it??
We have two going to the butcher on Oct. 2nd... we did five last winter, sold three kept two, we are just now running out of bacon, still have hams, etc. The ham is sweet ambrosia isn't it? I was never a ham freak, but our ham? Fugeddaboutit!
(p.s. we will never do pigs in the winter again! Live and learn!)