Homegrown pork

Culper

Culper

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I picked up my pork from the processor today, minus the bacon which will be smoked next week. This was my first time raising pigs, they were 412 and 384 pounds live weight (bigger than necessary, but live and learn.) Smoked ham, ribs, butts, picnics, shanks, stew meat, sausage, roasts, tenderloins, bacon and chops. Now for the taste test... I'm open to recipe suggestions!

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Holy Hogs! Recipes? Where do I begin? I generally do not share anything unpublished (been burned in the past). PM me if you get stuck.

And another question... Why not render the lard?
 
Miss Lily said:
Holy Hogs! Recipes? Where do I begin? I generally do not share anything unpublished (been burned in the past). PM me if you get stuck.

And another question... Why not render the lard?
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Will do, I appreciate it. And rendering the fat was an option, I just wasn't sure what to do with the 100 pound minimum. I will have to try it next time.
 
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I would like to know what an endeavor such as this entails, and costs, snout to tail as it were?

Is there a thread on the process of buying, raising, slaughtering and the costs associated?

I imagine quite a few here would be very interested in that...
 
@bigfelipe That's a good question. Total cost per animal came in at $1100. $400 of that was spent at the processor. $540 was high quality feed, but they ate very well. Overall I am very pleased with the outcome, they were easy to raise, and all the meat has been of good quality. The average dressed weight was 262 pounds.

I would be glad to answer any questions, and I can provide more specifics if anyone is interested. Keep in mind this was my first go at raising pigs, I will be more efficient next time. Also, the picture in the the OP is not even a whole animal.

http://www.piedmontcustommeats.com handled the processing, which included smoking the hams and sidemeat (bacon.) They were easy to work with.
 
Scott88 said:
@bigfelipe That's a good question. Total cost per animal came in at $1100. $400 of that was spent at the processor. $540 was high quality feed, but they ate very well. Overall I am very pleased with the outcome, they were easy to raise, and all the meat has been of good quality. The average dressed weight was 262 pounds.

I would be glad to answer any questions, and I can provide more specifics if anyone is interested. Keep in mind this was my first go at raising pigs, I will be more efficient next time. Also, the picture in the the OP is not even a whole animal.

http://www.piedmontcustommeats.com handled the processing, which included smoking the hams and sidemeat (bacon.) They were easy to work with.
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Wow. So still over $4/lb all in. Not so much a cost savings as a quality product thing then. So about $1.50/lb to process plus the cost of feed and the piggy itself? Beats the hell out of local organic pork pricing for sure.

Still a lot of outlay for poor folks that buy cheap pork like myself. I would imagine that even with all the bacon we eat, we are around half that the way I shop. I would pay more for better quality though.

Would you have time to do a basic tutorial thread on your first experience buying, raising, slaughtering? Or give us a quick rundown on how it all came to be, including approximate costs and timeframes? I find this fascinating...
 
Scott88 said:
@bigfelipe
http://www.piedmontcustommeats.com handled the processing, which included smoking the hams and sidemeat (bacon.) They were easy to work with.
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Just checked out the website. So they package it ready for retail? Is it legal to resell since it was USDA processed? A weekend at the farmers market could easily offset the cost and make this more cost effective...
 
We used to raise them a dozen at a time and sell them at auction. There is a limit to what one family can do with a hog or a side of beef.
 
A friend of mine used to raise a few hogs a year to feed his family. He made an arrangement with a local restaurant where they filled some 5 gallon buckets every day with table scraps. He would pick the buckets up on the way to or from work and leave empty ones. He fed the hogs that until a few weeks before slaughtering, when he finished them with corn. He wound up having very little in each hog that way.

I don't remember the details of his arrangement with the restaurant owner, other than he didn't pay him money. Might have given him some meat when the hogs were processed. I've also known some people around here who trade meat for the processing. You have to raise more animals that way, but it has the advantage of less cash outlay.

I've wanted to try this, but my family eats very little pork due to our partly Kosher upbringing. My wife and I were both raised in a Christian denomination that followed Old Testament dietary law. For that reason, we never developed a taste for pork. We are beef and chicken people, but we do like bacon. :)
 
Rockchucker said:
Liking this thread already.

How many pounds in the freezer will you end up with? Trying to figure a price per pound.
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dbracin said:
260+ pounds of meat will fill up a freezer.
Will you be tired of eating pork anytime soon?
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So far I have been eating it regularly, and haven't gotten tired of it yet, ha! The variety of cuts keeps things from getting too repetitive. I few people I talked to about processing pork just turn everything into sausage, which does not interest me at all. I have given a fair amount away to family and friends as well.

Unfortunately, the only number I don't have is the exact poundage of product returned. Exact poundage of sausage, ham and bacon is below. If I had opted to have the lard return, the total would be closer to the dressed weight of 262 pounds.

Here the invoices if that helps:

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bigfelipe said:
Wow. So still over $4/lb all in. Not so much a cost savings as a quality product thing then. So about $1.50/lb to process plus the cost of feed and the piggy itself? Beats the hell out of local organic pork pricing for sure.

Still a lot of outlay for poor folks that buy cheap pork like myself. I would imagine that even with all the bacon we eat, we are around half that the way I shop. I would pay more for better quality though.

Would you have time to do a basic tutorial thread on your first experience buying, raising, slaughtering? Or give us a quick rundown on how it all came to be, including approximate costs and timeframes? I find this fascinating...
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bigfelipe said:
Just checked out the website. So they package it ready for retail? Is it legal to resell since it was USDA processed? A weekend at the farmers market could easily offset the cost and make this more cost effective...
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Yep, it was all about quality and the learning experience to me. I did check some grocery store price out of curiosity, I beat prices on some items, but not on others. I was surprised to see "organic" pork tenderloin for $13/lbs.

Mine primarily ate pig finisher/grower and were supplemented with sweet potatoes, limited quantities of bread as well eggs from my free range chickens. I was very particular about what they ate. They grew FAST. I bought them for $50 each at 9 weeks old and kept them for 6 months.

I definitely wouldn't mind going into further detail. I kept fairly detailed records on expenses. The pork endeavor will be my springboard into beef. I have raised cows on a small scale, just never for beef. Maybe I will start a thread in Homesteading.

And yes, everything is professionally vacuumed sealed, and legal for resale if you opt for the retail label. Not sure if that adds to cost or not. Mine are labeled, it just says "Not for Sale."
 
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Scott88 said:
So far I have been eating it regularly, and haven't gotten tired of it yet, ha! The variety of cuts keeps things from getting too repetitive. I few people I talked to about processing pork just turn everything into sausage, which does not interest me at all. I have given a fair amount away to family and friends as well.

Unfortunately, the only number I don't have is the exact poundage of product returned. Exact poundage of sausage, ham and bacon is below. If I had opted to have the lard return, the total would be closer to the dressed weight of 262 pounds.

Here the invoices if that helps:

View attachment 113693

View attachment 113694

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Yep, it was all about quality and the learning experience to me. I did check some grocery store price out of curiosity, I best prices on some items, but not on others. I was surprised to see "organic" pork tenderloin for $13/lbs.

Mine primarily ate pig finisher/grower and were supplemented with sweet potatoes, limited quantities of bread as well eggs my free range chickens. I was very particular about what they ate. They grew FAST. I bought them for $50 each at 9 weeks old and kept them for 6 months.

I definitely wouldn't mind going into further detail. I kept fairly detailed records on expenses. The pork endeavor will be my springboard into beef. I have raised cows on a small scale, just never for beef. Maybe I will start one in Homesteading.

And yes, everything is professionally vacuumed sealed, and legal for resale if you opt for the retail label. Not sure if that add to cost or not. Mine are labeled, it just says "Not for Sale."
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I think the experience learned is the most valuable part of such an endeavor. Should it become a necessity, rather than a luxury, to raise one's own meat, having some experience under one's belt will be worth any price paid.

I would very much like to raise my own grass-fed beef someday. Don't have the space for it now. Could make a hog or two work, though.
 
I wonder if you could pick up scrap/waste vegetables from the guys at the farmers markets or even the Harris Teeter? We used to throw them anything from the garden that wasn’t getting plowed back in. Pumpkins, zucchini, potatoes and okra were popular. Also apples, gotta have an apple tree.
 
Scrap sweet potatoes can be picked up for $20-25/thousand pound bin if you're near a processor. We pick them up in Chadbourn to feed deer.
 
cubrock said:
I think the experience learned is the most valuable part of such an endeavor. Should it become a necessity, rather than a luxury, to raise one's own meat, having some experience under one's belt will be worth any price paid.

I would very much like to raise my own grass-fed beef someday. Don't have the space for it now. Could make a hog or two work, though.
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Agreed. It has been very satisfying, you would likely enjoy it.

spittinfire said:
Not much bigger then my chicken fence then. I think it's around 250 with about 40 being secured at night.
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Yep, they will make a mess of it rooting around though. All those eggs could supplement your hogs.

nchunt101 said:
I was about to bring up cull sweet potatoes. Hogs love them and they really put the weight on.
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BBD280 said:
Scrap sweet potatoes can be picked up for $20-25/thousand pound bin if you're near a processor. We pick them up in Chadbourn to feed deer.
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Dang, I will have to look into that.

Johnny said:
Around here we can supplement around 30%-50% of feed with spent barely.
A guy local to me collects from area breweries and sells for $10 per 55 gallon drum.
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The owner of the brewery close to me feeds them to his cows. I might ask if they would sell a drum every now and and then. I wouldn't need all that much.
 
$50 to stick a pig and bleed it? I am in the wrong business, again.

Seriously, if you can clean a deer you can clean a hog.
 
Learn how to process yourself and save a ton of money. It's not hard. You can also smoke the hams and sides yourself too. A couple of hours work would have saved you $800.00.
 
Used some "stew meat" to make a fajitas mix. Refried beans, black beans and the mix then got rolled up in a tortilla. The stew meat came diced up in one pound packages. I cooked two pounds of pork in the skillet, then added peppers, onions and seasoning.

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Ikarus1 said:
$50 to stick a pig and bleed it? I am in the wrong business, again.

Seriously, if you can clean a deer you can clean a hog.
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phideux said:
Learn how to process yourself and save a ton of money. It's not hard. You can also smoke the hams and sides yourself too. A couple of hours work would have saved you $800.00.
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Oh yeah, always looking for new skills, handling the processing myself is the endgame.
 
I would like to build a small smoke house for this sort of thing. I have the vacuum sealers and canning stuff. I used to make sausage and still have my grinder and stuffer.

I don't have great butcher skills. I can dress and quarter out a deer. Never done a pig. Not experienced with cutting chops/steaks/roasts etc. Would have to work on that.

I really never thought much about pigs. Was thinking chickens, maybe rabbits, a few goats, and sheep. Now I am thinking turning around a couple of pigs every other year or so could be a good fit too/instead of something else.
 
bigfelipe said:
I would like to build a small smoke house for this sort of thing. I have the vacuum sealers and canning stuff. I used to make sausage and still have my grinder and stuffer.

I don't have great butcher skills. I can dress and quarter out a deer. Never done a pig. Not experienced with cutting chops/steaks/roasts etc. Would have to work on that.

I really never thought much about pigs. Was thinking chickens, maybe rabbits, a few goats, and sheep. Now I am thinking turning around a couple of pigs every other year or so could be a good fit too/instead of something else.
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I have looked into smoke houses as well, it's very interesting stuff.

If you have 20 minutes, this video shows a pro breaking down half of a hog, he's good:
 
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Scott88 said:
I have looked into smoke houses as well, it's very interesting stuff.

If you have 20 minutes, this video shows a pro breaking down half of a hog, he's good:
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I will check it out. I have a couple good books on butchering game too. Just not much experience besides a handful of deer back in the day.
 
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