Butcher Time

[sixofus09]

Hey everyone!! Well its that time. I have 3 that are ready for the freezer. I just had a pig roast with 1 out of the 4 and it was great. It weighted 205 lbs gutted. My biggest question is how to get it packaged. I'm going to have a USDA certified butcher package it for me, but I just wanted to ask if anyone had some suggestions of how to get it cut and packaged. I want to sell a lot of it. I'm going to have around 700 pounds of meat. So what would be the best way to package it for each cut. 1lbs, 2 lbs, 5 lbs. The place will package it how ever I want. I just have to let them know. I want to smoke bacon and ham. Just wondering if anyone had suggestions to make this easier on myself. If anyone knows how much room a pig usually takes up also. I have a 21 cubic foot freezer coming Monday. I have heard that a pig takes up around 6 cubic feet that weights 240 lbs. I have a few people to buy the meat as soon as its ready, so I don't believe I'll be holding on much for long. Any advice would be great, thanks.

 

[daisychick]

When we got our pig processed last year we just did simple packaging. Our butcher packages some things by weight and others by number of pieces. This is what we did.

Pork chops or pork steaks: 4 to a package
sausage or ground pork: 1 pound packages
hams we had halved
bacon: 1 pound packages
we had the loin put into loin chops
We did have our bacon and hams smoked and cured
We chose to have half of our sausage to be "breakfast seasoned" and the other half was "spicy italian"

That is all I can remember.

1 big pig took up 2 shelves of our big upright freezer.

 

[drdoolittle]

I had pretty much the same experience as daisychick when we had our pig processed. If you have to let the butcher know exactly what you want, I think the smaller packages are better----you can defrost just what you want.

 

[fortheloveofgoats]

Hey everyone!! Well its that time. I have 3 that are ready for the freezer. I just had a pig roast with 1 out of the 4 and it was great. It weighted 205 lbs gutted. My biggest question is how to get it packaged. I'm going to have a USDA certified butcher package it for me, but I just wanted to ask if anyone had some suggestions of how to get it cut and packaged. I want to sell a lot of it. I'm going to have around 700 pounds of meat. So what would be the best way to package it for each cut. 1lbs, 2 lbs, 5 lbs. The place will package it how ever I want. I just have to let them know. I want to smoke bacon and ham. Just wondering if anyone had suggestions to make this easier on myself. If anyone knows how much room a pig usually takes up also. I have a 21 cubic foot freezer coming Monday. I have heard that a pig takes up around 6 cubic feet that weights 240 lbs. I have a few people to buy the meat as soon as its ready, so I don't believe I'll be holding on much for long. Any advice would be great, thanks.

As far as packaging for sale, this is what I would do. ( I am a butcher) Pork chops, 2 to a package. Between 5/8 and 3/4 in thick is a good average. People can always pull out 2 or 3 more packages if they have a bigger family, but a bachelor can eat two by himself. Pork shoulder steaks, 2 to a package. Shoulder roasts between 3 and 4 pounds. Sausage of your choice should be in 1 lb packages. Bacon should be sliced at a medium thickness and 1 lb package. Generally if your hog weighs about 200 pounds, you should have pretty good sized hams. Enough to get center slices packaged for two people, and left with 2 good slices of ham. Again, this is if you are planning on storing it and selling it. There are other ways you can do it, this is just a good way to do it for resale. Hope this helps.

 

[sixofus09]

Thanks for the advice. What are the going rates for pork of the different cuts by the pound. I know for me its going to range based on how much they cost me to raise. The butcher said to package its about $1 a pound in the end. If anyone could let me know how much they charge that would be helpful too. I paid $60 for the pigs, and I believe $300 each for the grain.