Hog Help

[DjPorkchop]

Hello folks. Hope you all are doing well.

Quick question about a hog. I have read a few posts here and never was a clear cut answer given.

I am going to go Monday and pick out a hog to have butchered. It is a 1 stop shop. The farmer does all the work so no paying 3 people thing.

I am shooting for a hog in the 275 pound range. 300 sounds good but I worry a little bit about to much fat in that size range. I figure on the rail weight should be 75% or so of live and I would expect to get back around 45% or so.

I know the man is going to ask me how I want it cut. That is where I will turn white as a ghost and look like a royal newbie. I really would like to get at bare minimum for me the belly but I know wife is going to shoot me down on doing our own bacon. She don't trust my smoking skills quite that good yet. And if they cut the head off, I am hoping I can get the jowl. Not sure what else good is on the head. I hate to waste anything at all. If I am paying for it and can use it .....

Around my house we eat a LOT of pork steaks and country style ribs. I worry them two options alone are going to cut in to the areas I was wanting to get so I could smoke them.

Any tips? Ideas? I have never had a hog done before. I basically want to get the best bang for the $$ we are going to spend on it. I need food to cook daily, but want some on hand to toss on the smoker like butts, shanks, etc etc. I am afraid to order it up a certain way and come home real disappointed when I pick it up.

Thanks for lending any advice you can and please do take care!

Ray

P.S. before the subject comes up, I in no way shape or form have the means to butcher it my self or I would gladly take a shot at it.

 

[TexasTex]

Well,

I'll say this. Obviously, he'll gut the machine and send it back. Outside of that, if I was you, I really wouldn't have anything else done, considering this is your first go round.

I caught our greased pig at the county fair and my dad had me raise it. When he hit 36 months (not a day over), he had me shoot it, gut it and learn my ways around it.

I'm no pro, but get that beast gutted and learn the rest. Keep the cheeks and feet. You never know what you may find tasty. All in all brother, just get the mess out of the way, and start drawing on your chalk board.

Good luck amigo, this is where you earn your rub!

 

[Bob O Q Shawtee]

Good morning Dj. Regardless what you have been lead to believe,a hog doesn't stop growing and start putting on fat at 275 lbs. 250 to 300 is the live weight preferred by commercail processors simply for convinuence of handeling combined with that being where most hogs reach their prime. I would cut it if it were mine. Jowels is all i want from the head,some eat the brain. All the loin that can be cut into pork chops,then all meat between there and rump that is suitable for loin chops ,packaged in the # you want to cook each meal. Continueing from rump toward foot,best portion sliced into ham for pan frying,chicken frying and grilling. The lower leg chunked into size I want for smoking or boiling. Moving toward head where pork chops ended, upper shoulder cut as country ribs. Moving from shoulder toward foot,best meat chunked in sizes I want to smoke. Lower leg is shank. Moving from center of back bone toward center of belly/chest, pork chops and country ribs took away 1st 6",from where they ended down,meat with enough lean streaks is peeled off ribs in a slab for bacon. ( Bacon must be cured,otherwise the meat contains too much fat for other than rendering fat) . Where bacon ends,belly is nothing but fat for rendering. As and option,I sometimes grind the bacon with lean beef for burger patties. There will be a pile of misc trimmings. It requires the farmers educated eye to judge how much shank or bacon to grind with the trimmings to balance fat content in sausage. The sausage can be seasoned several variations for patty or link. Ribs with bacon stripped off is cut in pieces for grilling or scraped off bone for sausage. I highly reccomend you gring some trimmings with beef for grilled burgers. I like the liver but many people eat the other organs also. If your farmer does German type sausages,by all means let him use organs if he wants. You notice I am partial to grilling and frying. That's not because I dislike smoked pork,it's a life style where time is too short for smoking majoirty of times. You may prefer chunking meat between pork chops and ham for smoking. Hope that helps.

 

[captndan]

Tell the meat man exactly what you said here.

 

[Bludawg]

The only part of a Hog that aint fit to eat is the hooves and the oink. Hog brains & scrambeled eggs is fine dining. Head cheese, Blood sausage, Cracklins, Lard.......

 

[Bob O Q Shawtee]

The only part of a Hog that aint fit to eat is the hooves and the oink. Hog brains & scrambeled eggs is fine dining. Head cheese, Blood sausage, Cracklins, Lard.......

Agreed. I find myself proclaiming my favorite to be the one on my plate at the moment. All the bad press about cooking with lard has made cracklins increasingly difficult to find. Both,my wife and my family raised hogs as a food stable. That lead to other foods cooked in lard which killed our parents in their 90s,grand parents in their 80s,uncles and aunts in their 90s. :wink:
Pass the cracklin corn bread please.:thumb:

 

[BigBellyBBQ]

best to just talk it over with the man with the knife..that also does the packaging, it is up to you how you want it..how many people to wrap for etc..all of us would just tell you, bring er home whole and lets have a party!!!!

 

[TexasTex]

The only part of a Hog that aint fit to eat is the hooves and the oink. Hog brains & scrambeled eggs is fine dining. Head cheese, Blood sausage, Cracklins, Lard.......

Agree.

 

[DjPorkchop]

Great words of witt here to say the least. Ironically enough, I talked with my wife about it this morning again and the first thing out of her mouth was what cuts are you going to order. Ha ha ha! I told her I had a post and we would read it later today. :grin:

I thank you all for the ideas and advice. And I truly do wish I could cut one up my self but I have no way to do it ..... Yet. :wink:

 

[DjPorkchop]

best to just talk it over with the man with the knife..that also does the packaging, it is up to you how you want it..how many people to wrap for etc..all of us would just tell you, bring er home whole and lets have a party!!!!

Bringing one home is on the agenda for this summer for sure. My wife saw me copying plans for a cinder block hog cooker and I saw the light above her head light up lol she knew where I was going with that. So whole hog is in the works for this summer.

She was not so warm to the idea of me bringing home butchered piglets for the UDS for some odd reason though. I was told no baby pigs. :shock:

 

[TexasTex]

Great words of witt here to say the least. Ironically enough, I talked with my wife about it this morning again and the first thing out of her mouth was what cuts are you going to order. Ha ha ha! I told her I had a post and we would read it later today. :grin:

I thank you all for the ideas and advice. And I truly do wish I could cut one up my self but I have no way to do it ..... Yet. :wink:

Well brother, just get her gutted and go from there. I actually envy you. It's a lot of fun to go through the meat and figure out what's your preference. Man, PLEASE post pics. Good times amigo...