🐖 Buying a Half or Whole Hog: What You Need to Know

Purchasing a half or whole hog is a great way to stock your freezer with high-quality, locally raised pork. Here's a breakdown of how pricing works and what you can expect to take home.

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💰 Pricing Breakdown

We charge $2.00 per pound of hanging weight.

• Live Weight: Our hogs typically weigh around 285 lbs.

• Hanging Weight: This is the weight after the hog is slaughtered and dressed, excluding the head, feet, and internal organs. Hanging weight is approximately 72% of the live weight, which comes out to about 205 lbs for a 285 lb hog.

• Cost Estimate:

  • Whole Hog: 205 lbs × $2.00 = $410.00

  • Half Hog: 102.5 lbs × $2.00 = $205.00

💡 Note: This price does not include processing fees, which vary depending on the butcher and your chosen cuts. When placing your order with the proceessor, you can ask them to provide you an estimate/total so you'll know before you get the call that your order is ready to pick up. 

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🥩 What You Take Home

From a whole hog, you can expect to take home about 67% of the hanging weight in commercial cuts. That’s roughly:

• 137 lbs of pork from a 285 lb hog

• Includes cuts like bacon, sausage, pork chops, roasts, ribs, and ground pork

• See more detail below

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📦 Why Buy in Bulk?

• Cost Savings: Buying a whole or half hog is more economical than purchasing individual cuts at retail prices.

• Customization: Choose how your pork is processed—thickness of chops, types of sausage, smoked or fresh bacon, etc.

• Local & Sustainable: Support local agriculture and know where your food comes from.

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​🐖 What’s Included When You Buy a Whole Hog

Buying a whole hog is a fantastic way to fill your freezer with a wide variety of high-quality pork cuts. Here's what you can typically expect to receive:

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🥩 Commercial Cuts from a Whole Hog

 

🐷 Loin (Upper Back)

• Pork Chops (bone-in or boneless)

• Country-Style Ribs

• Tenderloins (usually 2 per hog)

🐷 Shoulder (Front)

• Boston Butts (2 total – great for pulled pork)

• Picnic Roasts

• Shoulder Steaks (optional)

🐷 Ham (Rear Legs)

• Whole or Half Hams (can be fresh or cured/smoked)

• Ham Steaks or Roasts

🐷 Side/Belly

• Bacon (can be cured/smoked)

• Pork Belly (if left uncured)

🐷 Ribs

• Spare Ribs

• St. Louis-Style Ribs (optional trim)

🐷 Ground Pork & Sausage

• Trim from various cuts is ground

• Can be made into:

  • Plain Ground Pork

  • Breakfast Sausage

  • Italian Sausage

  • Other custom blends

🐷 Other Optional Items

• Hocks (front and rear – great for soups and stews)

• Lard (fat for rendering)

• Bones (for broth or stock)

• Organs (if requested: liver, heart, kidneys, etc.)

📦 Customization Options

When you buy a whole hog, you get to customize your processing instructions, including:

• Chop thickness

• Roast sizes

• Sausage flavors

• Curing/smoking preferences

• Packaging options

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📝 Nervous? Don't be! We work with really great processors who walk you through the order process.