Hog processing

[243TIKKA]

Hey fellow hog hunters, could someone please give me an example of a hog they had processed, by this I mean break down what they were charged for and what they had done specifically. I know cutting and wrapping is around $70.00, for this you get what? Roasts, chops, ham? If you had sausage made it is additional, per pound correct? Jerky, $12-$15 per lbs? Smoking,summer sausage all $1-$1.50 per lbs?
It seems to me if you had a 150-200lbs hog you could be spending $200+ easy to have it completely processed. The reason I ask is I am going on my first hog hunt in Feb and I'm trying to figure all this out.
I have heard good things about Micheles meat cutting but her fees seem high. Any input or examples would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SDHNTR]

Standard cut is:

Roasts, (front shoulders) if desired, personally I have them ground into sausage.

Hams, if its a real big one you may be able to get 2 out of each quarter. What I do is cut the top section of the quarter into a ham roast and then cut steaks out of the bottom. Or you can have steaks cut out of the whole ham. I usually do a ham roast on one hindquarter and cut the other into steaks.

Chops, cross sections cut out of the backstraps (there are 2). Or you can leave straps whole and cook as loin roasts. I usually cut one into chops and leave the other whole.

Tenderloins,(there are 2) whole. You want these cut out and left whole. Otherwise they will be cut crosswise together with your chops.

Sausage is ground out of the rest. You butcher should be able to tell you what flavors he can make.

I can remember paying about $90-100 total for an average 180 lb hog.

Hopefully this helps. I usued to use a butcher but now I get better results and find it much more satisfying to do it myself. Enjoy, its all good eatin'.

 

[manfreddy]

I'm a newbie, thanks for the great site!

I think the total for my hog was close to $85, from Bobby Lee's in Hayward. I should have only got the hams, the ribs, and the rest sausage but it was my first pig, so I wanted to try it all. My hog was around 175 lbs, and had been fighting a lot, due to the scar tissue and gashes in the chest area. Needless to say, the meat is a bit smelly, but Bobby Lee did an awesome job with the hams....best ham I have ever had, and the sausage is oustanding. I smoked the ribs and they came out great as well. I got 35 of those sausage bags and I'm almost out, so I need to kill another porker soon. The hams went for thanksgiving and xmas with great success. Even my tree hugger relatives thought it was great! Silly hippies.

 

[JungleBoy]

In case of Michelle's Meat Cutting, the $70 is for cutting/wrapping the meat, and the price includes all the "Country Sausage" that you want made from your pig. So theoratically, you can turn it all into country sausage for the $70. Other flavors of sausage cost I believe 10 cents per pound, and ham is I believe 50 cents per pound.

For a nice size hog (above average, about 180 live weight), you will have approximately 80 lbs of clean meat (boneless).

The total price for a variety of flavors and such of about $90 to $100 seems about right.

You can also do it yourself, but have someone with some experience present, so that you don't turn the tenderloins into sausage!!! Making sausage is also fun, and pretty easy. Making ham is beyond my knowledge base.

Have fun,

JungleBoy.

 

[New Pig Hunter]

When Tim and I hunted Vandenburg last April, Tim got a pig. The DFG guy on-base recommended a butcher shop in downtown Lompoc, I think it was Bruce's Prime Cuts ??

We brought in the skinned pig and the cost was $35 to turn it into wrapped white packages of pork chops and ribs and steaks and such. I don't think size would have changed the dollar amount.

Cheers,

Carl

 

[HOGHUNTER714]

wow....$35.00, thats pretty cheap...My butcher charges around $70 to $80 depending on type of spices I use and how much fat he needs to add....

 

[RIFLEMAN]

I've been going to the same butcher shop outside of Elk Grove for many years. The basic cut and wrap costs $70 for a hog and will get you:
*Steaks
*Chops
*Roasts
*Stew Meat
*Burger

*Sausage is .99/lb extra regardless of how much suet or what type of spicing you ask him to add.

 

[boarbuster]

the butcher i use in coalinga has a flat rate of $60.00. this is cut to your lickins and wrapped. no exta charge for country style sausage. we will turn the whole hog into country style sausage.

 

[243TIKKA]

Thanks guys I appreciate your input. Hey SDHNTR, do you make your own sausage? If so what kind of meat grinder do you have and what size?

 

[SDHNTR]

I do make my own sausage. I make bratwurst, chorizo, italian, and the standard country/breakfast sausage. They are all good but the chorizo takes the cake. I just add a little lard from the grocery store for extra fat. I don't even know what kind or size my grinder is, other than the fact I know I'd like to have a bigger and faster one. Mine is electric but its just a small home model. It cost just a little over $100. I'd like to have a small comercial model. So far, since last April, I have done 11 hogs, one deer, and a little bit of an elk with it. It works fine but is slow. Look at www.eldonsausage.com for all you will ever need to process game.

 

[Freedivr2]

The answer is, you just gotta call around your area for an answer and try em out (if you're not willing to process it yourself, which I will do for the smaller, 100 to 160# live weight, hogs).

We've found a local butcher who cuts the hog up into whatever we'd like, steaks, roasts, ribs, chops, etc. and makes us either spicy italian, breakfast or sage sausage (link or bulk, your choice) and wraps it all for $65. That's the most reasonable price I've seen for any sized hog, sausage included. I've also gone to a place in the Simi Valley called Green Acres (once). Great work, double wrapped, wonderful sausage, but at a price. 50 cents a lb. for the butchering, but if you want sausage, it's 50c lb. for ground or $1.25/lb for links. They DO do a great job on the cutting, butterfly chops, baby back ribs, real professional. Just kinda pricey.

I made a post a couple weeks ago about a real winner I found for curing hams. The last pig I took the hind qtrs to this place and they turned them into probably the very best hams I've ever had. In fact, we cooked one hind qtr (cut in two pieces, the shank and butt ham portions) for Christmas for the extended family and they absolutely raved over it. This butcher has a machine that injects curing salt and sugar into the hams, then smokes them for a couple of days in his large smokehouse. Cost for smoking was $18, and he said he would've done a couple pigs and bacon all for that cost, that's the cost of the "run". To add a little to the solid advice that my bud SDHNTR gave you, if you want to take just the hind qtrs. to a butcher to have hams made, locate where the upper leg bone goes into the socket of the pelvis. It's kinda hard to describe until you actually have a hind qtr. in front of you, but you'll find a "seam" between some different large muscle groups right in that area on the outside of the hind qtr. This is where you want to cut, between the muscle groups. Check this out, lots of books on butchering game that can help you locate this "seam", and your objective here is to make your cut so that when you hit the bone, you'll be right at the socket joint of the pelvis, not above or below. That nice hunk of between this pelic socket joint and the backbone (the "high butt") is the sirloin, and you probably don't want to make a ham out of that excellent piece of meat. Course, nothing stoppin you from that either, your call. You would end up with a BIG butt portion ham, that's for sure. The cut you make on the inside of the hind qtr. is easy to figure.....just continue the line seperating the leg from the body, cutting up and away from the body to seperate the hind qtr. from the body, then continue it so that you don't leave any of the inside part of the leg on the body when you're done. Not an easy thing to put into words, but real easy after you've done it once.

And one thing I've learned about meat processing is that practice makes perfect. Probably after you do your first animal you'll understand the meaning of the word "butchering". But on the 2nd animal, you'll understand why when it's done with a little experience behind it, it's called "processing". And that's not a cut (pardon the pun), it's just the way it works out. You don't lose a lot of meat on your first butchering job, some of it just looks a little funny but that's 100% OK, as you have learned a whole bunch of "what I'm gonna do next time" after your first processing job. I feel real comfortable now knowing I can process a pig or deer if I have the time, and that the cuts will look professional (or close). My next pig I'm gonna do my own sausage, especially since I can't find a butcher who will make chorizo!

BTW, the name of the butcher who cures hams so well is Eschbachs, and they are on Western Ave. (near 182nd st.) in Gardena. Besides smoking, he will also cut your pig anyway you want it (if you don't want to butcher the rest of it) for I believe $.69/lb.

One last thing.........when doing your own butchering (which I highly encourage if you have the right tools......meat saw, grinder, boning and butchering knives), BE SURE to keep everything as sanitary as possible. I always keep a bucket of water with bleach handy to wipe down the plastic cutting board ever so often, and before I start, I wipe the qtrs. of meat down throughly with distilled vinegar (which also helps kill some bacteria that may be on the meat). Keep everything clean and your tools sharp, follow directions in a book and you will be pleasantly suprised at how well you can do this. And lastly, do your best to make your cuts of meat presentable, that is, don't have pieces hanging off here or there, that might be OK for you and I, but our guests look at it and their appetite level will be adversely affected by a cut that doesn't look "symetrical" or "store bought". Presentation is everything............Take care, have fun and good luck!

 

[Greenleaf]

I looked it up:

Eschbach Meat Products
18045 S. Western Ave
Gardena, CA
(310)324-1376


Cheers