Hog weight girthing chart

[spectr17]

There are girthing charts for deer where you measure the chest of the animal behind the legs over the heart to give a close estimate for live weight. What I'd like to do is come up with a hog girthing chart. To do this we need everyone to measure their hog while still not field dressed around the heart just behind the legs with a tape measure. Then record the field dressed weight if you can with a scale.

Also, if anyone has the capability to weigh a hog that isn't field dressed and then after it's field dressed this wil give us an idea how much weight (percentage), is lost due to field dressing.

Hoggin Hank, do you have any ideas on this crazy notion of mine?

 

[Hoggin Hank]

I already have all the info you need..

I have butchered about 7 or 8 hogs in the past few months and I have recorded some of the stats on paper. I'll have get that info to you tomorrow though cause I'm on duty at the fire station right now..But I'll give you a couple of examples

A Sow hog I just butchered weighed exactly 100#
I skinned her and gutted her and she weighed exactly 50#(just the carcass)
I boned the meat and had 31#'s of meat and 19#'s of bone.

A 37# hog I butchered was 19#'s when I weighed the carcass after I had skinned and gutted it. Not sure about how much meat verses bone there was because I  B-B-Q'd the whole pig.

I am going to be butchering 4 bigger hogs this weekend.
130# , 120# , 85# , 65#(those are my guesses on the weights of the hogs)

What I usually do is pop them in the head with a 22. and skin and gut them right there. I'll measure all of there chests after I shoot them and before I gut / skin them and let you know what numbers I get.

I can say that it is a good guess that you will get about 30 to 35% meat off of your hogs. If you cut them up with a bandsaw like I do then you don't really have any waiste (from the WHOLE carcass weight)that you can weigh because all of the bone is still with the meat.

So rule of thumb is you get about 1/3 of your swine that you can eat...Thats just what I've found out from the last 30 or so hogs that I have butchered..

I will measure all of the hogs from now on and see if a chart can be made from the data..
I think it will work out pretty good..

p.s.--- I don't usually field dress game because I have butchering facilities near by so I'm guessing that the 100# Sow mentioned above had about 25#'s of guts and would have gone 75#'s field dressed.(just a guess)

(Edited by Hoggin Hank at 8:37 pm on April 16, 2002)

 

[Hoggin Hank]

Hey Jesse, I have a few of my friends helping me with some of this info. I hope to have a pretty good amount of data by the end of this month...Just didn't know if you got a chance to see this post or not...Adios'

 

[spectr17]

Thanks a bunch Hank. I've looked for a hog chart all over but no luck so I thankful you're willing to take the time to help.

Anybody else who gets a hog, try and put a tape measure around the heart before you gut it and then write down what it weighed after it is gutted. We should be able to come up with something clsoe to on the hoof weight and how much is lost after field ressing.