BUYING PORK FROM YOUR LOCAL FARMER

Buying a whole or half pork is a great way to fill your freezer up with quality meat for your family. Finding a local farmer to buy from is the only way you will truly know how and where your food was grown. A few times throughout the year, Midwest Prime offers hog shares. You can find them here. If you aren’t looking to buy such a large quantity, you can always find pork by the cut here.

Trying to figure out how much pork you will get from a whole or half hog can be somewhat confusing. Here is a breakdown to help.

Your carcass will only weigh approximately 72% of its live weight after slaughter. This is a result of the animals blood, skin, head, hooves and organs being removed.

Now you have your hanging weight or carcass weight. This will also decrease as you remove trimmings and moisture. After this removal your final weight will be approximately 65% of your carcass weight.


Live Weight x 72% = Carcass Weight

Carcass Weight x 65% = Total Pounds of Meat

Example of a 250 lb. Hog

250 x 72% = 180 lbs Carcass Weight

180 x 65% = 117 lbs of Meat and Offal

Please keep in mind that this is all approximate. There are many factors that determine the final amount of meat such as the build of your hog, your butcher, the cuts that you choose…..

When choosing your cuts from the butcher you will be able to decide how much fat you would like to remain on your meat, whether you want bones left in or taken out, how many pounds of ground pork or sausage you want in a package, what thickness of chops, how many chops per package, and what size of roasts and ham.

You will need one cubic foot for every 35 to 40 pounds of meat. Take in to consideration that some cuts take up more room than others. An oddly shaped roast will take up more room than chops that lay flat on top of each other. A chest style freezer will hold more than an upright style, but it is also less convenient than an upright when trying to find what you are looking for inside.

How long can you keep meat in a freezer?

According to foodsafety.gov, you can keep fresh beef, pork, and poultry frozen for up to one year. Vacuum sealed packaging rather than butcher paper, will help meat last longer in the freezer. Our processor used premium vacuum sealed packaging with bone guard for the best seal.

Interested in filling your freezer up with beef too?

Find out all of the details on how much beef you can get from a beef share, what cuts of beef come in a whole beef, and where to buy freezer beef from a your farmer HERE.