Breaking Down Buying a Whole or Half hog

There were very few “bright sides” to the COVID pandemic of 2020. The world was in mass panic and hysteria. However, one small niche exploded in popularity that before 2020 had been something of an unpopular crowd; these were the homesteaders and small farmers doing their job of raising animals and food in your local hometowns, far from the public eye. Despite everything shutting down we, the small farmers and homesteaders of America, trudged and toiled away. There may have been no meat on the shelves, but we were still raising livestock and selling whole or half hogs and beef, USDA processed meat cuts and hundreds if not thousands of eggs and Cornish cross chickens for your freezers. People began to wake up and realize that even if the supply chain was interrupted they very likely had a farmer, with plentiful food to sell in their caches, waiting for them to simply call.

Now it seems much more common to buy a whole or half hog, beef, or lamb to fill the freezer instead of purchasing it at your local grocery store. However, there are still some confusing details that tend to turn off a potential consumer to the idea of pursuing stocking the larder in this way. I’m here to help illuminate some of these mysteries. Lets dive in !

What is a whole or a half hog? Lets start with the basics. A whole or half hog, or beef, or lamb is just that: draw a line from the tip of the nose to the tail of your animal and you get two halves. A whole is all of the meat that you get from one whole animal. Since our farm traditionally only does whole or half hogs, preferring to leave a lamb whole and we don’t do beef, I’ll touch on that specific topic the most but you can apply a lot of these principles to a cow, you’ll just get much more meat! Lets face it, a 200 lb hog vs a 8-900 lb steer are going to give you very different things.

When a customer first inquires about purchasing a whole or a half hog there are a few things I want them to know. Firstly they are purchasing from me, The Farmer. I will have raised my animals from little bacon seeds to ready to process 200 lb monstrosities that will be moving on to become part of a greater whole. I will have spent those 8 months loving on them, feeding them, caring for them in every way and generally enjoying the process of raising livestock.

Farmers, especially homesteaders who rely on their clientelle, often spend a lot of time with their animals.

Little grubby firstborn bonding with an escapee bacon seed “Wilbur”

Secondly, a deposit is most likely required. Why? why would I put down a nonrefundable deposit? because more often than people want to believe, a customer might claim a share in an animal, that animal is fed and cared for, and when the freezer camp date arrives and the farmer notifies the buyer… they have no interest in the meat. Then the farmer is left scrambling trying to sell a whole or half of a hog, or find room for it in their freezer! Farmers dislike this. Hence, non refundable deposits are required to hold your place.

A few days before the processing date arrives, your farmer will send you what is called a “cut sheet”. This sheet might be a little bit vague or confusing, your farmer would like you to note that, unless your farmer is also your processor, it is not likely that they wrote it themselves, so don’t take your frustration out on your farmer. Instead your farmer will go about attempting to educate you and help you understand what all of these confusing questions may mean, what cuts are what on a pig, and how to ask for maple smoked bacon instead of black pepper. This should be the fun part about buying a hog directly from your farmer. Why? Because as long as the processor can accomplish your wishes, the sky is the limit! You could get a whole hog in sausage. You could have it left completely whole for a pig roast, you could get the head back for head-cheese, or smoke your hocks with maple. Really anything you want to do! Don’t feel intimidated by the cut sheet; take a deep breath and think about what you might like to eat. Do you have a big family that would eat a 10 lb roast in one sitting? or is it just you so maybe you choose to make the cuts smaller to accommodate shorter cooking times and less leftovers?

Mother Earth News has an excellent article here: https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/what-good-is-a-pig-cuts-of-pork-nose-to-tail/ on cuts of the hog.

Processing day rolls around and your farmer gets up early, hitches up the trailer and competently backs it to the pig pen. The now very large porkers, at my farm generally about 200 lbs, are loaded up with some degree of cussing, sliding around in slick mud, and ear drum popping squealing. Unless usually like mine (There’s always an exception to that rule…) the pigs are trained to lead to a bucket (yet another degree of work and time spent bonding with the pigs).

Once at the processor the farmer gives them a sad pat as they wander down the alley thanking them for the time they’ve spent together, despite possibly being pains in the rear for most of it, and for being a part of the circle of life. They discuss cuts and make sure your cut sheets are written up properly and clearly for the processor, make final notes and then begin the trek home with an empty trailer. The rest of the process is left to the deft hands of the processor.

The animal is weighed after dispatching and the processor comes up with the hanging weight, this often is the weight that is used to calculate your half or whole hog price. Note, a 200lb pig often hangs at 140 ish lbs. You will pay your agreed upon per lb amount to the farmer, and your fresh meat will be vaccuum sealed or paper wrapped, boxed, frozen and labeled with your name, awaiting your day off of work to pick up. One thing to note, the hanging weight it not always the amount of meat you will get back! Why? well, once cuts are made, bone is removed etc, your meat will have lost some weight. This is totally normal. There may also be natural variations in how much of what you receive back; this is because not all pigs are created equal!

Often I go the extra mile, literally, and will go grab your “groceries” for you to pick up from me. Our farm also generally pays what is called the processing fee (which is the cut that the processor takes for turning the farmer’s hog into thaw-able dinner roasts). This is not always the way it works; some farmers require that the customer pay the process fee as well; this will have been negotiated up front that you will be paying the farmer the price per lb + the process fees to the facility that does the magic. This may give you more leeway as processors often charge extra for certain things (Like different smokes, sausage per lb fees, etc.) and it assures that your farmer will make some money back for the amount of time and feed that they dumped into the growers without your choice of cuts causing some strife.

All in all, the farm to table journey is not wholly complicated and can be conducted smoothly if customers understand what happens and what needs to happen in what order. Also why, when the processing day rolls around, their farmer may be a little stressed and have become mildly short with them about things they should already know or if the customer is late turning in the cut sheets. Processing day can also be very emotionally and physically exhausting for the farmer. Questions should be asked some time before the final process date has arrived if possible.

I hope this has shed some light on the journey of buying a whole or half hog from your local farmer. When you do business with homesteaders and your local farmers your hard earned dollar is most often invested back into the homestead and helps to keep food on your local farm family’s table as well.

There are many pros to purchasing locally. However, there can be a misconception that buying locally also means buying cheaply; more often than not you’re getting fantastic value for your dollar but it may not be cheaper than the grocery store! Especially when you delve into purchasing from an organic, non-GMO farmer who pays big dollars to keep their animals antibiotic free and eating non GMO and organic feeds. There is very little that can beat the feeling that comes from knowing where and how your food is grown and raised and understanding the healthy impact it will have on your own family.