We offer whole and half hogs to our customers for custom processing. You place a deposit on your meat now ($75 for a half, $150 for a whole), and then when it is ready to butcher, we get it to our butcher for you, but you work directly with the butcher to determine how your hog will be processed. Your cost is based on the hanging weight of the pig once it reaches the butcher, plus the cost of butchering and processing.
The hanging weight is the weight of the carcass after the animal has been eviscerated, but before it's been cut up, cured and packaged. The actual net take-home weight will be less than the hanging weight, after the carcass has been trimmed, with bones and fat removed.
The price for a custom-processed pig is $3.50 per pound based on hanging weight. This will be paid to us after we drop off the hog to the butcher. We will invoice you immediately, minus your deposit. The processing fees are due to the butcher at pick-up and average $120 for a half hog, $240 for a whole.
We use USDA Certified Paradise Locker Meats in Timble, MO because of their certified humane practices and their expertise in processing pasture-raised meats. Your meat will come to you fully frozen. A whole pig will use about four cubic feet of freezer space, depending on the cuts.
The butcher will work with you to figure out how you want your meat cut and cured - it's totally customized for you! While these divisions will be based in part on your choices, you can expect to get about 1/4 in Chops, 1/4 in Sausage, 1/5 of your hog in ham, 1/8 in Roasts, 1/8 in Bacon, and about 5% of it in Ribs. Below is a basic list of how each portion of the pig can be cut:
Loin:
Bone-in Pork Chops
Boneless Tenderloin Roast
Boneless Pork Chops (you can get baby back ribs if you get boneless)
Center-cut bone-in Rib Roast
Country Style Ribs (comes form the Sirloin)
Shoulders:
Picnic Shoulder Roasts
Steaks
Country Style Spare Ribs
Ground for Sausage
Belly:
Bacon
Spareribs (comes from the side)
Ham:
Fresh Ham (left whole, or divided into roasts and/or steaks)
Cured Ham (left whole or divided into roasts)
Ground for Sausage
Hocks (fresh or cured)
Jowls
Fresh or cured (you can cure the jowls and use as bacon)
Ground for Sausage
The butcher will walk you through your cut-selection process step-by-step. You can take a look at their cut sheet here. You can also choose to keep the organs, feet and lard. You can choose your ground sausage to be plain, mild, medium or hot. The choices are all yours!
Email us at lunaacresmail@gmail.com and we can coordinate reservation and deposit. The pigs we are taking deposits on now, will be butchered at the end of March and we have a June and August butcher date coming up as well. We have limited pigs available, so don't delay!