Pastured Pork

Female pig in grass field

Our pastured pig herd is growing.  We will have butcher hogs again in May of 2023.  We are now taking deposits for this Spring’s pastured pork.  See available dates here.

Having heard from you, we have decided to make whole-hog sausage a regular offering.  The next date for this offering is late March 2023. Read more about a pork breakfast share (scrapple, bacon, sausage, and lard) here.

Additionally, when you purchase pastured pork from our farm, you will also provide protein to farmers in one of the world’s most impoverished nations, Haiti.  Learn more about our partnership here.

For more information on the amount of each type of cut to expect when purchasing pork, see the chart at the bottom of the page.  The pigs are a mix of Berkshire hogs, which are noted for their excellent pork quality. We have our own breeding stock and produce our own piglets.  The pigs are fed a commercial hog feed, along with sweet corn, pumpkins, eggs that are cracked when collected, hay, fresh turnips, and other diverse foods that are available to them on our small farm.  They spend their entire lives here on the farm.

Pork cut sheet
Rough butcher's guide to pork cuts from a bygone era
If you’ve never purchased a whole or half hog for your freezer, the process may seem daunting.  We deliver the pig to the butcher.  You will decide things like how you would like your meat packaged, how many servings in a package, what type of sausage, etc.  The butcher will ask guiding questions to help you choose.  While there really is no such thing as a “typical” pig, below are some ballpark numbers from our own personal experience.

Here are the assumptions on which this table is based:  a hog which weighs 300 lbs., half of the loin is cut into chops, and half of the loin is cut into roasts.  Again, there is no typical pig, but these numbers are based on actual take-home from the butcher.

Pork Cuts

Cut / ItemTake-home YieldPercentage of live weight
Scrapple17-19 lbs.6%
Lard17-19 lbs.6%
Bacon17-19 lbs.6%
Ham37-41 lbs.13%
Sausage40-45 lbs.14%
Shoulder20-21 lbs.7%
Chops20-21 lbs.7%
Roasts22-24 lbs.8%
Ribs11-13 lbs.4%

Based on our actual experience, total packaged meat, lard, and scrapple picked up from the butcher will be in the 170-195 pound range from a 300 pound pig.  Do you have any questions about the idea of buying a whole or half hog?  Contact us!