The whys and hows of direct-from-farmer pork
Buying meat in the whole/half share is a totally different and new model for most people. The following is an excerpt from an email to a customer who had more questions after reading our pork page:
I find the most helpful thing is to think of it like you are buying a hog, not pork. Essentially, the transaction is that you are buying a whole or half of the animal, and then you are paying for the services to have that animal butchered to your specifications.
So because of that, the price is not based on how many pork chops and sausages you get, but on the size/weight of the animal. The cost of the pig is measured with a metric called "hanging weight." This is how much the pig weighs after it is eviscerated, and is usually about 70% of its live weight. So a 300 lb pig alive in the field hangs near 210 lbs. Our pigs will weigh in the average of 270-320 lbs based on whether they are male or female (the boys get bigger!) so you have to understand that we will never know the exact price of the purchase until the pig has been brought to the butcher and put on the scale. We'll use that 210 lbs average though for the purposes of this discussion :)
The amount we charge for raising the pig is $5 per lb hanging weight. So that 210 lb pig costs $1,050. If you would like to buy just half, the cost is $525. This is payment to the farm for the feed and our labor in raising it. Then, we need to pay the butcher. The cost of the butcher last year was $1/lb hanging weight, plus a flat rate $80 harvest fee (which is split in half if you get a half share). So if you're still tracking with me, that adds another 210+80 for a whole pig and 105+40 for a half. So the average price of a half hog share is:
Farm cost ($5 x 105 lbs)---------------$525
Butcher by lb ($1 x 105lbs)----------- $105
Butcher harvest fee (half of $80) -----$40
TOTAL--------------------------------------$670
(Quick note-- these were last year's prices for the butcher, so it's possible they will have increased slightly. I am working on confirming that. Also, if you want to have your bacon cured and smoked, that is a small extra fee. I believe it's $15 per half)
Now the actual quantity of meat you get from that varies pretty widely. On average, the total yield of cuts respective to the hanging weight is about 70%. But that percentage is completely dependent on what you tell the butcher you want. The clearest example is a pork chop-- if you designate you only want boneless pork chops, that's going to weigh a lot less than if you get bone-in pork chops. Another good example is the lard and jowls. These two things combined can weigh up to 15 lbs, and if you tell the butcher you don't want to keep them, that's 15lbs you paid for but just wont get. This is why we have to base the price on hanging weight and not on cuts, because the cost of raising the animal doesn't change whether a customer wants liver or lard, or likes boneless roasts.
So what do you get? Whatever you want! I will send you a cut sheet to fill out that walks you through each of the sections of the pig, and tells you what cuts those can be turned into. This is the best part about buying a whole/half animal... you get it completely customized, from the thickness of your pork chops to the number you want in each package.
I realize this sounds complicated, but it doesn't have to be! The summary is just that every pig will cost slightly different based on weight, and every customer will get out of that pig whatever they decide. You pay the deposit to reserve your whole or half, but then the balance is due after it is weighed at the butcher and we know what the final breakdown will be.
Feel free to contact me if you have further questions!