Simple. Economical. Convenient.
Do you worry about what factory farms put in their pigs, and what you will be putting in your body if you eat that meat?
Are you tired of low fat pork chops that taste like cardboard?
Our pigs live happy lives out in the sunshine and grass where they are naturally healthy. Because of their forage rich diet, their meat is full of delicious flavor. Our pigs grow slower than factory pigs, which makes their meat darker and more nutrient dense.
This is NOT "the other white meat."
If you are new to buying half animals from the farmer, it's easy!
1. Purchase this deposit to hold your half hog, or two deposits for a whole hog.
This is a deposit and the final price will be calculated once your animal has been slaughtered and we know its weight. There is a detailed explanation of the cost below. For a simplicity's sake, I tell people that it's about $8/lb and that the half might weigh about 80 lbs, for a total of $640 per half hog (minus this deposit), but there are many variables that affect that final price. Please see below for an explanation.
2. When the time of harvest draws near, we will email you with the harvest date. There is a form to be signed that goes with your animal to the butcher.
3. The butcher will contact you when they are ready to start cutting, to write down how you want them to cut up your meat (the cut sheet). They will also tell you the final hanging weight of your meat, which allows us to calculate the balance of your price (see below).
4. You pay us the balance price of your hog, and pay the butcher their cutting fee at time of pick up. Please note that the butcher fee is separate from the price you pay to us. We have no control over their fee, but last we knew it was $1.10/lb, plus a little more for how much you have them cure and smoke.
5. Go to the butcher to pick up your meat when they tell you it's ready. Bring coolers so it stays frozen on the drive home.
6. Enjoy the healthiest and most delicious pork you have ever tasted for months to come!
Yields vary based on what cuts you choose and how much bone you keep, but they average around 150 lbs of cut and wrapped meat based on 180 lbs of hanging weight for a whole hog. Individual hog sizes will vary, They can be as small as 65 lbs per half, to upwards of 90+ lbs per half. A good rule of thumb is that a half hog takes up to 3 cubic feet of freezer space, and a whole hog up to 6 cubic feet.
This batch of pigs will be ready to harvest around July 2025.
The final price is calculated once we know what the hanging weight is, which is how much it weighs once the entrails, head, skin and feet have been removed.
The price to us is $6.50/lb, and the price to the butcher will be a minimum of $1.10/lb (plus more if you have them cure and smoke anything). I like to say it will be around $8/lb total, depending on what you have the butcher do. While it's impossible to predict exactly what your final cost will be until we know the hanging weight and you decide how much curing and smoking you want done, here is a ballpark example:
If the half hog carcass weight is 80 lbs, $8 x 80lbs = $640 for the estimated total price of the hog, including both my price and the butcher fee. This deposit is part of that total.
How I will calculate the balance that you owe me (which does not include the butcher fee), in this example is: ($6.50 x 80 lbs) - $400 deposit = $120 balance.
Please contact me if you have questions about this! Even if you don't understand exactly what all of this means, the important thing is that you get exactly what you pay for.
You can ask the butcher for their price schedule.