The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Anke on February 01, 2012, 09:54:28 pm

Title: Dead weight vs live weight
Post by: Anke on February 01, 2012, 09:54:28 pm

What's the percentage of deadweight to liveweight for pigs? Collected my pork today and one killed out at 50 the other at 60kgs - butcher was saying it is about 60%?  These were OSB gilts.

If that's so one must have been about 100kgs at 26 weeks!!! Even if less I am mightily pleased - goatsmilk really was good for them then! Good covering of fat, about what I expected.

Title: Re: Dead weight vs live weight
Post by: Hopewell on February 01, 2012, 10:41:53 pm

Killing out percentage for pigs is usually quoted as being about 75-76%. A figure of 60% sounds more like cattle. Pigs are a lot higher as the head, trotters, skin etc is normally quoted in the KO%

Title: Re: Dead weight vs live weight
Post by: robert waddell on February 01, 2012, 10:45:34 pm

yes but yours were skinned and there is some weight in a skin also if the head and trotters were left :farmer:
ps the only way to know is weigh them before they go

Title: Re: Dead weight vs live weight
Post by: Anke on February 03, 2012, 10:07:41 pm

Quote from: robert waddell on February 01, 2012, 10:45:34 pm

ps the only way to know is weigh them before they go

Thanks, we would have weighed them (bought a weighing crate last year), but it was so muddy that there was no way to get the crate anywhere near the pig enclosure.... I had to hose them down once in the trailer, which resulted in all three of us (the two pigs and I) being clean...

Title: Re: Dead weight vs live weight
Post by: robert waddell on February 03, 2012, 10:25:54 pm

just as a warning to others if the pigs are mucky the slaughter house can reject them  we wash our ones even the trotters :farmer: