[arwelcoed]

Hello every one, this is my first post on here. We are going to keep two pigs for our own freezer this year. Although we keep sheep and poultry for this purpose and we are familiar with the process. My question is what weight would you recommend slaughter as I'm a bit worried about getting overwhelmed with meat that will need dealing with all at the same time and will two pigs be too much for use (me the wife and are young boy, though we often feed 4-6 family members at weekends and we love bbq's!!) and make us sick of it? I was thinking of keeping them to baconers weight 80-90kg (Is that bit right?) and have the weight of one in choice cuts for roasts and the weight of the other made in to bacon and sausages. How would you recommend the first two be cut so we get the benefit of them but no regrets only ideas for the next two! Sorry for the long winded post and I thank you all now for any thoughts on the matter.

[manian]

Hi and welcome
first I would advise to look at the joints/cuts available. ...... i realised i knew nothing when i first looked into the types etc. My butcher was brilliant
also depends on when the pigs will be ready. (eg do you want a christmas HAM  ) we had a customer ask where the loin joint was when she had asked for chops!!
bacon good and we hope to have some with our current girls but not keen on it once frozen so  will have to think on that
we eat alot of meat. so if you are keeping 2 whole ones for yourself it will last a while
also think about what you normally eat
sausages 
diced for stews and pies
mince etc
ooooh now i'm starving
Mx

[robert waddell]

your two pigs might not last as long as you think depends on how much pork you consume just now and how tasty the home produced pork is

[FiB]

We have 2 saddleback pigs being butchered at the moment and a new empty 10 CuM freezer just waiting.  Will tell you what it looks like when it all comes back on Monday (bar the cured meat).  We took ours to 6 months and are having some meat cured for bacon/gammon and the rest as pork.  We could have sent one off before christmas for Pork - but didnt want to take one on his own!!! No idea what the live weight was as we didnt have a weighing create - the rough and ready measuring meathod suggested about 100Kg a few weeks ago, but I think that may have been over.  I thought they might weigh them at the slaughterhouse but the man looked at me as if I was mad when I asked if they could let me know the weights!!!!  (He said the butcher would say the dead weight and I would know the live weight!).

 They are hanging at mo and butcher says the deadweights are around 74Kg, so lookforward to know the cut meat weight.  Will let you know.

[Eve]

Arwelcoed, it might help to look at it this way: each 6-month old pig will fill a full height (6ft) standing freezer, but it won't be all sausages and ribs: a lot of space will be taken up with trotters, head, bones etc. With regular big meals and bbqs, 2 pigs could be eaten in 6 months, though if you have lots of sausages it'll last longer as you get plenty of sausage out of a kilo of mince (a pack of six sausages in the shops doesn't even weigth half a kilo).
The main roasts of 2 pigs only last us about 6 months, the chops last longer, the charcuterie the longest because we make it at various time through the year.
Bacon can easily be made from previously frozen belly, so don't worry about having to freeze bacon - you just cure it as you go along.
There aren't that many bbq ribs on a pig, btw, don't invite two dozen people over for a rib feast from your pigs But they'll taste great! 

[MAK]

I'd say if they are a good size and still costing you on feed then use now. I won't over winter pigs again - too expensive.
We say goodbye to our first 2 in a couple of weeks. Lots of planning to do - like how big I should keep joints and what bits I will give to my neighbour for helping. He wants the blood for puddings and his mum wants half a head but the rest is ours - just the 2 of us - so I will give neighbours some as they helped feed them from their orchards and veg plots.
I'm thinking of inviting all the family over so will do a shoulder ( like Jamie Oliver did the other night).
I got my own butchers kit from a local Hunting shop but need to sort out the cold room ( barn) to hang and butcher and have all the bags and labels ready. Chris has checked the sausage machine and skins etc.

Eve - I know you have advised before but I may get back to you re: Salami/Rosette dry cure .

[arwelcoed]

That's a great help thanks very much everyone. Thinking I might now keep them from eight weeks old till they are as near the right weight as possible by sep/oct time. Then ask for as many joints, ribs and chops as possible then cure the bacon as we go (I hadn't thought of doing it that way before!) and have the rest in dice form and mince for making sausages at home (might have some sausages made by the butcher as a taster to see if that's a better way the next time.
So I suppose the next question is the million dollar one... Which breed do you recommend for first time keeper that is looking for the above cuts from the end product? I want to keep a rare breed or at least native pure breed. Ideas please. Thanks again!

[robert waddell]

British lop