[suziequeue]

My 27 week old Tamworths now weigh in at just over 98kg.

What live weight should I be aiming for if I want pork and bacon?

Is it about 115kg?

Susanna

[pointy]

Hi Susanna

I've been told that you loose 30% of live weight and then take off 15lbs for the head and that gives you the dead weght (roughly) eg., 150lbs live = 80lbs dead weight. This is only a gausstimate.

John

[Eve]

Yes, I think that's how it works, so your piggies (sorry, they're pigs by that weight  ) would be ready (do you have them booked in somewhere yet?).

We had about 65kgs of meat, plus the heads and bones, of our GOS boars who were 6 months. I never weighed them, though, I should start doing that.


Eve 

[pottsie]

Probably sounds a bit daft, but i am on my first pigs, how are you going to check the weight? I was going to ask the guy who sold me them when his are ready but would be interested in any proper method.

Rob. 

[Mo]

There are a couple of 'rough calculations' you can do that involve measuring the pigs.

You measure their girth round their shoulders, right up against their 'armpits' behind the front legs and you measure their length from between their ears to the root of the tail.

1st method is Length x Girth divided by 12 if they're lean, 11 if medium or 10 if they're fat.

2nd method is Girth x Girth Length then divide by 400.

This gives you an idea in lbs.

Not sure why there are 2 methods, we used both and there was a 35lb difference between the two results at the end. Then again, we used the 'medium' in the first method when we should probably have used 'fat'.

[HappyHippy]

I was on a website recently that had a tape measure with all the calculations pre-done. You simply (depending on how tame your pigs are ) measure their girth and read off the weight. I can't remember what site it was - but I'll keep looking and let you know if I find it !

[Eve]

Try measuring them whilst they're eating - the rest of the time they're either playing or lying on top of the tape wanting their belly rubbed... 

But to get back to Susanna's question: sounds like your pigs are big enough to go, 100kgs is baconer-weight (our GOS were about 90+kgs and used for both pork and bacon). Some abattoirs don't like pigs too large, apparently.


Eve 

[sarha]

http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/1106/use-heart-girth-to-estimate-the-weight-of-finishing-pigs

Happyhippy, this is a site I found that gave you the weights by measuring the girth. I dont know how to paste links, so have put web address above.

Hope this helps susiequeue

  ha ha, link posted!

[Mo]

I was on a website recently that had a tape measure with all the calculations pre-done. You simply (depending on how tame your pigs are ) measure their girth and read off the weight. I can't remember what site it was - but I'll keep looking and let you know if I find it !

We read about that in Country Smallholder and haven't been able to find one.

[pottsie]

Thanks off to find/buy a tape measure will be interesting to know how much they weigh in at and how quickly they grow.

Rob. 

[suziequeue]

I've now created a little excel spreadsheet with the calculations in so I just have to put the girth and length measurements in and it calculates the live weight and the dead weight.

I have spoken to the abattoir and arranged a butcher so need to book them in soon.

Susanna

[HappyHippy]

I found the tape again - it's called a hog weigh tape - here's one website that sells it, but I'm sure there will be more.
Karen x
http://www.cheappetproducts.net/22511_HOG_WEIGHT_TAPE-UKP110829.html

[Mo]

Have you checked the shipping costs? GBP 18.92.
It 'felt' american although price given is in GBP -  I'm guessing it comes from Stateside.

[fiatmillie1969]

Hi susanna
i'm new to pig keeping and also wondered how long i should keep my welsh piggies? the bloke i bought them off told me 21 wks this doesnt seam long, so are all breeds different?

Cheers shell 

[digit]

I use a live stock weight tape thats got the weights on the tape, very easy to use, i think it was £10