Your farmer should have a pretty good idea about the live weight of the animal (there’s a formula for this, so your farmer doesn’t have to coax the pig onto a scale, fortunately). From there, you can work out for yourself how much cut and wrapped meat to expect.
Generally, you can estimate your final yield as follows:
Hanging weight = 70% live weight
Finished meat = 70% hanging weight.
Hanging weight is the weight calculated by the butcher after slaughter, and after the skin and guts are removed. The butcher’s cut and wrap fees are based on the hanging weight, as is the farmer’s per-pound price for the meat. Based on the formula above, the cut and wrapped weight of the meat that goes into your freezer will be roughly half the weight of the live animal.
However, if you request that the butcher leaves the bones in your cuts (you really should), and you want to keep the head and organ meats, then your final yield increases by quite a bit.
Since our pork is most commonly bought by the half, here’s an example of what you might expect from half an American Guinea Hog:
The estimated live weight was ~135 lb, with a 96 lb hanging weight. For one half, that equals 48 lb hanging weight. Keeping the bone in all cuts (ham, roasts, chops), and retaining the edible organs and head yielded 40 lbs of cut and wrapped meat–very little loss from the hanging weight. Here’s a breakdown of the cuts and their weights, to give you an idea how much a half an American Guinea Hog will yield:
| 6 lbs, 7 oz | pork chops |
| 2 lb, 4 oz | hocks |
| 3 lbs | spare ribs |
| 1 lb, 5 oz | leaf lard |
| 1lb, 9 oz | back fat |
| 9 lb, 8 oz | shoulder roasts |
| 6 lb | belly/bacon |
| 9 lb | ham |
| 3/4 lb | ground pork |
| 40 lb | Total |
|---|
Plus 1/2 head, 2 feet, 1 ear, heart, and liver.
Bellfern Homestead 