There is nothing like home grown food.

Raising your own pigs is usually the easy part, it’s enjoyable and relatively stress free - you are in full control of their feed and how you raise them and you will have a freezer full of delicious, nutritious pork that will feed your family for months.

It is really difficult saying goodbye to our pigs and I get very upset when our pork doesn’t come back as expected. I find this the most stressful part of raising our own meat. We are no longer in control and have to trust a processor to cut our pork for us. In an ideal world we would have our own place to process the pork.

Carl and I both worked in processing plants, both here and the UK and we have dealt with over 15 different ones over the years. You would not believe the things we have personally experienced and been told by other farmers.

You don’t always know what you need to ask. If you are new to dealing with processors Here are 3 questions to ask your processor.

You should find a processor early

Some places book a year in advance. Many prioritize wild game in hunting season, so you may want to try and avoid these busy times.

The longer you have to keep your pig, the heavier and fatter it gets.

Most processors charge on hanging weight and you will pay processing on all that extra fat, you will need to clarify if you want the fat trimming and if you want to take it home. It’s a valuable part of our pig and we always render it for cooking..

If you are selling pork to customers they may not appreciate pork that is too fatty. You may also find 5 things you need to know before buying a side of pork helpful

Questions for your processor

Do they give you your own meat back and all of your own meat? This is the number 1 question I ask.
e.g of when you may not get your meat back:-
Sausage making - Some will mix pork trim from other customers animals to make ground pork or sausage.. Or they may add beef into sausage… which you will have to pay extra for.
Bacon or hams are they yours … some will take your pork and give you some that was made earlier of similar weight.
Offal, fat and bones. Many customers don’t want these back so your processor may be in the habit of throwing them away. You need to clarify with them if you want to take these home.
Do they cut and wrap to your specs. This is really important to us… if they have a standard cut and wrap that they do you may have roasts ground or cubed that you didn’t expect, or everything deboned.
Is your product labeled - yes believe it or not some do not label the cuts of meat, so you have a lot of brown packages and your supper is pork surprise.
How much does it cost. There is nothing worse than having a 200lb pork quoted at $1/lb cut and wrap… and your bill is $350

Extra charges you may come across

Bacon and ham curing and smoking
Sausage making
Grinding
Slicing
Deboning
Stew making
Packaging/wrapping
Freezing
Boxes
Enviro or disposal fees
Gst
Free range or coloured pig charge

Tip - if you do plan to get bacon ham and sausage made try some that your processor has already made - if you don’t like it you may be able to find another processor to make those products for you.

If you have had any strange experiences with processors I would love to hear from you.

For more information on raising free-range pigs check out my e-book - it’s packed with time and money-saving tips based on our experiences raising free-range pigs.

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