# Pig ready for butcher, now what?



## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

One of our two pigs is just about ready to butcher. Do I need to put it on a different feed for a certain amount of time before taking it in or anything else? They are fed a mix of 12% all-stock sweet feed and a 20% show pig feed which is medicated. My wife bought 4 bags of the medicated feed by mistake and they wouldnt exchange it. Should I take them off the medicated feed prior to butcher and only feed the all-stock or take them off of both and feed them something else? We havent taped them lately but Im guessing one is around 220 and the other is around 160. They are the same age but the lighter one was the runt. 

Also, We are a family of 4. What is the best thing to ask for as far as cuts when we take it in? We will eat plenty of pork if we have it and like everything from porkchops to ribs. Love bacon and all kinds of sausage. 

Any advice on these two issues would be great. Thanks.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

I would not butcher ANY animal that had recently eaten medicated feed. Many do, but that is my personal feeling on the matter. As far as cuts, since you like bacon, ask the butcher to make as much bacon as possible. On a 220 pound hog, you won't end up with alot of trim, which is largely what goes into the sausage, so if sausage is more important than whole roast, have 1 ham an/or 1 shoulder ground into the sausage mix. That will still leave you with several roasts from the remaining ham and shoulder. BTW, I have found that the fresh (not cured) bone-in roasts are best. I have them packaged in the 3-4 pound range, though you could specify any weight range for those. And of course you will want chops. Be sure to have them save the fat if you would like to render it into lard. And be sure they save the organs for you to cook up for dog food...or, I guess that you could eat those yourselves, but the thought of it makes me squeemish!

Forgot to mention, be sure the butcher knows you want the meat packaged for a family of four. For just me and my DH, we have the chops packed in two servings per pack, etc..


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## Amylb999 (Jan 28, 2007)

First I'd get them off the medicated feed. Then give them a mix 50/50 with your grower and corn for three weeks of the last month. The last week give them just corn. If it's whole which is cheapest soak it over night in a bucket. They will lap it up and love it. keep them full fed for the last week. This means they don't run out of feed.


I'd raise it to around 300 if you can. You will be much happier. The cuts will be bigger and better.

I also slaughter and butcher myself so I can't say what a butcher will do. However we try to pack around 1 pound per person. This is adults. But we are big meat eaters. Best bet is to ask the family meal planner.... then do as I do and add 25% .


This is Stanb999,


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## Kmac15 (May 19, 2007)

I would take them off the med feed as well.

we have our processor cut the hams in half or thirds, shoulders in half, and the chops 1/2 inch and in packs of 4 or 6 I am real picky about my sausage seasoning so I have them do the scrapes in very lean packs of 2 lbs apiece.I then use this instead of hamburger (my pork had never been recalled LOL)


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

What is the medication in the feed you purchased. I have the 2008 Feed Additive Compendium and will give yo the proper withdrawal period for the medication in the feed.

I would NOT put the pig on straight corn prior to slaughter, this will make the pig very fat and will not meet the protein needs of the pig prior to slaughter.

Jim


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## Anderson farms (Mar 26, 2007)

I would take them off the medicated feed also. I have also heard that straight corn isn't the best for them either. We fed a complete pelleted feed that wasn't medicated with a little sweet feed for a treat. I would also get them a little bigger. Our first hogs we took in were about 220 and the pork chops were kind of small and we didn't get much sausage. This year we got them closer to 300 and are a lot happier. Good size chops and a lot more meat!!! We're not big ham eaters, so we got one half ham and half sliced for ham steaks and put other ham ground for sausage. We get ground pork also. Its like ground beef, but BETTER! Makes awesome grilled burgers Very juicy. We love bacon also, and our butcher makes bacon out of the shoulder....it is wonderful. Now I've made myself hungry. Hoped I helped and didn't make you hungry too.


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

Thanks for the great replies. The medication is the 20% feed is lincomycin. Its actually a show pig grower but my wife just told them she wanted a high protein feed and this is what they sold her. I didnt want to feed tham any medicated feed but also dont want to waste all the feed that was bought either. Ill switch them and feed them out however long would be best once they are taken off the medicated feed. 

As for the cuts, I do plan on getting everything I can. My dog loves dried pig ears, although if my uncle heard I was feeding the ears to the dog he'd throw a fit about them being "the best part of the pig", lol. We have never rendered lard but will be giving it a shot. Also, if 300 lbs would be better, we do not have a problem feeding them out until then, we had just always read around 220 was best. If there would not be a lot of sausage, giving up a ham and shoulder would be wrorth it to us to get more. Does anyone here do anything with the pigs feet, head? I know the cheek meat is supposed to be really good.

Ground pork burger is a great idea I havent thought of. All we eat is ground turkey right now so we arent opposed to non-beef burger. Will definitly be asking for some!


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

Lincomycin is used in hog feeds to control Ileitis caused by L. intracellularis. It can also be used to ameliorate the effects of Mycoplasmal pneumonia. At all levels of supplementation (20 to 200 g/ton) there are no withdrawal limitations.


By mixing the Show Pig feed and the Finisher feed you have about a 16% CP ration or inthe .9 lysine range. Continue this feed until you are finished with the Show pig feed, then you can feed them the 12% finishing feed. This is not ideal from a commercial nutrition standpoint, but it works for your situation.

Good luck with the pigs.

Jim


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

Thanks a lot for that knowledgable reply on the medicated feed. Makes me feel a bit better.


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## js2743 (Dec 4, 2006)

bigger the better a 220 is a pig to me, we always growed em as big as possible. it all taste the same, i like mine to get at least 500 or bigger you get alot more meat and have enough lard to last most of the year. get my pigs around february and try to kill around last november when it gets cold enough to cure good and insects are all gone.


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## RedneckPete (Aug 23, 2004)

Lazy J said:


> I would NOT put the pig on straight corn prior to slaughter, this will make the pig very fat and will not meet the protein needs of the pig prior to slaughter.


I just butchered two pigs. Hanging weights were 600 lbs and 480 lbs. Both were fed nothing but corn and hay for the last six months of their lives.

I almost had to buy pork fat to make a decent sausage. These pigs were not even close to fat.

The volume of food and the exercise the pigs are encouraged to engage in goes a huge way towards determining the quality of the finished product.

Pete


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## ihedrick (May 15, 2005)

I'd wait til they got closer to 300. Or atleast get the 160 pounder up to about 250. In my limited experience, you'll lose about a third of their weight when butchered. That isn't too much meat on the runt. Ask your butcher what you can expect to lose during processing.


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## stockdogtta (Apr 12, 2008)

Ideal butchering weight is about 240-260. If you like a lot of fat-go to 300.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

RedneckPete said:


> I just butchered two pigs. Hanging weights were 600 lbs and 480 lbs. Both were fed nothing but corn and hay for the last six months of their lives.


You can do what you want with your hogs, but feeding straight corn and to the extremem weights you did is not very efficient. Sure you had a huge carcass, but it was an expensive carcass regardless of how cheap your corn was.

The feed efficiency of pigs falls from 1:1 at weaning to 3.5:1 in 300 lb pigs fed in commercial facilities with a 12 phase feeding program. Feeding pigs only corn will reduce this further and feeding "market hogs" to 400 to 600 lb will further decrease the feed conversion of pigs.

Jim


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

stockdogtta said:


> Ideal butchering weight is about 240-260. If you like a lot of fat-go to 300.


Stock Dog:

I like slaughtering my hogs in that range too, but the ideal weight is very dependent on the genetics of the pig. 

I have customers feed pigs to 310 lb. Based on the lean premium matrix for his packer and the cost of his feed this maximizes his profitability, but he has the appropriate genetics to sell them at this weight.

The Berkshires I raised in High School in the 80's would have been rolly-polly lard boats had I tried to raise them to 300 lb.

Jim


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

I had a buddy over today that said he thinks both my pigs are in heat. They both have their genitals swollen up a bit. I noticed it about a week ago but didnt think anything of it. They are both around 5 1/2 months old. He told me not to even think of having them slaughtered right now. 

So, if they are in heat, how long should it last and how long after that should I wait for slaughter. I really didnt think they would go into heat before it was time.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

Don't worry about them being in heat for slaughtering, feed them a good quality feed and get them to your target weight then turn them into pork.

Jim


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