# Guinea Hog meat



## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

I've considered raising Guinea Hogs for quite sometime, but I worry the market for the meat would be poor because it is said to be very fatty and not quite the type of meat that suits most American palates. 

Anyone here raise them and have feedback on the meat?


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

It's delicious! In fact, IMO, the flavor and texture of the meat are the breed's saving grace. 

When you're producing a specialty food product "most American palates" are not your target market.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

They don't call guinea hogs lard hogs for no reason.
Most people do not like to buy lard when they are expecting meat.


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## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

> When you're producing a specialty food product "most American palates" are not your target market.


While this is true, in my area, the average American Palate is what I would have to raise for, often, thus why I wondered if the taste was something most people would not prefer.

Pancho - how do you find the taste of the meat, beyond there being a lot of fattiness?


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

Creamers said:


> While this is true, in my area, the average American Palate is what I would have to raise for, often, thus why I wondered if the taste was something most people would not prefer.
> 
> Pancho - how do you find the taste of the meat, beyond there being a lot of fattiness?


The taste was the same as other hogs raised the same. Just a lot of fat. Lots of extra work for something that isn't used anymore. At one time people wanted a lard hog and the guinea hog was used. People stopped using lard and the price of guinea hogs dropped like a rock.
Now they are more of a fad and the price is up. Not as a meat hog, for selling to other people who do not have much experience raising hogs.

Just think how you would feel about buying pork and finding it was mostly fat.


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## KIT.S (Oct 8, 2008)

Ours don't have that much fat, maybe because they're on pasture and get brewer's grain and veggies instead of commercial bagged food. I'm cheap, so they don't get a lot of corn or fatty foods, and we have just enough fat to make the meat moist. As far as taste, really it's pretty much like other home-grown pork. Not necessarily similar to the white, dry porkchops in the grocery store, but put beside a Berkshire chop, I probably couldn't tell the difference. It's more tender though, probably because of the fat content.

As far as commercially saleable, I don't know if people would be pleased with the small size of the chops. Roasts are great, ribs are one-meal-per-pig in our household, and we roll the bellies to make it thick enough to bother making bacon with. I think they're fine as a farm pig - they're calm, friendly and easily handled - but for commercial purposes, I would probably choose a bigger pig.

We've raised Berkshires, too, and they're similar in temperment and length-of-time-to-butcher, but they dig a lot more. The cuts are more in the size people expect, and if they're fed long enough to get a good fat coating, they're tender and moist.

Kit


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## Mare Owner (Feb 20, 2008)

Raising Guinea hogs just for the meat market is a very specialty type thing. If you're just looking to raise hogs for meat, they take a lot longer to get there. They have a lot of other good things about them, and to me, they're the best pork I've ever had, and I've had other home raised hogs, but they don't taste as good. There are only a very few people in the country who've been successful raising Guineas for the meat market, very very few.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

When we raised guinea hogs we released them and gathered them late fall or early winter. We fed them absolutely nothing. What they got to eat they found themselves.
They were all rolly polly fat. I can't imagine one that was fed anything at all being good to eat unless a person likes fat. Some people do.


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## enggass (Nov 23, 2011)

I've been told that supplying some protein to supplement their diet aids in building muscle(meat) rather than just building fat... ?!?


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## ONG2 (Sep 22, 2010)

We sold 20 head of AGH this spring, 30% went to other breeders, the rest were either ready to eat or went to people that wanted to pasture them themselves.


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