Half a pig questions...

voodoozoe

Some questions...:p

1. Is £40 a reasonable price for half a pig????

2. How much pig am I getting...will it fit into a normal upright fridge freezer(OH says not but I don't believe him!!!)???

3. What format does the pig come in...is it just joints???

Thankyou everybody;)

MrsTinks

Depends on the size of the pig...
It's kind of a "how long is a piece of string" question Small porker then you might fit it in, big oinker and you'd need a large chest freezer. Same for price... it depends on the size of your oinker

moggins

£40 is a very good price for half a pig. I would bite their hands off at that price! Half a pig is exactly what is says, you would need to ask for it to be jointed usually.

whatatwit

I would think it would be butchered into the usual cuts of pork.
Chops, belly, shoulder, leg, kidney, liver.

Make sure you have some good freezer bags and a marker pen.

Milkmaid_2

I agree price looks good, and you can get leg joint, shoulder joint, loin jointed or into chops, belly whole or in slices, usually you can ask for the head too and also the 2 trotters. At least with half a pig you get very usable meat, not like half a beef animal where there is lots of cheap cuts to use up, tasty true but there can be a lot of mince/ stewing steak. But even half a pig will take up a fair bit of space. What breed is it ?

thriftlady_2

My butcher sells half a pig for 99p a lb and they weigh between 45-55lb. So, £40 is less than 99p a lb. Bargain I'd say Incidentally a whole pig would be even cheaper.

voodoozoe

I don't know the breed/size...if £40 is such a bargain it won't be a posh pig will it!!!!!

I saw it advertised in a butcher's window in Featherstone, West Yorkshire and really want one but would probably have to use up all the (free picked in summer) cherries, HM stock, bread crusts (kept for B&B pudding), summer picked blackberries etc, etc, etc:eek:

Next time I am in Featherstone I am going to go in and ask as OH loves pork and if I could squeeze it in it would last for ages:D

I did see after posting, on a posh-ish butcher website a half a pig minus head for £110 so almost a THIRD of the price:T( that was for an "Old Spot" pig so a special breed though)

Debt_Free_Chick

voodoozoe wrote:

Some questions...:p

1. Is £40 a reasonable price for half a pig????

Too cheap, I'd say. I would wonder how it was reared and, therefore, what the final taste of the pork would be like. Pigs do not take well to intensive farming (although the majority ARE intensively farmed) so the quality and taste of the pork tends to suffer.

I would want to try a joint from the same herd, first.

2. How much pig am I getting...will it fit into a normal upright fridge freezer(OH says not but I don't believe him!!!)???

3. What format does the pig come in...is it just joints???

It will be butchered and could quite possibly fit into an upright F/F ... but F/Fs come in all sizes. It is quite a lot of meat - I think you'll be surprised at how much you get.

You ought to have
2 trotters
2 hocks
1-2 legs
1 shoulder
belly
tenderloin
endless chops
spare ribs
kidney, liver

And I've probably missed a couple cuts off there :eek:

If it's decent pork, it's a real bargain - but talk to the butcher some more.

competitionscafe

I agree - it's too cheap - probably intensively reared - (as to wether it's a good price also depends a lot on the size of the pig!) if it's well-raised etc, then it's a bargain but you would be hard pushed to (non-intensively) raise a pig to slaughter weight for a retail price of £80 and still make a decent profit. To compare, half a middle white pig from here is £120 / £130 with sausages ie: 3 times the price.
http://www.huntsham.com/index2.html

Half a pig with an approximate weight of 17.50 kg. (38.5 lbs).

Cost £130.00 with sausages or £120.00 without sausages

Contents

Shoulder either whole or two halves, a joint of about 6 to 7 lbs in total.
Leg either whole or two halves, a joint of about 6 to 7 lbs in total.
Leg either whole or two halves, a joint of about 8 to 9 lbs in total.
Chump fillet a joint of about 3 to 4 lbs.
Chops about 14 or this can be done as half loin and half chops or all loin.
Liver.
Sausages about 12 pks. with 6 sausages per pk.
The sausages are made from the Hand of pork, the Belly pork and the Cheeks. These can be kept out of the sausage mix to give the possibility of - a Hand of pork (a roasting joint) a half or whole Belly as either a joint or in strips.

This butchery varies the amount of sausages available depending on how much is kept out, and is an option to consider.

Trotters are also available upon request.

Not tried the above place, but can recommend Piperfield Pork who sell at Edinburgh Farmers Market, they will deliver nationwide so you could email them for a quote on half a pig (to compare) or I will have a look next time to see what they charge (if they offer the half pig option) http://www.piperfield.com/

Unless the butcher could assure me that it was from a happy pig I would rather spend the £40 on less meat but better quality and make it stretch further by going for cuts like belly for roasting, mince, etc. Intensively reared pork is often rather tasteless and dissapointing (aside from the animal welfare issues) whereas rare-breed humanely reared pork can taste fantastic! You get what you pay for generally...

mandy_moo_1

competitionscafe wrote:

Trotters are also available upon request.

just wondered.....what on earth would anyone want with the trotters.....apart from giving 'em to your dogs, i can't think of anything else they could be used for

Debt_Free_Chick

mandy_moo_1 wrote:

just wondered.....what on earth would anyone want with the trotters.....apart from giving 'em to your dogs, i can't think of anything else they could be used for

You can simply boil them with onions & eat them. Very sweet & succulent, but full of cartiledge.

Otherwise, use them in a stock if you want it to set to jelly. Essential if you are making a home-made pork or game pie (and I've got three to make at the weekend).