Buying pork by the whole or half hog is the single best way to stock a freezer with real food at a fair price. It is also the part of farm buying that confuses people the most. Here is how we explain it to neighbors here in Beaver County.
What you are actually buying
When you buy a half hog, you are buying half of one pig from Bryant Creek Heights, cut and wrapped the way you want it. You are not buying a random assortment of pork from a warehouse. Every chop, roast, and pound of ground pork comes off the same animal that lived on our pasture in Conway, Pennsylvania.
How much meat comes off a hog
A market hog usually finishes somewhere near 250 to 280 pounds live weight. After processing, the hanging weight is roughly 70 percent of that, and the take home weight after cutting, trimming, and boning is usually 60 to 70 percent of hanging weight.
In practical terms:
What is in the box
A typical half hog gives you pork chops, a shoulder roast or two, a fresh ham or ham steaks, bacon, sausage, ribs, and ground pork. You can direct the cutting sheet toward what your family actually eats. More sausage and less roast. Thicker chops. Bacon sliced thick instead of thin.
Who should buy a half
A half hog fits most families of three or four with a standard chest freezer. It usually lasts six to nine months of regular eating and fits in about five cubic feet of freezer space.
Who should buy a whole
A whole hog makes sense if you have a large family, a dedicated freezer, or a neighbor to split with. It is also the cheapest way to buy pork per pound, and it lets you make bigger decisions at the cutting sheet, such as curing a full ham or asking for a larger share of bacon.
Splitting with someone else
Plenty of our customers buy a whole hog and split it with family. One person pays, one freezer holds half, and both households eat well for most of a year. If you are going to split, agree ahead of time on the cutting sheet so nobody is surprised.
How our pork is raised
Our pigs are Berkshire and Blue Butt crosses raised outdoors with room to root and wallow. They grow slower than commodity hogs, which is exactly why the meat is darker, better marbled, and more flavorful.
How to reserve
Pork shares are limited each season because we only raise the animals we can raise well. Reserve on the pork page, and we will text you to coordinate pickup at the farm once your order is cut and wrapped.
