Hog Cut Guide

Hog Cut Guide

Introduction
If you’ve never filled out a cut sheet before it can be very overwhelming so I have put together this guide to help ya out. The price will be based on the hanging weight which averages somewhere around 250 pounds. The yield weight (which is what you take home) really depends on what cuts you choose. The average is about 210 pounds, but it truly depends.
You can think of a hog as four primal cuts – the ham, belly, shoulders and the loin. You can turn the entire hog into sausage or just a few roasts. It’s really your preference and what you enjoy that matters! The processing costs will change depending on how much work the butchers have to do. Let’s go through each primal cut and the options you have there.
Hams
You have a few options for the hams. You can get a whole ham roast, but let me warn you! I currently have a 17 pound whole ham in my freezer. They are massive so unless you have a very large gathering – perhaps think about doing a half ham. If you do a half ham you have two options. You can do the shank cut which is the more traditional ham cut. The other is the rump cut, which is more typically reserved for ham steaks. Hams unfortunately cannot be bone-in and sliced.
If you do not want a ham roast you can do ham steaks or sausage. If you do anything other than sausage you will also need to decide if you would prefer fresh (uncommon) or smoked and cured. If cured, you will need to decide between a traditional cure or a nitrate free cure. The nitrate free is more costly.
What do I normally get? I typically order a half ham and the rest as sausage or ground pork.
Belly
Belly only has a few options here. As always, you can do sausage, but I do not recommend this because this is bacon! A whole fresh side is typically 13 to 15 pounds, but once it is cured, smoked and sliced you will get 10-12 pounds. You can take a whole side, one to three pound chunks, or sliced. Like ham, you can take it as fresh, traditionally cured or nitrate free cured.
What do I normally get? I normally order one pound packs of thick sliced, traditionally cured bacon.
Shoulders
There are so many things you can do with the shoulders! Most common may be the two roasts – a butt roast and a picnic shoulder. These roasts are typically 5 to 10 pounds. You may want to ask the butcher to cut these so they can fit in your slow cooker (about 2.5- 3 pound roasts).
Other options include pork steaks or sausage.
What do I normally get? I order most of my shoulders as roasts.
Loin
There are two main things you can do with the loin – a roast or pork chops. The whole loin roast is upwards of 12 pounds. I suggest having that made into 3-4 roasts if that’s the way you go.
If you do not go with roasts, you can do pork chops. You will need to decide between boneless and bone in, thickness of chops, how many chops per package and if you’d like them smoked.
If you choose the roasts or boneless chops you will also get a tenderloin and baby back ribs.
What do I normally get? I get a little bit of each of these. As far as chops go I order 1″ thick, bone in chops with two per package. Both fresh and traditionally cured and smoked.
Miscellaneous
Ribs
You will get a rack of spare ribs. The only decision you need to make is between traditional cut and St. Louis cut. St. Louis style ribs are squared off for more even cooking. I normally order St. Louis style.
Hocks
You can make these into sausage or have them smoked and cured. You can also have them split as they can get pretty big. If you’re not into beans or soup, I would have them made into sausage.
Jowls
Jowls can either be made into bacon or put into sausage. The jowls are fairly fatty so they work great for flavoring dishes. I typically make them into bacon – either sliced or whole like guanciale.
Organs
You have the option to take the heart, tongue and liver. If you don’t want them, no big deal!
Fat
There will be extra fat. You can leave it unrendered or have it rendered into lard. Lard might weird you out at first, but after you make fried potatoes with it you will understand!
Bones
If you like to make stock you can get any extra bones from the hog. These do take up quite a bit of room, but they make super delicious soups.
Sausage
No matter what, you will have some trimmings and leftover bits of meat. If you choose to put any of the primal cuts into sausage you will have even more. For that reason I just can’t tell you how much you will end up with. You can leave it as trim to make your own sausages, or you can have it ground. There are a wide variety of flavor, shape and package size options. Anything can be chosen as bulk packs, large brat sized links, small breakfast sized links, and patties. Andouille and Kielbasa typically come smoked.
Still have questions? No worries – email us at info@beewenchfarm.com

Sample Farm Hog Cut Sheet Name:____________________ Phone: ____________________ Email: _______________________________________________
Hams
__ Sausage
__ Half or __Whole
__ Smoked or __ Fresh __Shank or __ Rump
__ Ham Steaks
__ Boneless, Sliced _______ Slice Thickness ____ Pack Size Belly
__ Sausage
__ Whole or __ Sliced
__ Fresh, __ Traditional Cure or __Nitrate Free
__ Slice Thickness __ Pack Size
Shoulders
__ Sausage
__ Butt Roast
__ Picnic Shoulder Roast
__ Steaks
__ Buckboard Bacon
__ Fresh, __ Traditional Cure or __Nitrate Free
__ Slice Thickness __ Pack Size
Loins
__ Sausage
__ Loin Roast __ Size
__ Chops __ Bone In, __ Boneless or __ Canadian Bacon __ Fresh, __ Traditional Cure or __Nitrate Free
__ Slice Thickness __ Pack Size
Miscellaneous
Ribs
__ Traditional or __ St. Louis Style
__ Baby Back (only available if not getting Bone In Chops) Hocks
__ Sausage
__ Whole or __ Split
__ Fresh, __ Traditional Cure or __Nitrate Free
Jowls
__ Sausage
__ Whole or __ Sliced
__ Fresh, __ Traditional Cure or __Nitrate Free
__ Slice Thickness __ Pack Size
Organs
__ Heart __ Tongue __Liver
Fat
__ Whole Fat
__ Lard __ Pint or __ Quart
Bones
__ Yes or __ No
Sausage
__ Plain Ground Pork

If you are interested in finding out more about how much pork you will receive from one of our pigs, check out this article on How Much Pork Do I Take Home From a Whole Hog.

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