PORK PROCESSING
From farm to freezer!
Texas Ridge handles it all, from raising the animal, scheduling the processing appointment, attending the harvest and communicating your cutting instructions to the processor. All you need to do is pick up your meat when it's ready!
Hang weights and meat yield
There are three industry standard units of measurement you need to understand when placing your pork order: Live weight, hang weight, and cut weight.
Live weight is the weight of the animal when it's walking around. This is the unit of measurement auction houses use to sell animals on the hoof. It is not something we can easily measure on the farm (try convincing a herd of pigs in a pasture to step onto a scale one at a time and wait for you to jot down their weights). Additionally, it varies hour by hour depending on hydration and gut fill.
Hang weight or "Hot Carcass Weight" is the weight of the animal after it has been killed, gutted, with head and feet removed. Some processors skin hogs, while others scald. (Scalding is removing the hair but leaving the skin on.) Scalded hogs will have higher hang weights than skinned hogs, because the hog's hide is actually quite heavy. This is the condition the pork hangs in the cooler after harvest, and it is the one point in the process between pasture and freezer when all carcass conditions are equal, so this is the unit of measurement used by most processors and meat sellers to base their pricing on. Hang weight in pork is about 72% of the animal's live weight. A 275 pound live hog should hang at about 200 pounds.
Cut weight is the weight of your meat after it has been processed. It is reasonable to expect your cut weight will be about 75% of the hogs hanging weight, but this number varies considerably depending on what you requested from your processor. For example, if you order you hog entirely boned out and ground into sausage, the resulting cuts will weigh considerably less than if you ordered all of your cuts bone-in. Even with minimal processing, there is a percent of the hang weight that is lost from moisture leaving the carcass while hanging. Overall, your cut weight is the sum of the weight of all your cuts. With a standard bone-in cut sheet, your 200 pound hang weight will translate to roughly 150 pounds of meat in your freezer.
Read more about hang weights and meat yield.
Read more about hang weights and meat yield.
Meat wrapping options
There are three standard wrapping options in the meat industry. They are paper wrap, shrink wrap and vacuum seal, (aka cryovac). An overview of each is provided below:
Paper wrap
This is traditional butcher paper wrapping. Often, butcher paper is lined with plastic to prevent meat juices from saturating the paper. This wrapping option protects your meat for up to one year in the freezer.
Shrink wrap
This is a clear plastic film that is flash heated to shrink around the meat prior to freezing. Usually a double layer of shrink wrapping is applied for maximum protection of the meat. Shrink wrap is designed to prevent airflow to frozen meat which could cause freezer burn. Once meat is thawed, the wrap is no longer impermeable, and it is normal to see juices leaking out. Shrink wrap is extremely durable and resists tears and spoilage. Shrink wrap protects the meat for up to two years in the freezer, which is double the lifespan of paper wrap. It is our preferred wrapping option.
Vacuum seal
This is a clear plastic bag which is sealed after extracting all air from around the meat. Vacuum seal is very costly and is not available locally. It is delicate, punctures easily, and leaks in the seal will cause freezer burn almost immediately. If the seal is intact, vacuum seal protects meat for up to 2 years in the freezer.
Paper wrap
This is traditional butcher paper wrapping. Often, butcher paper is lined with plastic to prevent meat juices from saturating the paper. This wrapping option protects your meat for up to one year in the freezer.
Shrink wrap
This is a clear plastic film that is flash heated to shrink around the meat prior to freezing. Usually a double layer of shrink wrapping is applied for maximum protection of the meat. Shrink wrap is designed to prevent airflow to frozen meat which could cause freezer burn. Once meat is thawed, the wrap is no longer impermeable, and it is normal to see juices leaking out. Shrink wrap is extremely durable and resists tears and spoilage. Shrink wrap protects the meat for up to two years in the freezer, which is double the lifespan of paper wrap. It is our preferred wrapping option.
Vacuum seal
This is a clear plastic bag which is sealed after extracting all air from around the meat. Vacuum seal is very costly and is not available locally. It is delicate, punctures easily, and leaks in the seal will cause freezer burn almost immediately. If the seal is intact, vacuum seal protects meat for up to 2 years in the freezer.
Standard cuts
Below is a list of options for each portion of the hog. The cuts that are included with our standard processing are indicated with a * below; other options are listed in italics. By selecting other options, you may lose some of the Texas Ridge standard cuts. Not all specialty options are offered by all processors. If there's something you want, please let us know so we can try to pair you with a processor that offers it. Please ask us if you have questions and we'll do our best to assist you in making your selections.
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LOIN & TENDERLOIN CHOICES
SHOULDERS
HAMS (cured and smoked is standard)
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BELLY/SIDE (cured and smoked is standard)
RIBS
TRIM MEAT
BONUS CUTS (included upon request with whole hog orders)
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