I have weighed a few of the pigs I have shot and thought tjhis might be of interest.

All of these pigs were butchered and eaten.


Pig 1 weighed 205 lbs, guts weighed 45 lbs, his hide weighed 48 lbs.

Pig 2 weighed 210 lbs, guts weighed 40 lbs.

Pig 3 weighed 175 lbs, guts weighed 44 lbs.

Pig 4 weighed 157 lbs, guts weighed 30 lbs.

Tony,
I agree, head, hide, and guts will equal about 1/2 of the total body weight. I have weighed almost all of the pigs and hogs I have butchered.

I have found that about 1/3 of total body weight will equal the amount of meat going into the freezer. I put only whole hams and ribs with the bone in the freezer. Everthing else is boneless. When I get enough ribs saved up to fill my smoker, they get smoked or baked. Then deboned and and the bulk refrozen into serving sized portions.

Keith

Interesting... I had a butcher at a processing plant tell me that there was only about 35-40# of useable meat on the typical feral pig... If I read your numbers right, he is not far off. Considering that a hog's head will weigh at least 25-30#, subtract that and the bones, and you get roughly 40#.

On the first pig the weight of the hide included the head. I cut off the head when I skin them.

Should have made that clear.

Your results are about what I've observed. Depending on body size, I normally see about 25-30% in hide/head, and another 25-30% in guts, leaving 40-50% carcass. I'd wager you lose another 25% in bone mass, for a total yield of about 20% (boneless meat in the freezer). Smaller hogs, in my experience, have a higher ratio of hide/head/guts to carcass, yielding a lower percentage of meat compared to total body weight. I think their heads make a larger portion of their total weight than wit bigger hogs.