Passed on a whole hog last month and I'm still kicking myself over it

A farmer about 40 minutes outside of town had a 280 lb Berkshire hog for sale at $2.10 a pound hanging weight, and I sat on it for two days trying to decide if my walk-in could handle the extra load before the holidays. I ended up passing and buying two smaller 130 lb hogs from my usual guy instead, mostly because I was worried about breaking down a hog that size by myself on a busy Friday. Fast forward three weeks, the smaller hogs yielded fine but the fat cap was thin and the marbling was nothing like what that Berkshire would have given me for sausage and coppa. My usual guy even admitted the feed on his last batch got switched up and you can taste it in the loin. I keep thinking about those extra 20 pounds of back fat I left on the table for basically no reason other than being spooked about the schedule. Any of you run into a deal like that and just pull the trigger on the bigger animal, or do you stick with your regular source out of habit?

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vera_campbell19d ago

Been there man. Couple years back I passed on a 260 lb Duroc cross cause I had a work trip the same week and thought I couldn't get it broken down in time. Ended up paying more for a smaller one two weeks later that had maybe half the back fat. What I started doing is keeping a cheap chest freezer at 0 just for these deals so I never have to think about the walk-in space again. Also, breaking down a big hog alone isn't that bad if you split it over two days, do the primal cuts day one and grind sausage day two. That 280 lb Berkshire at $2.10 hanging was a solid price for that breed too, you probably left $150 in fat and coppa on the table easy. Next time just say yes and figure out the schedule after.

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