We will be sending our next available group of hogs to Tritown in April 2027. Feel free to reserve a whole or a half anytime between now and then. To reserve, simply give us a call, text, or stop in here at the farm.
There are two basic costs to you. One is the cost for the meat itself. The other is the cost for the butchering, cutting, wrapping, smoking, etc.
You will pay $2.05/lb when our pigs are processed at Tritown. The cost is $2.15/lb when they're processed at Red Barn Meats. (This helps recoup some of the cost of trucking.) The number of pounds is based upon the dress weight of the animal. Dress weight, also called carcass weight, is the weight of the animal once the internal organs and undesirable portions of the tail and legs are removed. Dress weight always includes the meat and the bones. Thus, if you order chops, roasts, and other cuts with bones in them the dress weight will be closer to the actual weight of the products you take home. If, however, you choose to get mostly sausage, the actual weight of the product you take home will be well under dress weight (because bones are taken away before the meat is ground into sausage.) The folks at the butcher determine the dress weight and will give that information both to you and to us.
The cost for butchering, cutting, wrapping, smoking, etc. varies upon the butcher you choose, the cuts you desire, and whether or not you wish to have the meat smoked. The butcher works for you and will prepare the meat according to your specifications.
Typically, we use either Tritown or Red Barn Meats to process our pork. If we know well ahead of time, we can arrange to send your pig in a group to the butcher you prefer. If you have any questions at all please call Patrick at 518-651-7290
The following are prices from Tritown. Prices vary between butchers and butchers' prices are subject to change, but this gives an idea of approximate cost. This particular butcher charges $42.00 to slaughter a pig. Then there is a charge of 75 cents per pound for processing. This includes fresh chops, steaks, roasts, and ribs. Smoking and cutting ham and bacon is 65 cents per pound. Prices for sausage range depending upon whether you'd like links or bulk sausage, but for this example, we use the 50 cents per pound for flavored sausage in approximately one pound packages in bulk. Tritown offers sausage flavors of regular (breakfast), sweet Italian, or hot Italian.
This can sound a bit confusing, so here's an example of a recent customer (from Feb 15, 2025)
Customer #1 buys a half pig
The half pig dresses 111 pounds
There's $21 for half the slaughter, plus $83.25 for cutting/wrapping
Say you get 23 pounds of ham smoked and 12 pounds of bacon smoked. That's an additional $22.75. Then, she got 5 pounds of breakfast sausage and 4 pounds of sweet sausage. That's $5.50. Then there's sales tax of $10.52. So, the total cost for the butcher is $142.02
The total cost to Pat and April's Pork is $2.05 times 111pounds which is $227.55. This brings the grand total to $369.57 for this half pig just the way you like it :) (Again, this is only one customer's order, so your exact total cost may differ)
Also, this is "custom processing", and is cheaper than the USDA inspected processing that we need to pay in order to sell meat by the piece. If you'd like your hog to be USDA inspected, let us know, and we are happy to arrange that. Just expect to pay more for processing.
One payment will go to Pat and April's Pork. This payment will cover the cost of the meat. We accept cash or check made payable to Pat and April's Pork. We also accept credit/debit cards and SNAP benefits. (If you choose to pay by credit/debit we will pass along a 3 percent fee to your total). The other payment will go to the butcher. This payment will cover the cost of cutting/wrapping/butchering/smoking, etc.
When you call or stop by to place your order, we will let you know the next butcher date. It is your responsibility to call the butcher on or before the butcher date to let them know how you'd like it cut up. (We will contact you as a reminder to contact the butcher). The folks at the butcher have worked with many first time customers and will walk you through the different choices of cuts of pork as well as packing choices (thickness of chops, how many in a package, etc) Once you have placed your meat order, it will generally be ready within a couple of weeks. The person you speak to at the butcher will give you an exact date when your meat will be ready for pickup. For pigs butchered at Red Barn Meats, we will pick up the meat and bring it back to our place in Fort Covington for you to pick up. (delivery to your home may also be arranged) Generally, for pigs butchered at Tritown, most folks pick up their meat directly from Tritown. If that's a burden to you, we're happy to pick it up and bring it here to the farm for you to pick up. Just let us know :)
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