At Lake Joy Farmstead we take great care of our pigs. Our “pastured pork” is free to graze all day, every day, and we supplement their grazing with 100% organic, non-GMO, Washington based pig feed.
When you select your portion, from 1/4 to whole, we work closely with the butcher to cut your animal to meet your family’s needs. We estimate the hanging weight of the pork to be 140-250 lbs. per carcass (many factors make this a wide estimate) putting a share (1/2 pig) between 70-125 lbs. A quarter share is cut in half of this number.
The Cuts – A Sample
Pork Roasts – great for slow roasted pork
- Yes, 2-3 lbs.
- Yes, 3-4 lbs.
- Grind – I want sausage.
Shoulder Butt – sometimes called Boston Butt (named after the “butt containers” that pork was shipped in). These can typically be made into steaks, country-style spareribs or roasts. Country-style spareribs and roasts are excellent for pulled pork.
- Steaks – ¾-1.25 inch)
- Country style spare ribs (1.5 inch strips)
- Roasts 2-4 lbs.
- Grind – I want sausage.
Pork Chops – Come from the loin of the hog
- Yes, ½ inch
- Yes, ¾ inch
- Yes, bigger
- Yes, other (example: tenderloin and boneless chop)
- Grind – more sausage!
Pork Ribs – spareribs are a part of every order. If you do not want them, they will be rendered into grind. If you choose boneless chops, you will get baby back ribs as well.
- Standard cut or whole cut
Ham – average ham is 16 lbs.
- Yes, smoke it for me!
- No, prep to smoke yourself
- No, prep to smoke yourself, cut in half
- No, cut fresh roasts and fresh steaks (“ham steak” typically not very good)
- Grind – more sausage (most common request)
Bacon – Bacon comes from the belly of the pig. Average bacon is 8 lbs. To cure it yourself, you can check out this recipe.
- Fresh belly cut in half – smoke your own or make pancetta
- Fresh belly cut in chunks of 1-2 lbs. (pork belly “burnt ends” etc.)
- Grind – more sausage!
Bones – for broth (although not as common as chicken or beef stock, pork bones are used in many Asian-style broths like Ramen and Pho)
- Yes or No
Back Fat – Back fat can be cured and made into lardo or can be rendered, along with leaf lard to fill up several containers of lard for various cooking purposes.
Other – this includes jowls (for guanciale), hocks, half head.
The Grind
All of the trim and any other cuts you designate to be made into sausage becomes the Grind. You can take all or part of the trim and turn into ground pork (add flavor to other dishes or make your own sausage) or turn into mild, medium or spicy breakfast-style sausage and/or sweet or hot Italian-style sausage. Ground pork is the basis for so many great sausages!
All of the cuts can take our Blacksmith Trading Company line of pork rub. If you are interested, you can grab it below from our farm general store.
