Took 3 KuneKune Pigs to the Butcher: What We Got, What It Cost & Was It Worth It??

Last year we had some friends bring us some wild hog meat and that was very good too!! Both the kunekune and the wild hog have a lot more flavor than what we used to buy at the store.

We purchased a 4 year old Kunekune sow from a friend for $200 and had her processed for a little under $250 with curing. We ended up with around 140 pounds of meat. I read and heard that because she's older we should get mostly ground but we went ahead and got ham, bacon, ribs, roasts, organs and it all looks absolutely amazing! We just got her back before we left for Thanksgiving week, but now I can't wait to try some of the meat.

If you boil your hams before baking them, they'll be more tender. We always boil them to get a lot of the salt out because of high blood pressure in my family. But it makes it tender and you then bake it for the holidays. I have a meat allergy so I can't eat any of it anymore but I still cooked the ham this way for Thanksgiving for the rest of my family. And it literally fell apart. Try it.

We got into pigs last fall. After we bought our first.. we had a 2nd within the next 3 days... 2 months later, we bought a breeding pair. 1500 we paid for the breeding pair.. she was pregnant with a different boar than we received. You guys look like a very efficient setup, thanks for the video. Eager to harvest one of ours.. but still around a year yet.

Thanks for sharing the math! I’ve heard people talk about how delicious Kune Kune pigs can be, I’ll have to try it one day! Props to the butcher and his generosity!

Good morning Heather and Levi. Everything looks great. ❤❤❤

We love our Idaho Pasture Pigs. They improve the pasture sooooo much, grow out in 10 months and eat no more than 4# of grain each day. They have the BEST temperaments. Our last feeder pig was 280# in 10 months. They follow our goats in pasture rotation.

Great video. Thank you for sharing. Love and Blessings to you all.❤❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏🙏 Doris, Penrith 🇦🇺🦘

Heather, you had me at bacon...lol. You actually came out ahead, even though you had your kune's for two years. Also, so much better than buying from the store, because you know what your kune's were fed, which makes it all worth it. I'm not sure if I want to have pigs, because I know what escape artists they can be. They sure are sneaky!! lol😁

Morning Heather I love waking up to your Beautiful face

You have a beautiful local community that I'm so glad you're a part of. Good butcher too! Congrats on the pork and lard.

This was very interesting. I live in the suburbs and will never be able to raise any animals here but this was intriguing.

Thank you so much for doing this video. It is so timely for us as we are thinking of getting kunekune pigs again. (Longer story on why we got rid of them the first time). We never butchered any, so this makes us feel more confident getting back into it. Great video guys!

Boar taint only occurs in about 10-15% of hogs, and you are right it is affected by the hormone levels of the individual animal. I've processed many boars of various breeds and have never had one taste bad.

Wonderful video Heather and Levi! Really nice to see a breakdown of what you got in cuts/product, what it took to buy/raise them, and the opinion about the flavor and cuts you were able to obtain with the kunekunes. Was real interesting to see that even though these were intended to be breeders and you had them a bit longer, you still had a decent cost comparison against current market for pork. Feeder pigs would obviously be even better $ wise, but this outcome wasn't bad at all. 💚🐖💚

I assume there's no chemicals in the lard, which makes that an incredible price!

They are nice and dark colored

Levi. Smoked goat. There are no other words necessary.

Jimmy Dean from Plainview, TX 😊

Very informative!! I'm glad you came out so well on your meat! That dark red meat is beautiful & the bacon looks amazing!! So happy for you! Have you thought about canning some of your lard to make it shelf stable & free up some freezer space? Before you get your next hogs to feed out for meat, remember their temperament will be altogether different than your Kunekune pigs. Much more aggressive & far harder on the fences, buildings, etc. Also much less trustworthy around you & the children!! Growing up, we raised a large number of farrow to finish hogs. I remember helping my dad in the farrowing barn & seeing a sow turn on him & rip his leg open. A few years later my mom was badly injured when 2 sows fighting with each other pinned her against the barn. Not meaning to frighten you, but just want you all to be safe!! 🙏 Watching your family interacting with your pigs always amazed me how docile they were!! It was certainly different than my experience growing up or even the pigs I've raised for meat here. God bless & enjoy that wonderful pork!! 🙂