How many pound ham comes from a given size pig?

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rick-in-ajijic

Fire Starter
Original poster
Sep 18, 2015
50
21
Lake Chapala, Mexico
Dear fellow smokers,

I feel this might have been covered before but I remain unable to find the information either on this forum or on the internet.

I’ve been smoking meats for many years but I’ve never had the opportunity to buy whole pigs directly from the farmer, until now.  I live in Mexico and my wife’s uncle is a farmer of pork.  

I will buy from him until me and my father-in-law and I start raising our own pigs. (He’s another farmer).

A year and half ago my wife opened a restaurant that sells smoked chicken, smoked Lox, smoked Salmon,  smoked bacon, pulled pork, cheeses sandwiches .(among other smoked goods)

Our customer base is all the retirees from the United States and Canada and I’m the only person I know of in a hundred mile radius (or more) that sells smoked meats. It’s just not known down here, my Mexican family was surprised how good it is and how good it sells.

We’ve done well so far but have out grown our three electric smokers and I’m currently having a large brick smoker built.

There is always the language barrier as I speak very little Spanish and they speak no English.

This problem is exasperated by their unfamiliarity with my uses for the meat. Most of the time people here just chop the meat for tacos. S even if you are able to get the right cut of meat there are many, many knife slices through the meat from the butcher.

I’ve learned that in this area the only way to get an exact cut of meat is to buy a whole pig. Believe me I’ve tried ordering and have got some strange cuts of meat.

What I can’t find is the information of approximately how many pound ham comes from a given size pig. I understand different breads might weigh differently but I wondering “generally speaking.”

To be exact I need two sizes of hams. The first size is 10 to 12 pounds and the other is 18 to 25 pound hams.   

Right now I have the availability of 88 pound pigs but I really have no idea if they are to small still at this point. 
 
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