Welcome to Socolofsky Farms
Colorado-raised all natural Pork and Lamb
from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains
Whole Hogs and Barbecue Hogs
We are curretly running a special on whole hogs for your freezer or for barbecue. Contact us for a very special price, for a limited time only.
If you are interested in buying a whole hog, here are some details on what to expect. Since our pigs are raised on a grain-based diet, our pork prices are directly dependent on the ever-variable price of grain. Exact price depends on the selection of cuts you want and the size of the hog, but what follows is a general guide. Our hogs produce roughly 144 lbs of packaged cuts, so a half hog provides about 72 lbs of pork cuts. The typical cuts and approximate quantities are as follows:
| Pork Cut | Half Hog | Whole Hog |
|---|---|---|
| Bone-in Chops | 10 lb |
20 lb |
| Tenderloin | 1 lb |
2 lb |
| Spare Ribs | 3.5 lb |
7 lb |
| Ham | 21 lb |
42 lb |
| Hocks | 2.5 lb |
5 lb |
| Bacon | 8 lb |
16 lb |
| Shoulder Roasts | 15 lb |
30 lb |
| Ground Pork | 11 lb |
22 lb |
| Total | 72 |
144 |
We typically use the Elizabeth Locker Plant, in Elizabeth, CO, for slaughter and processing. If you are interested in a whole hog, we will set up a slaughter date at the locker plant and deliver the animal for processing. You will be responsible for paying the processing fees and picking up your pork when ready. At any rate, contact us for details on this process.
Barbecue Hogs
There's really not much that better says "summer" than a pig roast. And if you are gearing up for a pig roast for a special occasion, we think there's no better pig you can buy than one of our naturally-raised Berkshires.
Costs
We charge for barbecue hogs based on live weight at time of slaughter. Contact us for our current price for the live animal. You will also need to pay a slaughter fee that varies by plant, but is generally in the $40-$50 range.
The process
The overarching message in preparing for a pig roast is: PLAN AHEAD. Get started on your plans at least one to two months in advance of your desired date. A pig roast is a major event, in terms of preparing for it, roasting the hog, making the sides, serving the diners, and cleaning up. Pig roasts require special equipment and typically require multiple people to pull off successfully. We will do our best to help you in any case, but we may not be able to get all the pieces pulled together if your timing is too tight.
The process begins when you book your hog with us, tell us the size of the animal you want, and tell us the date of your barbecue. If we have a hog that we expect to be about the correct weight at the time of your barbecue, we will reserve it for you. If not, we will let you know what we do expect to have ready to see if it can fit with your plans. We require half payment up front, and if you've planned your barbecue far enough in advance (minimum one month) we will tell you how much your deposit will be and you can pay by cash or personal check. Then at the appointed time, we will deliver your hog to the slaughter plant. They will prepare it for barbecueing and chill it for you, and you can pick it up when it is ready. You will pay the slaughter fee directly to the slaughter plant, and we will charge you the remainder based on the weight of the animal at slaughter.
Size of hog
So, how big a hog do you need? We generally have hogs of various sizes on our farm. While you can barbecue a pig or hog of any size, there are rules of thumb to help you decide how big an animal you need to feed the crowd you're expecting.
A live hog will typically yield a carcass weighing 70% of its live weight after slaughter. Roughly half this carcass is fat, bone, and skin. Most folks allow about 3/4 lb of boneless, barbecued pulled pork per diner. So to figure out how large a hog you need you have to work backward from the number of guests you expect to feed.
Here's an example: Let's say you are feeding 100 guests. Based on the 3/4 lb of meat per diner rule, you would want to end up with about 75 lb of meat after barbecuing. Half the carcass is bone, skin, etc., so you would want to start your barbecue with a 150 lb carcass. Because the carcass is roughly 70% of the live weight, the math looks like this: 150 lb / .70 = 214 lb.
The larger a hog, the more physically difficult it is to roast and the longer the roasting takes. A good size of hog for larger groups is a live weight of around 150 lb, which will yield around 52 lb of barbecued pulled pork, enough for about 70 diners. If you need to feed more, some folks opt for barbecuing two or more smaller hogs instead of getting one really large hog. If you are feeding fewer diners, then ... well, barbecued pulled pork makes wonderful leftovers.
We use several slaughter plants in the area. Whether any of them will slaughter your barbecue hog for you depends on their schedule, and there may be dates that no plant can provide this service. Plan far enough in advance so that if we are not able to book a slaughter date, you can perhaps rearrange your plans. A forewarning: During the month of August it is nearly impossible to get a slaughter date, since the plants are saturated processing animals from the local county fairs. Again, PLAN AHEAD.
Please contact us for details and to book your pig. We can also help you with some links to websites that give personal experiences of people who've successfully barbecued whole hogs using a variety of methods.