I usually like my hogs closer to 400#. I have never seen any negatives what so ever.

One of my Sister's butchered a 600# sow back in the day. It tasted great and the lard was awesome. Your feed to meat ratio may dwindle, but your good.

yes you will be fine

I raised hogs all my life.After 275 pounds or so,,your just growing fat,,so wasting feed.No bid deal in your case,cause your not going much later.Also as stated,,get all the fat trimmins.Especialy the Leaf Fat.Thats makes the best lard,,and cooking in lard is better for you than cooking in that crap Soybean oil.

Thanks for all the comments guys, I’ve been feeding them a complete feed that we make at work. We did feed some squash and pumpkins over the summer but I don’t have an outlet for any now

I had a group of 6 about 10 years ago that got really big. The good thing was they were really nice hogs and very long so they grew and did not get really overly fat. They weighed on average about 325 with a top one at 360.
The butcher place was really worried that they would be so overly fat and tougher to skin and work with but they were ok. As to taste I prefered the taste of these older hogs but feeding 6 for an extra 50 lbs each is not cheap, especally today. Hope your butcher place lets you get all that lard. Ours would only let us have 4lbs. equivelent as they want that for extra income for slaughter etc. I hope it goes well. You can probably try to put it or them on a limit feed, but I would not substitue lower quallity feeds with lots of fiber.

Bryce

Dang Micheal looks like some mighty fine eating Thier.

There’s currently 9 in the pen, I started with 10. Had one prolapse, it went to the local ffa class to cut up for a class project, 2 of the remaining 9 will be gone the end of the month. So I filled the feeder again tonight, thinking after I pull the 2 off and they get the feeder empty again I’m gonna start hand feeding them, same feed I’m feeding now just not free choice

This is correct

Had two friends who salt-cured a ham every year. They would drive 100 miles to get the largest sow ham they could find.

Had two friends who salt-cured a ham every year. They would drive 100 miles to get the largest sow ham they could find. Commercially, hogs go to market at about 230 lbs I think.

I wouldn't definitely make the lard. The price of lard, like everything else, is through the roof now. It's perfect for greasing your cast iron, and is the best for frying in, and also makes the best pie dough.

Lard can also be used to make suet for the birds, and homemade soap.

If I ever raised a pig I'd look for one of the older varieties that produce a lot of leaf fat, just for the lard!

Im ignorant to these things but more than once I’ve seen someone use the term leaf fat in this thread, what is it? And what makes it more appealing for lard

I call the fat you pull from inside the hog leaf lard. Not sure what else is considered leaf fat?

same here hippie. even looks different than back fat. that back fat is what i use for sausage or venison snack sticks etc

Man was it tight in the big hog I just did Danny!! Either I'm getting weak in my old age or someting. It took all I had to pull it loose!

That fat we called schmeck not sure why I guess. That’s what the grandparents called it.

Never heard that term. I'm sure different areas have their own slang for alot of things. Its fun learning the different terms/slang.