Texas County to Feed Feral Hogs to the Homeless

[desidog]

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-county-feed-feral-hogs-homeless-192135479--abc-news-topstories.html

First off, I think this is a great idea. Surplus pork chops and hungry people go rib-in-hand. I've wondered why they don't do something similar with the overpopulated deer in my neck of the woods. However,

On Tuesday, the commissioner's Office signed a one-year contract with the processors for $217,600, according to the AP. The county estimates in that year it will be able to eliminate roughly 2,500 hogs, which will each produce around 40 pounds of meat.

What's the deal with these numbers? $217,600 /2,500 = $87/hog....i'd assume that would be a high price, but quite frankly, i know nothing about slaughter houses in Texas; and whether that number includes the trapping and transporting or just the slicing and dicing.

What do you guys who are closer to this action think about this?

 

[ridgerunner1965]

around here most butchers will cut up a hog for around 40 to 45 cents per pound of hanging weight. plus a skinning fee of about 15 to 20 bucks.if the hog is alive they also charge for the kill. usually 40 to 45 bucks for killing and skinning and disposal of offal. but that is if they pick up the hog at your house. a hog will usually hang around 60% of its live weight.

so the actuall cutting and packaging is determined by the weight of the hog.

since they are expecting around 40 lbs of semi boned meat, im guessing they expect a lot of hogs in the 80 to 150 lb range.that is perfectly normal for the average wild hog shot i would say.

since the processors had no way to know if they are getting a 30lb piglet or a 400lb monster, they just made the bids high to cover their cost. and since they were bidding to a bunch ignorant gov pukes, they jacked up the price a tad to cover the 30 to 90 days before they would even receive payment for the services rendered.

not to mention some processors in some places wont even handle truly wild hogs because of disease.

also some hogs will be poorly gutted if at all and shot to pieces.those are always fun to cut.

so all in all 87$ per hog is prob what they need to come out on the deal.

i would say if its a single county, the 217,000$ would be better spent on oatmeal. which would feed a lot more people without any chance of contracting trhicinosis, which im sure someone would sue the county for and win millions of dollars for.