I killed a big ol' boar last night that had a heart girth of 54", but I can't find a weight chart that goes beyond 48". Help!!

My chart says 52” is 325 lbs, and 55” is approximately 350. No idea if that is even close or not, but what mine says.

You can do the long or you can do the short math.

Long Math:
https://www.asi.k-state.edu/doc/swine-day-2002/heartgirthpg166.pdf
https://www.thepigsite.com/articles/use-heart-girth-to-estimate-the-weight-of-finishing-pigs

You will get this formula and this answer:
Weight= 10.1709 x Heart girth (inches) – 205.7492

Your hog based on this estimate will weigh 343.9168 or 344 lbs.

Short Math:
Weight = Heart girth x10 and then subtract 200.

Your hog weight based on this method is 340 lbs.


There is a small error between the 2, slightly over 1%. The first is more accurate, but it is still just an estimate. The 2nd is always very close to the first, but is infinitely easier to remember and calculate in your own head. Neither will replace a scale for being absolutely accurate.

Thanks guys! That is a big help.

It would be interesting for someone to do a large sample of feral hog dimensions and actual weights, as I suspect the formula would differ significantly from formulas derived from domestic hogs raised for slaughter.

People like to question this. I know Todd Huey did a bunch back in the day. I taped and scaled over 30 that worked fine.

It is a statistical estimate. There will always be outliers such a emaciated hogs, hogs missing limbs, somebody's 8 year old 700 lb pet, etc.

The bottom line is that it is a estimate. It is better than eyeballing and better than lift assessments. It won't be as accurate as often as putting the carcass on a scale. If the OP taped his hog correctly (and this is important to do) then if the estimate is off, chances are it is within 10-15 lbs either way. That will still be a big pig. It isn't like a person is going to get a 340 lb estimate from a 200 lb boar.

Here's a thread from another forum on this topic:
http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1621043/m/8911075472

Here they are.

I have no idea, but he looks like a regular at the all-you-can-eat buffet!

I have compared these figures to dozens of hogs (Boars and Sows) that I actually weighed and found it to be reasonably accurate. MUCH better than the average person's 'guess'.

Hogs in 'my area' are pretty uniform in build and health, we have good habitat for them. Some of the hogs will fall above or below the heart girth weight numbers....but rarely more than 10%