What Are the Different Body Parts of a Pig?
The main body parts of a pig are the head, body, behind and legs. All of these body parts can be divided up into smaller parts which have their own names. Some biological names of a pig’s body parts, like ham and loin, are the same as the names of meat cuts made out of those parts.
A pig’s head consists of face, snout, ears and jaw. Pigs have shoulders, which connect the head to the body. The front of a pig’s torso consists of the chest, ribs and fore ribs. The back of a pig is called top line. The behind of a pig consists of rear flank, ham-loin, rump, ham and stifle. A pig’s feet have elbows, knees, and dewclaws and end in pasterns and hocks. Altogether Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences names 29 different body parts that are found in both male and female pigs. In addition, boars and sows have their respective reproductive organs.
Sometimes the pig’s body parts are referred to using the names of the meat cuts that are made out of each. Common cuts that are made of the parts in the rear of a pig include ham and rear hock. Bacon, spare ribs, loin and pork belly all come from the middle of the pig. The shoulder of a pig provides spare ribs, spare rib chops and pork shoulder.
