What 60 lbs of homemade ground looks like...

This is what I spent a big chunk of my weekend making:

That's a total  of 60 lbs of chicken, turkey, pork, beef and lamb.  

Cost: $2.70 / lb

It should last my 4 kitties about 7 1/2 weeks.

Time for my reward!    

It's ground not frankenprey.

The beef is beef chuck roast, kidney, heart, liver, thymus.

The turkey is turkey thighs, chicken thighs, turkey heart, liver, gizzards.

The pork is pork, shoulder roast, heart, liver, kidney, spleen.

The chicken is thighs, hearts, liver. All chicken.

The lamb is leg of lamb, and beef heart, liver and thymus.

The chicken organs are from the grocery store. The other organs and the turkey are from a local store that specializes in supplies for raw feeders. The rest is from Costco.

I usually use ground bone but have been experimenting with MCHA (freeze dried bone). It maintains the full nutrient profile of whole bone but I don't have to worry about sharp pieces.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carolina 


How do you supplement it? Do you use eggs, taurine, vitamins? Do you follow a specific recipe, or just meat?
What grinder do you have?
Sorry for all the questions
and..... what is the percentage you use? for meat/bone/organs?

For supplements I use vit E (mostly as a preservative), and B complex. I sprinkle extra taurine over their meals 3 or 4 times a week. I also do add eggs to the ground mix and the 4 of them split 2 tins of sardines a week.

I don't use the meat/bone/organ percent method. I wrote a computer program that analyzes a recipe using data in the USDA nutrient database and some information from elsewhere. I compare the analysis against the AAFCO and NRC recommendations and adjust as I see fit. I have the NRC publication so I can look up what the recommendations really mean and decide whether for myself whether I need to be concerned about a difference between my recipes and the recommendations. And the recipes vary a bit each time based on what ingredients I find and sometimes on whim. 

I shoot for a calcium phosphorus ratio of 1:1. I also shoot for a omega6 fatty acid to omega3 fatty acid ratio of about 5:1 but it is far from certain how important that is. 

The grinder is a Tasin 108. I also have one of the more expensive Tasins. I don't remember the model number but it wasn't worth the extra money. It's a lot quieter than the 108 but it doesn't grind any better.

Questions are always welcome! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by parsleysage 
 Is it completely balanced?  Do you supplement in the meat or with other foods throughout the week? 

Well, depends on your definition of "balanced". 

As far as I am concerned it is balanced once I add the sardines during the week.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDG 

I definitely do not have the confidence to make home made ground and supplement myself.

Well, the computer program helps a lot. I know my recipes can't be terribly lacking in anything important! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDG 

OK, my cost isn't quite double yours... but I just placed my first order from Hare Today. I ordered pork, rabbit, turkey, and supplement. I just paid $5.07 per pound for supplemented food, shipped. ...and that was NOT a bulk order (just 20 pounds of meat, to give it a try).
It's going to cost me about $300 a month to feed the cats (8 of them) raw, vs about $400 for the canned I was feeding them.

$5.07 / lb including shipping ain't bad at all! My problem with ordering raw online has always been that in the summer I would have to use overnight shipping if the food is to get to Houston from the east coast still frozen. That  and I really have a pretty good selection of locally available stuff so it really doesn't make sense for me to bother with online ordering.

Really, $5.07 isn't bad at all especially since it is less than you are paying now.

Is that standard ground shipping?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carolina 


She is offline so I am going to answer that - that is FeDex 2days shipping
Oh, I have ordered from them when it was pretty warm here in Dallas..... not a problem.... The outer layer was slightly thawed, but nothing worrisome at all........ pretty frozen, pretty good....

Laurie is in NJ, right? Hare-Today is in PA so the shipping would be pretty cheap for her.

You haven't ordered from them in the summer when it is hot (not warm) both in Dallas and all along the travel route. Let me know how it goes in July-Sept. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carolina 


LOL - last week was 85F here..... so... yeah pretty warm LOL Sure, not like summer, but not winter either....
My shipping was also 2 days and cheap too..... anyways - the deal is, they don't have the overcharges the other places do..... they just charge the shipping for it. Mine was pretty much the same as Laurie.... I think $20 or something like that if memory doesn't fail me. But yeah.... I plan to order from them the same way..... Since they are an online shipping company.... I would imagine they do alright during those months too.....

Huh? I just looked and Fed Ex 2nd to Houston for what she ordered would be $114.65. That's on an $85.79 order.

Like I said, let me know how if goes in the summer! It doesn't matter to me anyway. It's a lot cheaper for me to either make my own or to buy locally.

Maybe you used Fed Ex 3 day home delivery? That would have been $26 to Houston for Lauries order. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDG 


Maybe they have a different pricing structure with Fed Ex? It was actually cheaper to choose the Fed Ex 2-day than the UPS 2-day! UPS 2-day was $23-something, and Fed Ex 2-day was $22-something. The total shipping weight was 31 pounds for 20 pounds of meat and the supplement (I don't know how much that weighs). They do send it in a styrofoam cooler with dry ice, but that's included in the shipping price. As Carolina said, they don't charge extra for that. Seemed VERY reasonable to me.
Fortunately, I don't think it's going to be an issue in the summer. We have meat shipped to us fairly frequently, and when shipped in styrofoam with dry ice, it always arrives still frozen, no matter the time of year (and we often order stuff from Wisconsin). The only time it didn't was during the power outage one summer, when everything got delayed by three days. Those were some stinky bratwurst.

You have to remember you are a lot closer to both Wisconsin and PA than Houston is! The only $20-something shipping Hare-Today had for your order to Houston was for 3 day, not 2 day.

The dry ice may well keep meat frozen even during the trip to Houston in the summer. I still wouldn't try it until some else does. Anyway, like I said, I don't really have any reason to order from them anyway. Maybe as a 1 or 2 times a year though.. Maybe.

Anyway, I'm glad it is an affordable option for you. I've been making my own for so long that it is no big deal to me but I remember what it was like when I started. It seemed overwhelming. Now I'm really happy to have *total* control over what goes into what the little furries eat!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDG 

Yep - works for you. For now? This works for me.

I hope you don't think I was trying to talk you into making your own. I think "easing" into raw feeding by feeding commercial products first is a great way to go. I fed Feline's Pride for about a year before I started making my own. It took me that long to get comfortable with the idea of making my own!