What about using venison for making dog food?

[tortoise]

Meat that we know we are going to eat quickly (loins!) We wrap in plastic wrap and then in a thick layer of news paper.

Also just a note: my uncle decided to cut his deer up a few years ago with a chainsaw. Just so you know- DID NOT WORK!!!if I remember rightly there was beer involved.

 

[the funny farm6]

Yes I love being the sane one in my family! Don't know why everyone laughs when I say that though.

 

[Marianne]

Update:

SIL called to say that he had the deer for me. Since I don't have to head over there for a few hours, it sounds like he's taking care of a few things. I watched three videos on youtube, so I have an idea of what to expect.

Now the challenge is to figure out how freeze it all. Only supposed to get down to 30 tonight, 22 tomorrow night, so that helps, but high's in the mid to upper 40's during the day. I made as much room as I could in the freezer. The plan of the moment is to take some of the jars of tomatoes out of the freezer tonight, put them in a cooler and put them outside. I'll then have a bit more room in the freezer for some venison. The rest I'll spread out on the concrete floor in a north room of our concrete block shop tonight. Then rotate frozen venison into the metal trash can with the straw bale insulation, more into the freezer, etc.

That room in the shop is the only cold room I have that I'm able to close off to keep potential critters out. I have no idea how many pounds of venison and scraps I'll end up with.

Any other suggestions? I'm a bit nervous that by the time I get the last of the dog meat frozen, it's going to be going bad, ya know? Maybe I'll see about borrowing a cooler from SIL to get more frozen food containers out of the freezer over night.

 

[the funny farm6]

I know it may be more work than you want to do, but what about canning it? Then you don't have to worry about freezer space. And you can can it in daily feeding sizes. If you want to keep the bones also, I would wrap them in platic wrap and thick newspaper and keep them in the cold room.

 

[Marianne]

I'd rather not have to can it unless I have no other option. Usually it's a lot colder here by now, so keeping it frozen outside in a metal trash can w/ lid would have been easy.

I just got a call from our SIL, his dad is in the ER in another city, so deer processing is put on hold until tonight or tomorrow. AND! I just remembered that our neighbor has a seperate freezer just for dog meat, I think I'll give her a call and see how much room they have.

Both of us were getting meat from the local greyhound suppy place, but they recently quit carrying it. I'd imagine that she'd be running pretty low by now. It might work out well in the end..

Thanks again for everyone's imput!

 

[Beekissed]

Actually, they will be able to eat it better if it is a little...seasoned. My dog~and many carnivores in the wild~will cache meat until it is very gamey and falling off the bone before they eat it.

Right before I moved, I emptied out my freezer and gave all the meats to the dog(they had been frozen for him anyway) and he spent all day trying to find places to bury all his new found meats. We moved the next day....poor dog. All I can say is there is going to be a few possums, coons, and foxes having a great Christmas!

 

[hqueen13]

Don't forget, too, that your dog can eat veggie scraps. We routinely give the dogs the ends of the beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, and cauliflower, as well as bananas and apple scraps, and they really enjoy it. Just another way to supplement their diet with fresh stuff. We feed raw, too, and they get a mix of a raw dehydrated food and raw meat that we are able to get through a buying club, plus whatever veggie/fruit scraps we've got lying around. (don't have chickens, so I can't feed it to anything else!)

 

[Marianne]

Oh yes, my hounds get a variety of stuff, and that includes the 'must go now' stuff from the fridge. I try to freeze leftovers, but every once in a while...oops.

I got quite a bit from the one deer for the dogs. We kept all the good cuts for people food and then cut up the scrap, ribs, etc for the dogs. It was kind of comical, he got two phone calls asking how I was holding up. :/

He also is calling a couple hunting buddies of his that will let me have their deer carcass. He said that I should get at least three of them. So far, everything fit in the freezer. Temp is dropping like a rock today, so freezing it outside in metal cans won't be a problem. I shared some with my cool new neighbor that has dogs, so we're all happy.

 

[hqueen13]

Awesome!!!
We can't hunt where we are, and really, I don't have the space to be able to store a whole deer That is the frustrating part! Otherwise we would all be eating so well!
I am just thankful that I have access to a farm buying group that comes out of PA that has raw dairy, and organic grass fed happy meat. They have the BEST food EVER. We are able to order pet food, beef (which is 11:1 organ meats to beef) for $3.25/lb, and chicken for only $2.50/lb. I know my dogs are getting some of the highest quality meat that we can buy for a REALLY good price.
Someday we'll have big freezers and a big pantry too!!

 

[ThisOldCabin]

Great tips here.We always feed our dogs deer scraps.I don't feed entrails or hides(I try to tan or raw-hide as many as I can).We do sometimes feed the heads but we don't have CWD here at this time.I could never afford to pay to have them processed,its about $80 here,too,plus extra for special stuff like sausage.We can keep some froze outside by freezing it then keeping it out of the sun,usually behind the shed,where it stays cooler.I like the idea of using straw to insulate it,that should help it stay frozen longer.It won't hurt it to thaw alittle and re-freeze for feeding the dogs.I use a ax to cut our carcasses up into smaller feeding sizes.I did one today.I should have make pics to share,its not that hard.I should probably make pics of the entire process from skinning to cutting up the pieces we eat to cutting up the rest for the dogs.We've been doing it for years and can do it pretty fast.I do take any extra that others hunters save for us tour dogs love it and get really fat and healthy during deer season.Small game like squirrels and rabbits will often have fleas so be careful if feeding them with the skin on.Good luck and let me know if you or anyone else would like to see pics and I will make some of the next one we do.