Disposal of offal?

[Coops Dad]

I bury the head, feathers, intestines and gall but the neck, heart, lungs, crop, gizzard and liver go to the dogs as raw food. I'll occasionally keep a few livers back for myself; breaded and fried, they're really good.

What do you all do with the byproducts of the slaughter?

 

[aart]

I chuck any discards into my woods.
15 rural acres allow for that option.

 

[Isadora]

I save the livers and hearts and bury the rest deeply in the garden.

 

[Coops Dad]

I chuck any discards into my woods.
15 rural acres allow for that option.

We've got almost 20 acres but our area is overrun by coyotes, raccoons, feral cats, opossums and skunks. I don't want to add any more attractions. I've waged a genocidal war against coyotes using a varmint rifle with a thermal scope- there's nights where I could see a pack of 20-30 coyotes in the field next door, harassing the cattle during calving season. The cattleman leases the land from the landowner, and the landowner FORBIDS any shooting on the property even including livestock protection.

 

[Coops Dad]

I save the livers and hearts and bury the rest deeply in the garden.

What do you do with them? I imagined the South Park episode with the underpants gnomes "underpants + (?) = profit!"

 

[Isadora]

What do you do with them? I imagined the South Park episode with the underpants gnomes "underpants + (?) = profit!"

I feed the hearts to my cats and the dog and keep the liver for us to eat.

 

[Battlepants]

I've heard good things about cleaning the feet and sticking them into the dehydrator. Makes for a good treat for the dogs. As for the heart, lungs, liver and bones, I plan on cooking those down to make a stock for soup. The bones will then be sent to a campfire then the ash will be spread on the fruit trees. Head and the digestive tract will likely also be sent to the same campfire.

I will probably change things up when the time actually comes to slaughter, but the goal is to throw away absolutely nothing. Ideally everything to either be eaten, given to the dogs or given to the fruit trees to promote future food in the form of fruit.

 

[Isadora]

I've heard good things about cleaning the feet and sticking them into the dehydrator. Makes for a good treat for the dogs.

That's what I do for my dog! She adores chicken feet. Anytime I say the word "chicken" she cocks her head because she's hoping I'm going to give her a chicken foot.

 

[Sally PB]

I haven't done this, but if you make bone broth, chicken feet are a great addition. They make the thickest broth with the most collagen, so I've heard.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My wife like pate, so that's some of the heart liver gizzards. We also make dog treats by combining heart, liver, gizzard with oats and a bag of mixed veggies, food processor, bake, cut into cubes. Most everything else goes in the rocket fire pit with hardwoods from my clearing efforts (we have 30 acres of virgin land, and hand tools...) and reduced to ash (same with the bones, after soup making). That ash then gets added to the compost pile, turned into an area of my clay soils which will become a raised bed location, or used to top dress the raised beds directly.

We don't waste much.