Hearts, Necks, Livers!!! How do I make Dog Food?

[Matrix Escapee]

So I have a chest freezer PACKED FULL of hearts, necks, and livers. Plus we still have another 200 birds to go before our season is over. We will have done about 2,000 birds this year.

We raise CX on pasture and they are fed a soy-free organic feed. We do all our processing on farm, and have been saving the hearts, necks and livers and freezing them each week with the intention of turning a by-product into some additional revenue.

Yes, some of our customers do buy them fresh from us at the market we sell at, but not at the rate that we sell the whole bird.
In addition, we could be saving the feet, spleen, and gizzards. We were saving them, but freezer space was at a premium.

We did cook up a few pots full of a "dog food" using the parts, then ran them through the food processor and added a little brown rice and froze the mix in single serving ziplock bags. It was a lot of work.

Any suggestions on how to deal with all our extra parts? Keep in mind the volume that we have and any processed product would still have to go back in the freezer.

I have applied to the Yahoo group for carnivore food supplier to see if I can just unload the parts whole and let the pet owner do the prep.

Thanks!

 

[Elke Beck]

I would see if you can find someone who is feeding their dog(s) the bones and raw foods diet. Your freezer would be a bonanza for them.

 

[donrae]

When I feed my dogs or cats "parts", I do just that.........toss them the part. No processing, grinding, etc. Have you advertised locally having these parts for sale? I'd just try craigslist or similar, put up ads at your local pet food places. You'll probably want to put a minimum amount, to not waste your time, and see how many folks bite.

 

[Oregon Blues]

For your own dogs? Or for sale?

If you want to sell the stuff, put an ad on Craigslist and on the bulletin board of the local store that sells premium pet food. "Attention Raw Feeders", then list what parts you have and the price. Raw feeders feed the whole neck raw and they use innards to help balance the diet. They usually freeze meat before feeding it, so a couple of months in the deep freeze is a plus for them.

Be sure to mention that they are soy free and organic and the raw feeders will pay a premium price.

If it were me, I'd also contact the local show dog club. Those are the people who really spend money on their dogs and there will be some raw feeders there.