Canning Dog Food From Offal

[baymule]

@wyoDreamer I canned lard that I rendered. From all that I could find, it should be good for a year or two. So I think a little fat in your dog food will be ok.

Are you going to part out the chicken? If you do, can the back bony pieces with a cup of cooked rice per quart. The bones crumble when we feed them, so not a danger.

I saved the feet from the Cornish we raised and made broth. After simmering them for the broth, I took out the long leg bone, and saved the “toes” for the dogs. I cut the toenails off before making broth.

 

[baymule]

I'll have to try the chicken fat for frying. You know, we just don't waste much off a chicken, LOL!

 

[sumi]

Ever wondered what happened to the male chicks that had the misfortune to hatch on a commercial farm, where the desired produce is future laying hens?

 

[baymule]

All the prep work and cooking takes time, DH cubes up the meat because I'm not partial to his OCD and I do it wrong. LOL LOL I am busy with all that, but sitting at the bar where I can keep an eye on the pressure canner for 90 minutes, drives my nuts. I NEED to be outside doing stuff! But I needed to do this too. One hour and 6 minutes left on the timer. Sigh.....

 

[wyoDreamer]

I need to clean out my freezer - so this would be a great way to take care of the "old" stuff in there. It sounds like you cook the meat before canning it?

 

[baymule]

Yes I cook it first, then my husband cuts it in small pieces. Meat shrinks when it gets heated, so I get a better pack. If I can in the summer, I throw in squash, green beans or whatever I have a lot of. The dogs love it.

Anybody who raises their own meat should keep the offal. If they don't like it, then cook it for the dogs and can it. It's YOUR meat! Why not honor the animal that is feeding you by using all of the meat that you can?

 

[baymule]

Here I am, canning dog food again. We took 4 lambs to slaughter and I kept the offal. Liver, heart, kidneys plus 2 old pork roasts. I put half a cup of cooked rice in each quart. I just took 7 jars out and started 6 more, plus 1 quart of broth. After this batch is done, I’ll have 7 more quarts of broth and rice. I was down to 4 quarts of dog food! I still have 12 quarts of chicken backs from the Cornish Cross we raised this spring. We’ll be slaughtering 10 old layer hens, so they will get more chicken backs, necks and gizzards.

This takes 90 minutes of pressure canning. Can anybody say BORING? Just put the weight on batch #2, got to wait for it to get up to pressure before I can start timing.

I sit and stare at the canner like it’s going to blow up. It’s not, it stays right on a bit over 10 pounds, but I still won’t leave it alone. So here I sit for an hour and a half, thinking about all the other things I could be doing besides watching a dial that don’t move.

It does make me feel good to not be wasting meat, because I don’t like the offal. Dogs sure love it.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I still have to fuss with my canner. Front burner is great at getting it up to pressure. Then, I have to slide the canner to the smaller back burner. I love cooking with gas, but wonder if the flame is more variable than electric heat?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Craw is an old timer word. Often used in the context of something unpleasant:

Craw | Definition of Craw at Dictionary.com

https://www.dictionary.com › browse › craw

1. noun. a less common word for crop (def. 6) the stomach of an animal. stick in one's craw or stick in one's throat informal to be difficult, or against one's conscience, for one to accept, utter, or believe.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

The thyroid is small enough that you would never see it unless you were looking or it.

The thyroid gland of birds is a paired organ. It is located on the ventral surface of the base of the neck within the thoracic inlet.