# where do you buy your meat?



## BoomandBolt (Mar 15, 2010)

Where do you get it? What are good prices? What do I need to know? I think I want to raw feed. Does venison work for it? We harvest a few deer every year, can they eat the bones?


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

You sound like me!!! LOL. I have been lucky and found a variety of meats in a variety of places. I cannot do the ordering, as I don't have the room, so I am stuck doing stores! We have a local butcher, and I go there, and then places like super kmart, food lion, kroger, etc also have the same things. I look for the tubes of burger on sale, and I try to pick up as much venison and game meat as I can from locals!


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## abby (Mar 13, 2010)

yeah i once found a butcher in the uk who gave me some whole venison legs hair and hoof still attached omg he thought he was in heaven rather royal doggie heaven in his mind. didnt eat all of it, rabbit is good if they will eat it bought mine a frozen rabbit just had hair and head etc removed turned his nose up but a rabbit that been shot and was hair and bone was like a prime steak so you may want to leave the hair on! no accounting for tastes i guess. But if you want a laugh i bought my dog some whole mackeral loved the smell till i dumped two whole fish in his bowl and he picked it up by the tail dropped it like it had given him an electric shock with alook of what do i do with THAT he did eat the heads but that was it....


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

I buy food at a meat distributor.

Venison is fine - but some people have to worry about some brain/spine disease (I am not familiar with it and haven't reasearched it more because it really isn't an option in So Cal). I am going to assume most of the bones will be more recreational (especially the weight bearing ones) because they are pretty tough.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Search for local butchers, local yahoo lists will help alot. I get some ordered in bulk from local grocery stores for me..speaking of...time to an order...

Look for good deals in the grocery store. I look for anything under $1/lb.


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## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

mspiker03 said:


> I buy food at a meat distributor.
> 
> Venison is fine - but some people have to worry about some brain/spine disease (I am not familiar with it and haven't reasearched it more because it really isn't an option in So Cal). I am going to assume most of the bones will be more recreational (especially the weight bearing ones) because they are pretty tough.


The weight bearing bones of a deer are much smaller than those of a cow. Phoenix has no problems eating them. Because most hunters will not strip the meat clean of the leg bones (it can be tough and sinewy), many times you'll get the leg with lots of meat on them. I usually cut the legs up at the joints. 

As far as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), as a precaution, you should avoid feeding deer and elk tissues known to harbor the CWD agent (e.g., brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes) from areas where CWD has been identified.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

BoomandBolt said:


> Where do you get it? What are good prices? What do I need to know? I think I want to raw feed. Does venison work for it? We harvest a few deer every year, can they eat the bones?


Where to get it

The first place I tell people to look is Yahoo groups for a raw feeding group in your area. They will know the places to get stuff.

Next, check the yellow pages for Meat Purveyors, Meat Processors, Meat Wholesalers.

Talk to your local big chain grocery stores to see if they will let you buy cases of things.


Good prices

It all depends on your area and how much you can buy at a time. I buy in bulk from a local meat purveyor so I can get things like chicken leg quarters for $39/lb and beef or pork heart for $.50/lb.

If you go to a regular grocery store and buy it off the shelf you will pay at LEAST double.


What to know

What to feed
How to feed
How to balance the diet

Check out my website: Raw Dog Ranch


Venison

Deer meat is fine, the bones are not (IMHO).

It's not some much whether the bones are weight bearing or not, it's the AGE of the bones. Chickens are processed at 8 WEEKS of age. Their bones are very soft. Turkeys are older - anywhere from 18 - 28 weeks so their bones are harder. Pigs are between 6-9 months old. Deer may be YEARS old so their bones will be VERY hard.


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## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

I have a bunch of different places I get my meat. Of course there's the grocery store, when meat is on sale. I can usually get chicken and sometimes turkey, pork, or beef on sale.

There is also a rawfeeding "store" locally, I find their prices are high for most things, but they sell ground green tripe for a good price, so I stop by there pretty often for that.

There is a local rawfeeding group, the prices are a little bit high and it's a long drive, so I don't buy there often but they recently had rabbit and ostrich for a good price so I picked some up.

During hunting season, there is a butcher about an hour away who sells ground venison for dog food. It ends up being a little over $1/lb. I try to stock up in the spring...right now I have about a freezer and a half of the venison!
He also gives away the bones, I will take ribs, necks, etc especially if they have a lot of meat on them. My dogs will devour those. I don't bother with the legs - there's really no meat on them and they are too dense. Venison in general is great for the dogs though. Wasting disease may be a concern in your area - in that case you wouldn't want to feed the spine or head. There is a site somewhere that lists cases by state. In NJ we haven't had any cases, so I feed everything. The only thing that gets thrown our are legs from the hock/knee down.

I have also gotten whole animals - live sheep that we had to butcher ourselves (not for everyone but my husband didn't mind doing it). They were grass-fed, free range sheep so IMO are far better than storebought meat. I've also gotten whole deer. The best part of getting whole animals is that you can get organs that you wouldn't be able to get otherwise.


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## DrDoom (Nov 7, 2007)

Yeah, we feed whole hogs (That Bear helps catch), and then partial deer. I don't feed the head or spines just in case. We also get wild turkey and gator. He loves them all. And if we're out and I have a rifle with me and we cross a rabbit I'll usually have at it.


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

Man, I joined the local Raw Food group on Yahoo, and the only things posted in like.. that last 6 months are advertisements and ONE person, who isn't even local... blah.. I need to look other places.


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## milkmoney11 (Feb 11, 2010)

BoomandBolt said:


> Where do you get it? What are good prices? What do I need to know? I think I want to raw feed. Does venison work for it? We harvest a few deer every year, can they eat the bones?


I'm sure some people will flame me for this post but before you decide to do a raw diet, really do your homework. 

Raw diets get a lot of publicity on forums such as these because they are different and somewhat progressive and "non-traditional". 

Do a little bit of google research and you will find that the majority of vets won't recommend it. Some will say this is because they are not trained properly in veterinary school. I guess you choose who you want to believe.

A common misconception with dry dog food is that companies just took a bunch of left over biproducts, ground them up, mixed them with some grain, dried it and bam...you got dog food. In actuality, there had been years and years of research that has gone in to producing food that meets the needs of dogs. Some are much better than others.

Some will dispute this by saying something such as "For 1000s of years dogs survived fine by eating raw diet in the wild." Well...humans probably didn't eat the greatest diet for 1000s of years and survived as well. With modern science and dietary regulation humans now live longer than ever before. 

The nutrition in a raw diet is very hard gauge unless you are on expert and there are bacterial dangers (not to mention the price factor). Some people on here feed raw and probably do it quite well because they have put the time in to educating themselves. 

There are a lot of raw diet threads on here because it requires a lot of discussion and I think many times the sheer visibility of it unjustifiably implies that MOST people feed their GSDs raw. 

This simply isn't the case.


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## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

Lauri & The Gang said:


> Venison
> 
> Deer meat is fine, the bones are not (IMHO).
> 
> It's not some much whether the bones are weight bearing or not, it's the AGE of the bones. Chickens are processed at 8 WEEKS of age. Their bones are very soft. Turkeys are older - anywhere from 18 - 28 weeks so their bones are harder. Pigs are between 6-9 months old. Deer may be YEARS old so their bones will be VERY hard.


Very valid point Lauri. The age of the deer does make a difference.

I have also found a bit of difference between doe and bucks. 

Also a thing to remember with venison and deer bones. Most hunters will hang the deer for a day to a couple of days before processing to break down the connective tissue a bit. Usually the processor will hang the deer in a temperature appropriate cooler, but know where and who you are getting your meat from when it comes to venison.


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## smyke (Sep 24, 2009)

milkmoney11 said:


> I'm sure some people will flame me for this post but before you decide to do a raw diet, really do your homework.


yeah, I'm surprised nobody "flamed" you. 

one definitely needs to do their homework but its not that difficult nor is it more "dangerous" than feeding kibble.
as far as the cost goes? as Lauri said you have to buy in bulk to get best pricing. I can feed Fanta for around $1 per day.


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## DrDoom (Nov 7, 2007)

Yeah, I would be shocked if you got "flamed", but some people on here might disagree. I'd be one, for sure. I went raw because I tried every type of dog food out there, and Bear continued to have diarrhea. BAD diarrhea. I had heard of all the benefits, but I didn't believe I could do it, didn't believe I could afford it, thought I'd wind up killing my dog, all the things we're taught to think as we grow up. Well, none of those things have happened, and my dog is healthier and happier than he's ever been. In addition to that, the health benefits we're seeing (Not just the absence of diarrhea, although that's a BIG one) have made us believers.
I understand your warnings, and intentions. No one's going to flame you for that.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

milkmoney11 said:


> ... and there are bacterial dangers (not to mention the price factor).



Ok, I have to interject here.

Does everyone wear rubber gloves when they handle the meats they feed themselves and others in their families?

I just don't understand the phrase 'bacterial dangers'.

I have been feeding raw for over 10 years and in that time have fed over 10 THOUSAND pounds of raw meat and bones - and yet I've NEVER had a problem, nor have my dogs.

If it was that easy to get sick from handling raw meats then don't you think 10+ years and 10,000 pounds of the stuff would have done SOMETHING??


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## JOSHUA SAMPSON (Feb 21, 2010)

browse any and all supermarkets food sections for anything less than $1 per lb. i find lots of chicken livers. i order chicken backs from the local pricechopper but i need to go hit up sams club


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