# First bulk order complete!



## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

So I picked up my first order of raw on Thursday and attempted to package everything last night. Somewhere along the way, I had a few questions about this meat thing. And i also discovered a few things.
1. the arteries and veins and random rubbery things on the heart, do you feed that? Or just the muscle? I also cut off any huge glob of fat.
2. I discovered that tripe smells familiar to me and didn't smell as much as the beef liver.
3. When packaging the food, don't let dog help...he will eat everything including your fingers.
4. Don't start late, or take breaks...it ends up taking forever.
5. When tried to determine how much to buy, give yourself some wiggle room. If you need 30 lbs for 2 months and the box is 30 pounds, you dont actually get 2 months worth.
6. Am I supposed to lay a tarp over everything. My kitchen looks like we murdered someone in there. We found pieces of turkey neck stuck to everything.
7. If you keep 50 pounds of cut up beef heart in a bag for 2 hours while packaging, you will have a beef heart soup by the end.
8. While packaging 200 bags of food, keep in mind that one out of every 20 will most likely leak, but you won't find out until you have 100 bags in a container and are in the process of putting them in the freezer.

Well the good new is We have food for 2 months in the freezer apporx. And we have room left over for us to put food in.









Time to clean whats left of the crime scene before guests arrive. Picture to come of the finished product later.


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## rjvamp (Aug 23, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: GSDSunshine
> 6. Am I supposed to lay a tarp over everything. My kitchen looks like we murdered someone in there. We found pieces of turkey neck stuck to everything.
> 
> Time to clean whats left of the crime scene before guests arrive. Picture to come of the finished product later.


I just thought of the TV Show Dexter when I read this! LOL He tarps everything..... I bet that was a trip to see!


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## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

I did my first bulk order just a couple of weeks ago. Approx. 200 lbs of meat processing! Totally agree with the murder scene thing. Mine looked like the set of a Quentin Tarantino movie. I did my processing in the basement though and then washed down everything with a strong solution of Mr. Clean antibacterial. Here are a few lessons that I learned:
1) Hoard newspapers (esp. thick Sunday ones) to use a platform for thawing the boxes. Liquid will seep through no matter how good the packing is.
2) Lay out either tarp as you said or garbage bags under the newspapers, so that there's less of a mess on the floor. BUT, I'm using *white *garbage bags the next time. Really hard to see the mess on black garbage bags until you have moved the darn thing and by then, half the stuff has spilled on the floor.


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## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

I LOVE this thread! You two ^ out did me by far! I was going to whine about how long it took me to package:
40lbs turkey necks, 
10lbs ground turkey and 
20lbs chicken backs, but you all have me beat! 
(If course I am not done with my shopping for them either)

Also my kitchen was thrashed but not as bad as what you are describing. It is probably cleaner now than when I started.

Dogs didn't get to help-they were behind baby gate stuck in living room.

I took breaks-to let the dogs out, to smoke, to take a trip out to the freezer, etc (my freezer is in the shed)


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## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

I'm guessing yours didn't resemble a murder scene probably because you didn't have beef parts to process. Kira had hearts and I had beef kennel mix which is a goopy mix of beef steak shavings, hearts, a bit of OM, etc







Sorry if I grossed you out although I think most of us who do raw have a fairly strong stomach.


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## Martie (Jun 3, 2008)

LOVE the murder scene analogy - it's perfect! And you're so right - the chicken is one thing - but the beef - blood bath!


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## ellen366 (Nov 2, 2007)

yes, those rubbery veins and arteries are fine to feed; i just include them in the mm


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

I have a BIG plastic tub thing that I use to thaw out all my bulk items...then when I'm done getting the stuff out I just dump out the blood, and any trimmings that I cut off, out in the woods for the critters. 

I'll never forget the night I was home cutting up the beef heart, I have a bloody towel over my shoulder, it looks like I killed someone on my counter and the doorbell rings. Poor guy from Sears trying to sell something...he was like "Umm....is this a bad time?"

Me: "Nah, I just finished up with the last salesman..."


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## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

I bet that salesman didn't hang around for very long! 

DH now refers to me as "my wife, the butcher"! From the sounds of it, it seems it's mostly us women who do all the meat processing for our pups.


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

1. I mostly do feed the extras since they are usually not excessive in the batches we get. I distribute the extras among the bags and if there is a really big piece or huge chunk of fat I will sometimes toss it.

2. You must not be speaking of raw green tripe? It is awful and cannot be obtained from a butcher as its not certified. Is the tripe you got the clean white kind?

6. We set up outside. Can you use your backyard? A lot easier for us this way!

7. We cut the beef heart and as we are cutting it put it in a cooler with a bit of ice until we are ready for it.


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

He really didn't, he was standing back from me, in the rain. I was like "you can come in under the awning"

"Well, sometimes it makes people uncomfortable to have a stranger that close"

Me, looking at the dogs staring out the door: "Well, if you try anything I'll just open this door and let the dogs eat you"

I think that was the shortest sales pitch ever! Ah, the benefits of raw and having big dogs!!


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## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

Oh man, I want that on tape. Poor salesman. Bwah ha ha!!! 

Natalie: Nope Its green tripe got it from a dog store in town. Figured I would try it out, See what all the fuss was about. It's bravo brand. He is scheduled to get it once a week with his breakfast. 

An thats a negative on outside packaging, once you come to the house you will see our yard leave my to be desired. It pretty much non-existent. We did you use tubs to keep all the bulk items together. We had one with necks, and one with hearts, We still made a mess though. Oh well.


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

> Originally Posted By: aubieI'll never forget the night I was home cutting up the beef heart, I have a bloody towel over my shoulder, it looks like I killed someone on my counter and the doorbell rings. Poor guy from Sears trying to sell something...he was like "Umm....is this a bad time?"
> 
> Me: "Nah, I just finished up with the last salesman..."


I have one of those, too!

I was in the back of the barn butchering and processing rabbits when a neighbor walked over and called out. Here I come around the barn, splatters of blood on my pants and shirt and carrying a small cleaver.

The neighbor took one look and me and quickly asked where Mike (my DH) was. Maybe he thought I was chopping him up into easily disposable pieces!!


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## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

Well shucks! I don't have a 'other half' or DH to help or for anything else! Gotta do all the work by myself and don't get to joke about it


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: ZissoWell shucks! I don't have a 'other half' or DH to help or for anything else! Gotta do all the work by myself and don't get to joke about it


Don't worry, they're not much help. Mine just watches me and giggles at me and my "hobby" and rolls his eyes when I get excited about finding odd animal parts in the grocery store.


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## Martie (Jun 3, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: aubieDon't worry, they're not much help. Mine just watches me and giggles at me and my "hobby" and rolls his eyes when I get excited about finding odd animal parts in the grocery store.


LOL - Same here!


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## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Lauri & The Gang The neighbor took one look and me and quickly asked where Mike (my DH) was. Maybe he thought I was chopping him up into easily disposable pieces!!










The place I got my first bulk order from mentioned free deer frames on their website. When I told DH about that and how Wolfie would enjoy having one of those in the backyard, his response was, "yeah and the neighbors will think 'you know, we haven't seen the husband in a while and she has been smiling more often....' "


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## IslandStorm62 (Dec 12, 2009)

Hope you don't mind if I sneak a queston into your thread?









One of my soldiers buys a whole goat every month (unfortunately, he eats everything) but he did say that a lot of the other people who buy at the same farm he goes to, just discards the head and entrails. Every thread talks about Green Tripe. I assume they are all referring to cow tripe. What about goat / lamb tripe, brains & eyeballs, entrails and all? Are these alright for the dogs?


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## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

Tripe refers to the stomach of a ruminating animals (one that eat grass and stuff) Think of chambered stomachs. You can get cow, deer, and lamb in the can (canned tripe from tripett).

A goat eats grass so I dont know why they wouldn't count. And yes Lamb too.









This is what I think you could use for your dog from the goat remains:

MM: Heart, Tripe, possibly trachea(wait for the experts for that one), tongue
OM: Brain, Lungs, Liver, kidneys, pancreas,eyes,
RMB: Not really sure what bones you can feed as far as the head...


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

> Originally Posted By: MochaEvery thread talks about Green Tripe. I assume they are all referring to cow tripe. What about goat / lamb tripe, brains & eyeballs, entrails and all? Are these alright for the dogs?


I've had lamb tripe before. One question with the goat tripe - has it been cleaned?

If not, you are going to have to go through the stomach and it's contents and make SURE you remove any foreign debris before you feed it.

Keep in mind that the stomach of a cow is HUGE - not sure how big a goat tummy is.

The goat tongues would be great muscle meat!! The heads themselves would be recreational bones.


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## IslandStorm62 (Dec 12, 2009)

Now that you mention it, I saw a photo once where someone had given their GSDs a couple of lamb heads (Skinlees but whole) as recreation bone (eyebals and all).

Does anyone know if the dogs are actually able to get into the brains?


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