Making your own Dog Food

[blackpaws]

has anyone made their own dog food in bulk? maybe we can get some ideas going on how to do this and what needs to be in the food to be healty for the dogs as far as vitamins. i have been feeding meat scraps for a while now and feed dry food about every 3rd day. my dogs look grat and performance and stamina have never been better. Anyhow, lets get some input on home made brews of dog food of any kind.

[Steve White]

BP- I looked into this real hard last year. Put over 4000 mins on my phone in one month doing it!! Learned way may than I can remember anymore. What it come down to this.

If making a food it is very hard to get someone to make it for you. At a minimum run looking at a semi load. That's about 24 tons give or take. That is if you want it in pellet form. Otherwise could just feed them a mush. Which would be a pain on a daily basis. Adding water to it ans such. As you would just have bags of powder. Then if doing that will need to feed more bones, or brush teeth. There are only a few pellet mills in the nation capable of making a kibble correctly. Some of them jsut do not want to do business with a small guy.

Now in either case the cost of the food gets high quick. The key is to buy all the ingredients in large volume. I had it figured that in order to make a 24/20 with higher vitamin/ supplement levels than out there. I would have to buy enough ingredients to make about 100 ton!! At least in order to keep the price under $20 a bag. On a small bag lot of 1 ton. I found a feed mill that could mix it for me at $24.75 for a bag of powder. Not much sense in that.

All of this in the end is BIG MONEY!!! Better off buying a plant and going that route if your going to do it.

Otherwise, buy the best kibble you can afford. Supplement with meat,vitamins, other supplements as needed.

Overall there is not much mark up on feeds out there. At least on the dealer side of things. The makers get the money. As a dealer I can get just about any feed out there. There is less than a 10% markup an most feeds out there. Unless you hit the local grocery store. Heck, I get yelled at for a $1 a bag mark up. Then some feeds have almost zero markup. Take Hi-standard. Almost any joe blow can buy it at dealer cost. you want it for $1.50 a bag less than you can buy a semi load from them, and call yourself a distributor. Not much sense to it.

DOG FOOD= NO PROFITS+BIG HEADACHES!!!!!!

[blackpaws]

thanks steve. i was just looking to make my own food for myself and still feed the dry food every 3rd or 4th day. i had heard of some guys mixing ground venison or any meat or fat scraps with water and some vitamin supplements and mixing it until it became mush and then just froze it in seprate pails and fed it that way. kind of a pain but if you did a big batch at once and froze it to supplement the dry food i think would really help the dogs and the food bill.

[CODY FANKHAUSER]

PEOPLE MIGHT GET UPSET BUT I'LL SAY IT ANYWAY

WITH THE SHORTAGE OF HAY THIS YEAR, AND THE ECONOMY THE WAY IT IS.... HORSES ARE SELLING REAL CHEAP. JUST A THOUGHT.

[Steve White]

BP that would be a huge pain!! Worse thing about scraps is the cost of the freezer in the summer months. That adds up a bit.

Always something in the fridge for the dogs. We save all the juices from veggies, grease, whatever. Every little bit helps. Feeding 8 dogs and 3 pups I notice every bit of it!! Messing with the meat is a pain alone. Can't bring myself to mess with a powder or mush!!

[Catch]

I have been working on this for along time. This is what I have learned and what a dog needs. This is what I do and why.

1st-1 cup pinto beans and 1 cup brown rice per dog. (This will give all the amino acids, vitamins, fiber and carbohydrates)

2nd-5-6 grams from whey protein (When dogs are idol, a lot of protein is not good)

3rd-1 TBS of fish oil every day. (This will keep the coat shinning and lubricate the muscle around the heart and other good things like omega three fatty acids)

4th-1/2 TSP of minerals that include, Iron, Folic Acid, B-12 w/Manganese, Cobalt, Copper, and Zinc. (This helps build the red blood cells and allow red blood cells to carry more oxygen to the muscle)

5th-1/4 to 1/2 cup lard (This gives all the calories needed. Beef lard is about 2100 cal. per cup. I use a vegetable fat when hunting)

Now this is when the dog are idol. When I hunt I double everything other then the protein. I boast the protein intake to 40 grams from whey.

I bought a large slow cooker and cook the rice and beans with the powder whey, you will learn how much water it takes to get everything soaked. A cup of beans will expand to about three. Same with the rice. After the beans & rice are cooked, I add all other ingredient and put into a zip lock bag for one serving per dog. I make 20-30 servings and then freeze. Each night I add hot water and serve.

Now this is my opinion only. Feeding dog food is the worst you can feed a dog. It is even worse to feed a couple cups of dog food, and a couple cups of water and turn them loose on a race. If a dog is 50 lbs, you feed it dog food, it drinks 1/4 gal. of water to soak the food and keep its self hydrated. You can add extra and unneeded weight. 4-5 extra pounds on a dog running at top speed is a lot of weight. This formula is wet so so dogs only drink to keep its self hydrated. They pee less therefore they are not flushing the electrolytes. It is easier on the dogs because beans, rice and whey proteins are not a quick burn and over. Dogs are energized during the race, not just at the first.
This is cheap and works well for me.

I'm giving all my secrets away. Even the Walker boys will be able to catch bear now.

This is not science, it is my thought and opinion only.

[blackpaws]

Catch.

is the measurments per dog per day or how is that broken down? sounds like it would be simple to do all at once and put in the refrigerator. No meat source at all?

[larry]

huh, thought your dogs ate nails and shit excellence there Catch

[Catch]

I stopped feeding nails. Have you seen the price per pound. I'm talking pound as in weight, not where you get your dogs!

[Catch]

Catch.

is the measurments per dog per day or how is that broken down? sounds like it would be simple to do all at once and put in the refrigerator. No meat source at all?

Yes, that is what I feed mine. If you do this type of feed you might have to add or subtract.

You don't want to refrigerate beans or rice long. I found freezing works well. Winter time add hot water, no need to have a bucket. Summer time just feed.

The only reason meat would be needed is for the protein. To get 40 grams of protein in meat, is a lot of meat/weight.

[larry]

I stopped feeding nails. Have you seen the price per pound. I'm talking pound as in weight, not where you get your dogs!

good to see you draw the line somewhere. I bet it gets slippery tryin to follow those dogs after eatin all those beans, I guess they need that extra BOOST to keep up with those pound dogs.

[POORBOY]

30 years ago i hunted more and worked less????

200 # Corn
50 # Meat Scraps in a bag ( before mad cow)!!!!
50 # Rolled oats.

At the elevator.
Fine screen double grind. ( fine corn meal ).

Self feeders.
Water bucket heaters in winter.
A visit now and then to a locker plant. A bucket or two of meat Scraps.

Weaned a litter with soaked feed and milk replacer.
Kept one for 11 years.

Could huntem all night.
I guess the complex carbohydrates helped with that.

When hunting regular, stool was good.
Meant to me they were digesting it all.
When they got older corn did not digest well.

Priced a used pellet mill for over 100,000, Did a cost breakdown. End of story.

Feed what i can afford, and what they need, a fine line between.

jerry

[Houndhead]

Catch,any Idea what the cost is to feed this mixture?

[cedarhill kennels]

catch..... the minerals you use,i asume its in powder form.....what brand/kind do you use.
i have gathered everything up but the minerals and gonna try some of this stuff this weekend

[blackpaws]

if possible post the brands of everything used in this recipe and maybe a place to get it from. i don't know where i would get fish oil or stuff like that.

When you cook all this down in the slow cooker, how much are you actually feeding the dog then? about 4-cups after the rice expands a little.

do the dogs like it? i didn't know if they would eat just basically rice. sounds like a good food though.