Recently, we have been ordering grinds from a company called Blue Ridge Beef (which is available in the southeastern states) as a large portion of our meats (about 60%) simply for convince and storage. They come in 2lb "chubs" which stack nicely in our freezer...





They come in quite a few formulas: Quail, Chicken, Beef, Turkey, Venison, Duck, Rabbit, green tripe, natural mix (organ inclusive,) lean beef... Usually I get 2 protein sources for everyone but Rodeo, Venison for Rodeo, and Natural mix.

I LOVE numbers and formulas so I use excel a lot for figuring food/bone intake. I feed around 20-25% bone but each day is different. Mickey gets 29 oz. daily (2.75% of 65lbs) and everyone else gets about 20 oz. (2.5% of 50lbs.) I created a spreadsheet with excel, plugged a bunch of values in and generally this is what I feed over a week:



Towards the left of the days of the week I put how many chubs and the kind I need to pull out for the next day. I have configured my chart to use as many "whole" chubs per day as I can as opposed to having leftovers.

The schedule changes when I screw up and don't pull the right stuff out, which is why it's written with an erasable marker! I printed out this blank chart, laminated it, and then filled it in with my "plan." Pretty much my dogs get ground only meals on Saturdays and Mondays (the grounds are 10% bone) and then quarter only days on Thursdays... The rest of the week is comprised of mixes of Quarters, 10% grounds, and Natural Mix (which is a ground comprised of beef, green tripe, and liver.)

Rodeo gets mostly Venison grinds and we are experimenting with Turkey necks and green tripe... Which is why his side is pretty blank. I buy Turkey necks in 5lb bags, sort them, and store them in tupperware with the date:



At the top of that chart you can see each dogs name and the approx values of what they each need total for the week. Basically my formula (for everyone but Rodeo) is 40% of the bone-inclusive grounds (10%), 40% chicken quarters (QTR), and 20% Natural Mix (NM) putting us around 20-25% bone content. This formula works for my dogs better than 10% bone content did.

I weigh my foods every feeding. Some people don't need to but i'm an exact person with a serious obsession with numbers... So I do! This is our main scale...




I pull what I need for the next day out of the freezer and let it defrost overnight in a giant ziploc baggy. Grinds are SUPER messy and they will leak...



I have that entire shelf dedicated to dog meat, and that's it.

Finally- I do supplement. There is a lot of argument (especially with the hardcore PMR feeders) about the benefit of supplements... I do NOT feed grass fed beef nor do I feed fish (for cost and allergy reasons... my own allergies ) So I supplement with fish oil rich in Omega 3's, vitamin E, coconut oil, and Source (which is like Seameal and provides trace nutrients and microorganisms.) I do not include in my menu veggies, yogurts, pumpkin or anything like that. I, personally, (and this is a personal choice) do not feel it is necessary.



I purchase human grade (be sure the fish oil is purified to eliminate mercury) because it is cheaper and better than any "dog" version... I buy mine from Walgreens/CVS because there's always some BOGO deal... Usually I rotate and feed the fish oil/Source one day and vitamin E/ coconut oil the next.

All-in-all my dog food bill is about $250/month (mostly because of the grinds) but the way I look at it is about $50/month per dog for a decent quality dog food... So if I can get away with that same price for much much better quality as well as keeping some of that convenience... It's a good deal to me!

What's your menu?

That price tag really is not bad AT ALL for the variety you have.
I'm planning on buying a deep freezer in July or so from my friend who is a huge raw feeder and she says she doesn't need two once she gets all her stuff out of the 2nd one. After that, I will invest time in finding a good raw meat provider here in CO- I know there is a lot.

I don't have a big menu like this as of right now. Koda and Rogue get pork, venison, beef (the beef we have though is grass-fed, my raw feeding friend gave me about 12lbs worth to help start clearing her freezer our and got it from a friend), turkey and lamb. On my lazy days they get Grandma Lucy's Pureformance or sometimes I'll 1/2 the amount of raw and feed this in the AM when I don't feel like handling the food haha.

I was always told to feed around 2% of their body weight. Koda is at exactly 50lbs and Rogue is 27.
Koda doesn't really have to watch his figure so he gets 1.25-1.50lbs, and Rogue gets a little less than 3/4 though she should only get 1/2lb technically. Koda has always had to be fed extra to maintain a good weight and Rogue is so active she needs more food.

I currently don't have a menu to add just yet, but should come fall time.

For the lazy...you might want to add a link to Blue Ridge Beef if they have a website.

Thank you for the very informative post.

it's www.blueridgebeef.com and they have a list of dealers in different states, there are two in illinois i do have a quick question though as i still have rocky on dry food, if you're switching to a raw diet do you have to do it gradually like when you switch a dog to a new type of dry food or can you just start feeding them the raw diet?

also since they need bone in their diet is there a place to get raw bones?

I don't do it slowly. It's so different that it doesn't matter. We did kibble the night before and raw the next AM.

You can get raw bone in meats anywhere. Chicken necks and backs are very bony and most to all grocers carry them.

How do this place have a distributor in ARIZONA, but not here? Maybe I'll put a chest freezer in the back and hit them up when I visit next month...

thanks for the post, Kristina!

I do want to go back to a partial raw, but after hubby's incident where Storm chocked on a chicken wing tip, he's freaked out! Well, duh! Not sure why he gave a wing tip!!

Anyway, hubby 'says' we could go back to a partail raw only if I handle all the feeding....

I want a stand-up freezer so I don't have to dig and reach into a chest freezer - I can open the door and see most of what's in there. But the freezer will have to wait until after Hawaii at the end of the month and after my car gets serviced....so July is when I can get a freezer.

Kristina you impress me so much. Thank you for sharing your menu with us! +1 for you.

I wish I could go raw with my dog but it's not the right time for us. It's a goal I've set though.

Wow - that's impressive, Kristina! Your doggie are so loved and well taken care of! I love the idea of the grinds - so the bone is already in the grind?

arooroomom wrote:

They come in quite a few formulas: Quail, Chicken, Beef, Turkey, Venison, Duck, Rabbit, green tripe, natural mix (organ inclusive,) lean beef... Usually I get 2 protein sources for everyone but Rodeo, Venison for Rodeo, and Natural mix.

Hey Kristina,

This may seem like dumb question...when you say 2 protein sources are you counting the meat grounds as one and the chicken quarters as the second? or do you get 2 varieties of the ground meat chubs and then also add chicken? and for chicken quarters, i'm assuming that's just the meat right? I'm trying to get rocky on a raw diet and i'm following your formula as a guide so i just want to make sure i'm doing it correctly :/

I just discovered this gem and it is only a few miles from my house!

http://woodyspetdeli.com/home

judalina wrote:

arooroomom wrote:

They come in quite a few formulas: Quail, Chicken, Beef, Turkey, Venison, Duck, Rabbit, green tripe, natural mix (organ inclusive,) lean beef... Usually I get 2 protein sources for everyone but Rodeo, Venison for Rodeo, and Natural mix.

Hey Kristina,

This may seem like dumb question...when you say 2 protein sources are you counting the meat grounds as one and the chicken quarters as the second? or do you get 2 varieties of the ground meat chubs and then also add chicken? and for chicken quarters, i'm assuming that's just the meat right? I'm trying to get rocky on a raw diet and i'm following your formula as a guide so i just want to make sure i'm doing it correctly :/

Whoops I just saw this!

When I was speaking about 2 protein sources I mean 2 different types of grounds they have available. The chicken quarters would make it 3. I don't like to heavily rely on chicken. I went cheap the first time and got the chicken ground and Quail ground and didn't like the sheer amount of chicken I was feeding.

And by chicken quarters I mean whole chicken quarters:

Kristina, I had no idea how anal you are about numbers! Spreadsheet? Impressive!