RAW Sausage - Time Saver?

Tell me your thoughts here guys. I'm looking to save a little time in my feeding. In the fall, my job dictates, I'm gone to work b/f light and return home at dark. I'm looking to save time in my feeding during that time.

Right now, I feed:
1 egg
yogurt
gizzards
liver (either chicken or beef)
oils 4-5 times a week
1/4 Chicken

Why couldn't I put the egg, yogurt, organs and oil all together, mix well, and actually make a sausage with this stuff. Then on days I'm in a hurry, I can throw each dog a 1/4 chicken and a sausage link!

Shoot me the pros and cons if anyone sees any or if anyone's tried this b/f.

Thanks - I appreciate the FEEDback!

NQK

In the book jack talks about grinding everything bones in all if u have a grinder capable so I really don't see why not.

That is basically the way I buy Primal and Nature's Variety Instinct.

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Originally Posted by No Quarter Kennel

Tell me your thoughts here guys. I'm looking to save a little time in my feeding. In the fall, my job dictates, I'm gone to work b/f light and return home at dark. I'm looking to save time in my feeding during that time.
Right now, I feed:
1 egg
yogurt
gizzards
liver (either chicken or beef)
oils 4-5 times a week
1/4 Chicken
Why couldn't I put the egg, yogurt, organs and oil all together, mix well, and actually make a sausage with this stuff. Then on days I'm in a hurry, I can throw each dog a 1/4 chicken and a sausage link!
Shoot me the pros and cons if anyone sees any or if anyone's tried this b/f.
Thanks - I appreciate the FEEDback!
NQK

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Ideally, the benefits of raw are optimized if the food is actually raw. This means, strictly-speaking, even food that is frozen-then-thawed loses a certain amount of biological value.

Realistically, however, you can't keep a refrigerator-full of totally-raw meat for a yard of 20 dogs, and be slinging blood everywhere, because it would spoil and get nasty pretty quick. Therefore, we need to freeze at least the meat aspect of our dogs' diet.

However, if you're mixing the vegetables, yogurts, etc. together with the meats (and especially if you're freezing it afterward), then (from a strictly pro-raw perspective) you are no longer feeding raw vegetables and yogurt, you're in fact feeding frozen vegetables and yogurt, and frozen yogurt and vegetables are never as nutritious as raw yogurt and vegetables. It is a fact that vegetables are at their most nutritious when fresh, and the vitamin value of them rapidly diminishes once juiced, crushed, or food-processed.

Therefore, ideally-speaking, I would say grinding and making a sausage of the meats is a great idea, but the eggs/veggies/yogurt/oils are best left raw (actually, eggs are at their most nutritious soft-boiled).

Still, frozen/thawed veggies/yogurt/oils are a thousand times better than over-processed kibble, and even the Nature's Variety Rew-Frozen Diets are (you guessed it) raw-frozen. It may not be as optimal as 100% raw, but it sure is the next best thing.

Jack

Thanks guys, for all the replies. I'll probably give this a go as my wife will have to feed a couple days per week once the fall gets here. I can do this to save time and make things easier for others needing to fill in for me when I can't feed.

I tell you what, and anyone who is already feeding RAW knows this, the actual process of putting their feed together and getting it to them is a very "in-tuning" process for you and your dogs. It's a really small investment of time that dictates you pay more attention to detail, the dogs themselves and puts you in a position to know much more about your dogs. It sounds funny, but those doing it understand what I'm talking about. I'm only feeding 9 dogs right now and it takes me a total of 8-9 minutes to put all of their food together and get it to them and me back in the house. That's not trying to rush at all.

Good post, NQK, I think it does exactly that: puts you "in tune" with your dogs.

i dont see a problem in making sausages, in fact i feed them myself. meat/bones/organs/vegetables/oils chopped up. just not sure about freezing the eggs and yoghurt. i don't feed yogugurt but i give them 2/3 egs a week.

Interesting concept…. I don’t think I would want to freeze the yogurt and the egg. The meat being a chicken quarter is fine on its own.

But I know a raw feeder who makes up a pureed veggie mix and puts it into an ice cube tray. They just pop out a frozen cube of this veggie mix and add it to the raw meat with the egg and yogurt.

It is not that there is a "problem" with freezing, per se, it is just that it kills-off some of the good enzymes/flora/micronutrients.

This is why, even for human consumption, frozen vegetables are never as good for you as raw vegetables.

It is also why, in the fish market for example, buying raw fish right at the beach is always considered primo ... while buying frozen/thawed fish at the market is always considered second-rate.

first hit of on google of many articles
http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_...p_nutrition_fo

i often catch myself wanting to feed my dogs healthier them myself, but i dont think freezing makes big difference. if you want to feed perfect raw you need to start your own animal farm and feed those prey animals only what you grow on your other farm :lol:

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Originally Posted by R2L

first hit of on google of many articles
http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_...p_nutrition_fo

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It seems to be a self-contradictory article.

A good point was made that fruits/vegetables chosen for freezing are typically picked ripe, whereas vegetables chosen for market are typically picked just before they're ripe, but then the article admits that the initial heating devalues the water-soluble vitamins in the ripe fruits/vegetables. And, although it claims freezing "locks-in" the remaining nutrients, the truth is (if you really research the subject of freezing) all the cells in the item get destroyed by standard freezing. [For example, this is why you cannot just "freeze" live semen; it has to be frozen using special liquid nitrogen techniques; otherwise, the sperm cells are ruptured and die through standard freezing. For the same reason, you cannot just "freeze" a DNA sample in the freezer for cloning; those cells likewise will be destroyed, which again is why special liquid nitrogen techniques need to be used.]

Further, if the fruits/vegetables that get transported to market lose some value in the "picked-before-ripe" / "shipped-to-market" process, then it sure isn't doing them any more good to be freezing these vegetables on top of that!

As the article said, "Bottom line: When vegetables are in-season, buy them fresh and ripe."

And, as regards to frozen, it said: "... over many months, nutrients in frozen vegetables do inevitably degrade."

Well, again, the freezing process itself degrades, and a way around buying mass-produced bulk fruits/vegetables that were picked before they were ripe at the store, is to buy your fruits/vegetables locally from local farmers. You don't necessarily have to have your own farm; you can just buy from your local farmers directly.

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Originally Posted by R2L

i often catch myself wanting to feed my dogs healthier them myself, but i dont think freezing makes big difference. if you want to feed perfect raw you need to start your own animal farm and feed those prey animals only what you grow on your other farm

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Well, you can think what you want, but try freezing your dog's semen by conventional means and see if it doesn't make a "big difference" as to the likelihood of conception :lol:

At the end of the day, it is exactly as I said back in the beginning: feeding truly raw vegetables is BEST. There is no knowledgeable person who will disagree with this. However, freezing is more convenient, and while it degrades the food item a bit (and will continue to do so the longer it is frozen), freezing will retain more nutrients than "kibbling" will. But it will never have the same nutritive value as it did fresh and raw.

Jack

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you can just buy from your local farmers directly

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that would be best
can't discourage any extra work to make the food of best quality, but i can encourage making the sausages as a time saver :mrgreen:

Some very good and interesting points in this thread.

I remember when we lived in New England, we often would go down to the docks and buy a whole fish from the fishing boats, put it in the cooler on ice, take it home and clean and eat it that night. It was much better than fish from the store, it had been swimming a few hours earlier. Now with modern fishing, they often process and freeze the fish right on the boats.

With fresh vegetables, I have a question. I understand and agree with what Jack is saying, about the fresher and riper the better. But say you process or grind up your vegetables in a food processor, how long do they keep as far as the nutrients?

For example, if you process them in the morning, then put them in the fridge until late afternoon and then add the puree mix to the dogs food, how much have they lost? I know garlic will lose its beneficial properties if it is not fed within about 20 minutes after it is minced up.

And although freezing veggies is not the best, it is convenient and better than nothing. As a time saver, freezing them can help a lot.

Speaking of freezing, what about the raw meats? Do they lose nutrients when frozen and for how long can one keep frozen meats?

pre mixed raw brands can be frozen for 12 months(they say). i never keep more then for 2 months tho and then buy new stock. every time i order they got new manufacturing data

what i do know is that you shouldnt freeze harder then -18, max -20 degrees celcius cause that will touch the quality of all ingredients. the way you pack the meet is important too, as less air as possible.