Supplimenting the Dog Food

[jodief100]

We now have 4, large breed LGD's. Jack is 140 lbs, Snowy in 90 lbs. At 7 months old the pups are 70 lbs for Peron and 60 lbs for Zorya. I expect both of them will top out in the 100-130 lb range. We love them all and want them to have the best care possible.

That being said, they are working dogs on a working farm and I have a bottom line to consider. I am trying to find ways to stretch the dog food budget without compromising on nutrition. I am get a huge amount of conflicting information about feeded your dog homemade dog food. I don't want to switch exclusively to homemade, but I would like to find some way to supplement them inexpensively.

What suggestions does anyone have for some inexpensive ways to supplement them? Our neighbor leaves us the hearts, kidneys and livers from the deer he shoots but that is only about 10-12 deer a year. I cook them them with brown rice and sweet potatoes. Would white rice be ok? Brown is so much more expensive.

 

[Southern by choice]

Giving this some thought...
Jodie didn't you say your dogs won't eat goat?

 

[jodief100]

Giving this some thought...
Jodie didn't you say your dogs won't eat goat?

The big dogs won't touch goat. I never offered it to the pups. I wonder if it is the smell.....
Hubby has been wondering if raising rabbit would be cost effective. Chickens take too much time to pluck or skin. I was thinking coon or possum. There are plenty of those around.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Honestly, I've thought about raising rabbits to feed to my dogs. They love rabbit and I wouldn't have to clean or skin. The issue for me is that I've got a bad rabbit allergy. I'm also not sure it would end up being cheaper.

My dogs like chicken, but they won't touch an unplucked bird. The puppy killed one of my roosters a while back and I gave the bird to one of the adults. It lay in the sheep pen all day.

I feed lamb and beef bones. When we slaughter a sheep, they get the legs (skin and hooves), heart, liver, kidneys, and occasionally the tongue. They've also had deer and moose legs that I picked up from the slaughter house when we drop animals off.

 

[Prairie Farm Woman]

Our "chicken" dog will not eat chicken. She was raised around the chickens 24/7. She will eat rabbit. We take the head and paws off. Sharps in gut. We are also a little concerned that prions from the brain might pass mammal to mammal. We feed the chickens the rabbit heads. The rest of the dogs (three others) eat the chickens though they do like the rabbit better.