# Raw - Large food items



## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

How do you manage large food items like heads/skulls?

I fed a cow skull yesterday. Emmas gorged herself over a couple hours, then the other dogs took a turn. I left it out in the kennel area with one of the dogs. I'm completely grossed out by the flies it attracts, but maggots are just microprey, right? uke: 

There's a lot left! Is there a better way to feed large, whole items?


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## Debbie Skinner (Sep 11, 2008)

We feed raw to most of our dogs including cow heads. In the summer, though because we are in SoCal I rarely get the big stuff like the cow heads due to flies and those darn meat bees (yellow jackets) that we have here. There is a huge amount of meat on a head though and will feed the dogs for several days. The whole green tripe really attract flies and break down quickly so I freeze them first when possible and rotate the dogs into a play area so that the tripe can be eated quickly.


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## Will Kline (Jan 10, 2008)

When dealing with large animal parts I just grab the hatchet or maul and split it up into manageable pieces. I dont grind because I dont yet have a grinder but that doesn't seem to be a problem. 

Sometimes I wonder what my neighbors would think if I didn't have a privacy fence for the backyard though! :-o


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Did I see a photo of Jennifer Coulter taking a saws-all to a rib cage? :lol: Would that be the best method for cutting? Can I do that frozen? fresh? thawed?

This is something I'm not really excited about experimenting with. It would be nice to do it right the first time.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

Saws-all, axe or circular saw to divide big stuff - I got a cheap-ish circular saw just for using on meat blocks and keep it in the freezer so it doesn't attract .... umm....microprey :smile:

A good axe and a little practice and you will have an enviable swing and firm muscles - no jiggly girly arms here!


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

alot of times somewhat frozen but not iron-hard is the easiest to chop I find


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Thanks Lynn! 










I fasted her before this, planning on her eating a huge amount. I weighed her this morning. She had eaten about 6 pounds.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

cow head! = happy puppy!
they sure do love chewing on those things! - keeps them busy

Dog looks great btw,too


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## Harold Kuijpers (May 28, 2009)

One can chop the skull with an axe or one can choose to put it back in the freezer/give it to another dog after the first one is finished. That's how we would feed such things but we usually feed skulls from goats or sheep.


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## Meng Xiong (Jan 21, 2009)

I fed a pig head once, and my bitch had one hell of a time, she'd chew for awhile, then bury it, then dig it back up, and do it all over again. 

Before she finished chewing off all of the fat and meat, it was getting too gross so i just tossed it. She ate about half of it. Every once in a while when i'm cleaning the yard i'll find a pig's tooth in the yard.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Lynn Cheffins said:


> Dog looks great btw,too


Yes, what a lovely roached back. :lol: :twisted: TY. Her vet complimented her condition and her teeth this morning. I thought it was funny that when I was getting quotes for a tooth extraction, the clinics were throwing in a dental cleaning on top.  There isn't a trace of plaque or discoloration on her teeth. ... Good luck with that ...


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Anne Vaini said:


> Did I see a photo of Jennifer Coulter taking a saws-all to a rib cage? :lol: Would that be the best method for cutting? Can I do that frozen? fresh? thawed?
> 
> This is something I'm not really excited about experimenting with. It would be nice to do it right the first time.


Okay just for you, my best psycho look:
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/farwesttoller/?action=view&current=PC160003.jpg
Note the safety footwear on my friend in this one:
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/farwesttoller/?action=view&current=Picture103.jpg

My feeling is a sawsall vs. beef scull would be quite a battle. I would personally opt for feeding whole, and making sure I had room in my deep freeze to put it away at the end of the day, then bring it back out the next until it is gone or I am ready to chuck it out. Better yet, feed it in the winter so I could leave it out. 

If I wanted to break up the beef scull psycho backyard butcher style, i think and axe/maul might be best, though I would be tempted just to have the butcher cut it on the band saw for me.  

I circular saw may not tackle beef scull either since it only cuts about 3 inches deep, though you could cut all the way around it and then finish 'er with the axe;-) 

I am with Lynn, that slightly frozen, but not super rock hard is best.


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

You people are nuts :lol: 

Do you let the dogs eat the brains ? nothing like a little BSE for a snack. I used to skin and boil moose heads for dogs, it wasn't very productive in terms of meat but I had a wicked skull gate where I lived.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

My dogs haven't gotten to the brain yet. I've put some work into deciding whether or not to feed it. I've decided (for now) that I'll feed it from USDA-inspected animals intended for human consumption. anything else freaks me out.

About 1/2 the skull is gone, with 3 dogs getting 4 - 8 hour shifts in the kennel area it is in. I find it absolutely fascinating to watch their eating behavior with a large raw/real food item. 

Emma was getting PISSED last night because she couldn't get the nose and lips ripped off to her satisfaction. She was growling and pawing at it before she picked an easier spot to eat. :lol:


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

Jennifer Coulter said:


> Okay just for you, my best psycho look:
> http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/farwesttoller/?action=view&current=PC160003.jpg
> Note the safety footwear on my friend in this one:
> http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/farwesttoller/?action=view&current=Picture103.jpg
> ...


Yeah skull is more of a maul/splitting axe job - cowskull would be a big job with any tool. I pass them around till they dissappear....
Sawz-all for dis-articulating and dismembering.
Circular saw works good for frozen blocks of meat as you can notch it with the saw and then split it neatly with the axe. Most of my meat is in 30-60 lb blocks so I do quite a bit this way as I can have it divided in the size of chunk I want and just grab it out of the freezer and not chop meat everyday as I really hate chopping meat in the summer due to flies and wasps.

I have done whole cows with only a axe, a knife and hacksaw and a set of bolt cutters if they are already skinned and de-gutted it is a really big job for one person but not too bad once they are quartered up. The last one I did was a really big cow and although skinned was entire. Getting it on my trailer was a big job - and then I realized I would have to do all the work on my trailer as she was only going to come off in pieces.
De-gutting it and harvesting the tripe and the the worst part of it as she was just starting to bloat a bit - and I ended up with tripe in my hair in the ensuing de-compression/explosion. I smelled of tripe for quite a while - hubby wouldn't come near me - dogs thought I was the bee's knees.
I don't mind doing deer and smaller stuff but cows - I would rather leave that to others - but free is always so tempting.......


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Lynn Cheffins said:


> De-gutting it and harvesting the tripe and the the worst part of it as she was just starting to bloat a bit - and I ended up with tripe in my hair in the ensuing de-compression/explosion.


I've been wondering - is there a way to avoid this experience?  The last rumen I looked at was a touch bloated and I wanted to avoid the disaster. I think next week is my next trip to the butcher. 

I'm not sure how I would get a rumen into and out of the truck of my car. Just the omassum filled a 5 gallon pail. The rumen was so much larger. The butcher can dump stuff into a pail for me, but they can't handle it or process it in any way.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

Best way - have somebody else process it!  I don't think I would want one in the trunk of my car :-o 

Honestly I find it is a total bitch to cut up if it isn't frozen - axing into chunks while frozen or semi-frozen worked the best for me - if you can freeze it kinda flat and not in a huge lump it is even better. Cutting it with a good set of kitchen shears works ok if thawed but is smellier.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Lynn Cheffins said:


> Best way - have somebody else process it!  I don't think I would want one in the trunk of my car :-o
> 
> Honestly I find it is a total bitch to cut up if it isn't frozen - axing into chunks while frozen or semi-frozen worked the best for me - if you can freeze it kinda flat and not in a huge lump it is even better. Cutting it with a good set of kitchen shears works ok if thawed but is smellier.


Everything from the butcher is fresh. And by fresh, I mean still warm! I get some other stuff by the case, frozen, but it's already divied up in 10 pound bags, so it's easy to manage.


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## Tina Rempel (Feb 13, 2008)

Some great information for a slasher flick here. :-k :lol: 

I'm going to try and get some sheep and pork heads from some friends. I wonder what their reaction will be. :lol:


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