BARF. Where do you get your RMBs (raw meaty bones) from?

Question

I'm a total newbie trying to get started and I'm not sure where to get them. I would like to find a reliable source with the best price, of course, as I am feeding a Great Dane. Additional tips, recipes, etc. are welcomed. Thank you, BARFers!

My dog is two years old and has been eating store bought raw patties for a while and does well on it. She gets sick even with highest quality kibble. We have a chest freezer.

Answer 1

A freezer is a must to do this inexpensively.

I get them all over the place. Last month I was collecting wild game bones from my butcher for free as he was processing carcasses. When I lived in northern MN I had my name on a list with other dog mushers for fresh venison roadkill... cost of a carcass was $15 and it kept dead animals from being wasted.

Now, I have a restaurant/grocery supply company I can get them from (chicken backs at 47 cents a lb this week). Last month I bought a bunch of turkeys at 27 cents a lb... unfortunately, 2 of my dogs HATE turkey so it'll take a month or two to go through what I have. I have a butcher I buy ground meat from... every night he freezes what scraps and leftovers he has, then every few weeks he adds organ meats and grinds it up .. sells it for 59 cents a lb if I buy more than 100 lbs.

I'm on a couple Y!A raw feeding lists... right now whole frozen skin on bunnies are available in my area, as well as fall slaughter sheep/older lamb.

If your family is composed of meat eaters, and you have a freezer, you should consider getting a whole animal butchered... that way the family gets the parts it wants and the dog can eat the rest. Over the summer I routinely bought chickens at 69 cents a lb, stripped the breasts and wings for human consumption and fed the rest to the dogs. (Wings were frozen for holiday party time).

This is my favorite "Getting Started" link that I give to my puppy buyers: http://www.eastwooddanes.com/Getting-Started-101.htm (Thanks Freedom!)

My dogs favorite bones... pork neck bones in a whole slab. 50 cents a lb. They also love whole beef femurs but there is not much for meat on them and the bones are left in the yard for weeks of play!

Answer 2

Great question...this time of year, turkey is on sale for cheap, so I get a whole turkey from the supermarket, let it thaw, and then cut it up myself. They also get the organ meat too, of course. If you have a local farmers market, try talking to some of the folks there. A lot of the local folks can hook you up with some of their meat for cheap. For instance, a lady at the local farmers market raises pasture raised bison. One of the bison she sent for slaughter was incorrectly bled and so the meat was not able to be USDA approved. So she sold me and a few other friends of mine about 250 lbs of expensive bison meat for $1 a pound. :-) If you have a large university nearby that has an agriculture school, check if they have a meat lab that sells meat. I can often get organ meat there real cheap. Make some friends with some hunters and ask if they'll save you some of the organ meat and tripe or if they have old freezer burned meat in their own freezer.

Big hint: GET A CHEST FREEZER! Or an upright, or whatever...that way, when you spot a bargain, you can stock up for a month (or more, since you're just feeding one dog...I am feeding 4 large dogs). Check craigslist and the want ads as they are often sold, but new ones aren't too awful expensive.

Answer 3

I haven't been able to do a full raw diet yet but I'm working on it. A lot of things you can get from your local butcher, they will more than likely be willing to sell you things cheap if you buy it in bulk or buy throw away pieces.

Another option is local farmers. Many will have animals that need to be put down because they are no longer useful to the farm (retired chickens, old goats). You could probably get a deal on them also. But don't just feed older retired animals, that would create an unbalanced diet (if that was all you fed all the time)

There are also a lot of places on line that sell rabbits and other animals like that

Here's a good site to help you find local farms that you can get chickens, goats, pigs, organs and other foods for your dog.
http://www.localharvest.org/

And here's a site that might help you also.
http://www.petsbynature.com/index.htm

Hoped this helped a bit.
Great job on choosing this diet, it is the healtheist and it always makes me happy to see people doing that.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Some people have formed co-op for buying meat in bulk for their dogs. Of course, this requires that you have a freezer and the money to buy in bulk.
Some of the co-op are in the Yahoo Groups. You might be able to find one on the net.

Answer 5

I get my bones for my dog from my local butchers they cost me 50p/a dollar for a bag of them so try there =] also if you're dogs still a small puppy its best not to give it bones until its about 6mths old =]

Answer 6

i use chicken neckes and frames aswell as lamb and beef offcuts. i find the suppermarkets are more expensive than the butchers. buy in bulk it will be cheeper that way. i also make my own mince, i bought a grinder and grinded chicken neckes along with the veggies ano other things. that was cheeper than buying it aswell.

Answer 7

I get soup shank bones used for soup/broth making from the Grocery store...I do boil mine so my dog a 4 yr. old rottie doesn't make too much of a mess.. OR I give them to her in her kennel so it's easy clean up.....Also, to keep your puppy/dog from becoming "bone aggressive" it's very important that from an early age you take everything from his/her mouth... It shows that YOU are boss and that you control the dog.. You can also do this by moving your dogs food/water bowl often and putting you hand in the bowl while you dog is eating and taking food away.. This is very important to keep the dog from being aggressive.. Our Rottie has a very, very gentle mouth, the children can even take toys right from her mouth without incident... Also, if your puppy/dog is young bones are too rough on the sensitive gums save bones for a yr. or older....Good luck

Answer 8

get it from a butcher or in a supermarket