When I look at a bag of dog food, cat food, etc. I see all the off bits of stuff, almost the same stuff as in organic fertilizer these days. Just about every bit of protein ends up cycled into the
yard, but I like to cycle it as heavy as possible before it ends up there.
Take the ground hogs, occasional bird, et cetra that the dog and cat catch: I feel like there
should be a way to throw it in a boiling soup vat for 24 hours then grind the whole mess up with some leftover bread and serve it portioned out to the animals or something.
We also have guests weekly. We
feed them
chicken. Although my family doesn't leave much but some shell of calcium, some guests leave quite a bit. I pick what I can of the bones and let the animals have it, but why can't I turn that into dog food?
I know if you boil
chicken bones
enough they disintegrate. I'm not sure what whole groundhog or bird would be like. I really don't want to spend a long time processing them. I tried once on a groundhog and didn't get far. The dog also tried eating raw meat and vomited. I can't imagine boiling a whole hairy groundhog would smell good. Maybe I could roast it instead?
We are getting quail soon and we also have fish. Quail means I will be adding more feathers and random body parts to the system. A way to grind them into a meal for dog food, cat food, fish food, or quail food would be nicer.
I've heard people just letting the flies getting the road kill and serving the flies to the birds, but we are in close proximity to the bird house and I don't want to feel like barfing all day. Thanks!