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Baby Beef day 4: Leftover legmeat.

In other news...

It has arrived! And it is thick. I think I will like this one.

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This is what the girls got today. More meaty legbones and a smorgasbord of organs.

I took Conker on a short 4.75 mile hike today.

He is being picky with food again. Sometimes he'll eat plain kibble, othertimes plain raw meat, then ten seconds later he doesn't want either. I don't think he likes the kibble he's currently on very much though, he's never really been very interested in it.

His leg hasn't gotten any better yet. I don't know where his harness is either.

At least the scenery was nice today.

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Today the Girls got: Baby Beef meat, liver, and lung.

Conker and I (and my younger sister and some of her friends) went on a short hike today. No pictures of that.

Beginning the Baby Beef

Today was the first day of feeding the Baby Beef to the dogs. (Excluding the legbones the Girls got the day I got the Baby Beef.)  Conker, since he is a dork and will not touch any part of the Baby Beef period-end-of-discussion, will not be participating in the eating of the Baby Beef. This adventure in rawfoods is only for the Girls.

I have boxed portions of the organs that will last for a little under a week each but am still going at the meat and bones. I have three biggish plastic boxes of them, and the first is only half thawed, so every few hours I go and hack it's contents up a bit more. (When I skinned and gutted the Baby Beef, I did not cut it up much. Only into leg, back, chest, and neck sections.)
This is what the girls got today.

Legbones! Yes, these bones are safe to give to the dogs. The Baby Beef's bones are very soft so there is very minimal risk of fracturing teeth, especially when compared to adult beef bones.
Also in the bowls are bits of organs; Liver, lung, heart, kidney, and... Something... Not sure what.

Sasha is very good at stripping meat off bones. She pulled almost all of it off before crunching the bone into little bits. She liked to lick the marrow out of the bone then crunch the bone down, then lick more marrow out.

Juneau kinda just munched the whole thing at once. A bit of meat here, a bit of bone there, a bit of meat and bone at the same time... Juneau seemed to eat around the marrow (as odd as that is) then eat the marrow after it was well exposed.
She left a small bit in the yard which Sasha later claimed and devoured.

Both of the Girls thoroughly enjoyed their Baby Beef meals. Tomorrow will be the rest of the leg meat that was not fed today and a smaller portion of organs.

Friday Hike

We did an average 6 mile hike today. Nothing spectacular happened, if you don't count Juneau attempting to swim in every puddle and creek she found. It was actually quite entertaining watching her try to bathe in a stream the size of my arm.

The dogs all enjoyed the hike. Conker got to ride on my shoulders a few times since his leg was bugging him a bit. I don't know where his harness is so he gets to be carried like that instead of a piece of luggage.
I am thinking of getting him a DoubleBack Harness (if I can find one on sale) to replace his old one instead of an Approach Pack. The DoubleBack has more chest and belly support, which would make it more comfortable for him to be carried in than a regular Web Master. Plus it's a badass harness and Conker would look awesome in it.

Note: Yes, I do exercise Conker on his bad leg. Why? because when I don't, he loses muscle mass which helps hold the patella in place, and the luxation gets worse. So in order to prevent it from getting really bad I still take him on walks and hikes (the longer the better, funny how that works), and play games like tug and fetch, and wrestle.
Every now and then his leg will act up so we either go home or he gets carried, or I end the game. I am very concerned about his leg, but at this point not letting him have any fun is far more damaging than the small risk of injury occurring on a hike.

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Other people keep using my Jeep when I want to, so I haven't gone on many hikes recently.

Today I took all three dogs with me. Juneau and Sasha wore packs. 

Juneau did a lot better than she normally does. She wasn't as spaztastic this time around. (But the camera was.)

Since my Jeep was occupied until after 3:30, the sun set and it got dark while we were still on the trails. Conker (white) and Sasha (blue) wore lights, but Juneau broke hers somehow so she didn't have one. I had her stay beside or behind me after it got dark enough but the other two were allowed to range out a bit.
I guess I need to figure how how Juneau broke her brand new light, and need to carry extras when I go on afternoon/evening hikes in case it happens again.

This hike totaled around 13 miles. I ended up taking my shoes off for the last 3 miles or so since they were bugging my feet.

ORANGE

Conker is currently eating a chicken-based food and has yet to show any signs of irritation! He ate a food that contained chicken meal while in Alaska and also didn't develop any of the stuff he has in the past when he's eaten a chicken-based/inclusive food, so I am wondering what the deal is with that.


Anywho, Ruff Wear, my favorite dog gear company, has come out with some spiffy new stuff!
First off, they have updated the Approach Pack. While I don't think this newer version looks as cool as the older one, it now comes in... ORANGE.
This means that a lot of online companies are clearanceing the now outdated style pack. I am torn between paying full-price for an ORANGE pack, my favorite color and "Conker's color", or going with a discounted older-model green one instead. Or not getting either and just waiting until I can find an ORANGE pack in the correct size on sale...

They also reintroduced the Chain Reaction collar they had out a few years ago. I like this collar, a lot, and guess what? Yes, it comes in ORANGE too! I've seen the old one a few times on the web but never at a good enough price to buy. So now I get to wait until I spot one of these on sale to buy as well.
The Top Rope collar has been updated too and also comes in ORANGE.

Their new Slackline leash is pretty cool too. (Yes, it comes in ORANGE as well.) But I am really not into padded-grip leashes, which all of Ruff wear's newer leashes appear to be. I've got a black padded-grip leash that I sometimes walk one of the Girls with and I really do not like it very much. So unless I can find one of these leashes for a really good price, I probably won't be getting one.

Aaargh why does Ruff wear's stuff have to cost so much! I love their gear, it's so awesome...

Money spent in January

Here it is, the first of 12 posts describing what I spend on Conker each month for the year 2013! Yay.


January 2013

• Food: $112
• Treats/Chews: $20
• Gear: $9
• Toys:$2

Total: $143


Food.
I spent a lot more on this than I wanted to, but I kept finding good deals on kibbles and meat so... It adds up.
Kibble: First I got a 28.9 pound bag of EVO Red Meat for $35.75. These normally go for closer to $68, so there was no way I was passing that one up. Then I got a small bag each of HALO Surf & Turf, Canidae pureELEMENTS, Solid Gold Wee Bit, and Canyon Creek Chicken for $17 total from Petflow.
Raw: Over the month I picked up various turkey bits for $0.70-$1.80 per pound, two packages of lamb breast for I think $1.33 per pound, some ground beef for $1.40-$2 per pound, A pork shoulder for $1.10 per pound, and the baby beef for $10.

Treats/Chews.
I got 20 6 inch bullysticks from Petflow for $20.

Gear.
Six lights that attach to a collar for $1.50 each from Petflow. (three red, one pink, one blue, and one white)

Toys.
Two footlong rope toys from Walfart for $1 each. (one blue, one pink)


Thankfully that's it for January! Glad this month is gone so I don't keep running that total up. For the month of February I hope to not spend any money on food, since I've got more than enough for all three dogs for a while.

Holy baby cow!

So I have this ad up on craigslist asking about unwanted/freezerburnt meat. I repost it every week or so, haven't gotten a hit yet. Until today.

I am at a friend's house taking care of her dogs and my cell rings. It's a local number, I never get called from local numbers. Curious, I answer the phone.
"Hi, I saw you have an ad on craigslist for unwanted freezerburnt meat?" A man asks.
"Why yes, I do have an ad." I reply.
"I was wondering if you would be interested in a cow calf." Pause. "One of my calves died today."
Wait, did I hear that right? A calf? I concider it for a moment, think of saying no, then I reply...
"Sure, yes! I'd be interested."

After arranging a swap-site and running out to pick up a tarp, I meet the distraught Farmer at a farm supply/hardware store. He explains to me that the calf, barely a week and a half old, was fine until about five days ago. The Farmer had gone up to Washington for a few days and upon his return the calf was not looking too good. His mother, a wonderful cow, had a huge "bag" and her teats got too big for the calf to suckle on properly. The Farmer tried and tired to get the calf to nurse, even milked the cow and bottle fed him, but he just wouldn't eat. This was a huge blow to the Farmer, he has only five mother cows and this calf represented 20% of his potential income. In exchange for the calf, we agreed upon a price of $5, but I gave him $10. It was all I could spare. (Yes, I am that poor.)

Anywho, he didn't want the calf's body to go to waste and saw my ad and called me up, and was glad that I could use the entire calf. It's a sad story, but my dogs will be happy to have this little cow to munch on. The Farmer told me that he sometimes has hearts, livers, tongues, and kidneys. He never does anything with them and would rather they be used instead of thrown away, so he kept my phone number so he could call me when he's got some.


After our little rendevouz, I bring the calf home and explain to my Mom, who is not exactly fond of this idea, why I've got a dead baby cow in the back of my Jeep. My neighbor (who has a clear view of our backyard) texts my Mom and asks what I am skinning, then comments about how I should be on a farm or something like that. Most people don't just bring home a calf and start skinning it in their yard...
Unfortunately for me I didn't have anything to hang him on, so skinning (with a box cutter), gutting, and cutting went really really slow. The Girls stood by and watched the entire time, drooling profusely, while Conker bothered the neighbor's Husky, who looked like he also wanted a bite.
Here is my little cow.

I didn't think he was going to be white.

Skinned and ready for gutting.

All cut and boxed up.

The little cow was about the size of a large Mastiff. I do not know exactly how much he weighed, but he fit nicely into my freezer with plenty of room to spare. The Girls are now munching on some feet in the backyard, quite happy with their new treasures. (Conker is a dope and wants a bone, but not one of those bones, so he don't get one.)

We went on a late afternoon/evening hike today.

 

Instead of going at my "normal" industrious pace of 4-5.5 miles per hour, we took things a bit slower today and topped out around 3.5 miles per hour.  I found the slower pace to be a bit more enjoyable than my normal pace, so I may slow things down more often and see which one works out best for Conker and I.

We caught the tail-end of the sunset as we topped Lower Hogback, and though the sky was rapidly growing dark, we pressed on for anouther 4 miles instead of turning back. I haven't been able to get a picture of it yet, but when it gets dark I turn on the red reflective light that is now a semi-permanent feature of Conker's RuffWear harness.

I had originally planned to do an outskirts hike, one that would take all the outer trails and loops for a total of 12.5 miles or so. Instead, since it got so dark and the clouds were not showing any signs of breaking, we cut our hike short and took the trail straight back to the parking lot instead of the longer way back.

In total we hiked about 9.75 miles. A pretty good hike, and I'd like them to stay in that range or be a bit longer from now on. I have plans for a hike this spring/summer that requires Conker and I (and maybe one of or both of the Girls) to be in good enough shape to hike for at least a week straight, around 10 miles a day, carrying packs.