Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A train carload of what?

In my quest to reduce the cost of feed, I've been exploring different options.  One of the most fertile has produced a number of types of food, in industrial quantities and packaging - which I like a lot. 

So I wrote about the 6 tons of pumpkin puree a week or so ago, and I've just finished picking up 9 tons of sweetened condensed milk in 600lb barrels today.  My trailer will only handle 5 tons at a time, so I had to make two trips for that.   I'll write an entry about the condensed milk tommorow.  It's pretty interesting stuff. 

I got offered 45 tons (that's 90,000lbs) of soybeans today, and I'll need to do some checking to make sure that I understand the reason they're not going to be sold, but it looks promising.  The only problem is that it's packaged for retail sale in some way, so I'll probably have to break it out of the packages before I feed it to animals.  

I turned down the railcar of smoked pork neckbones and the two containers of pork femurs - I just don't have anything that I will feed pork to.  But it occurred to me that someone in washington state might be able to think of a use for the meat or bone, so I'm putting it out there. 

Anyone think of a use for a huge quantity of pork that isn't fit for human consumption? 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've heard there's lot so cheap sugary stuff available, but that it doesn't make pigs grow. Do you think that condensed milk is going to get you much growth?

The soybeans should be good - as long as you treat them for the antinutrients (like when they make beanmeal). Feeding whole soybeans will give you soft pork - so you'd best feed it to the little ones.

The bones are great sources of minerals - but presumably you can get minerals cheaply already.

Anonymous said...

There are a couple of wild animal sanctuaries that might like the meat... for example what about the cats at Cougar Mtn in Issaquah?

Anonymous said...

Bruce,

How do you make these kind of contacts?

Hell, I can't even get grocery stores to let me take unsellable veggies. They are so litigation-averse that they throw it all away and lock the dumpsters.

I've had a few mom-n-pop places that were giving me cull fruit and veggies threatened by the health dept. that if they didn't stop this they would shut them down.

What the hell is this world coming to? I can't even divert waste from the landfill to raise a little meat!