Kody Hanner
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Keep The Protein On The Property
The number one rule my family follows to save money and reduce waste is by keeping the protein on the property. Whether I am referring to the milk, eggs, and meat we raise or purchase for our family or the peas and meal worms we supply our chickens, protein makes up the majority of our food budget.
So, why would I throw unused or “bad” protein in the dumpster? I wouldn’t. Every bit of protein from our kitchen and off the farm goes right back to our animals, especially because protein and compost don’t go well together. Trust me, it’s gross!
These suggestions are to supplement a property rationed livestock feed rather than replace it.
What to do with the protein?
What most people ask me is what is ok to give to our livestock and how to get into the habit of getting this protein back to our animals. Honestly, when it comes to protein from the kitchen, there is nothing I will not give back to my livestock in some way. There are some stipulations that I have, though.
Who I feed protein to?
I do not feed ruminant livestock (cows, sheep, goats) any animal-based protein. It’s just not a thing. There are garden scraps that I will happily feed them, though. Pigs and chickens are omnivores like us. They need both plant-based feed and protein (preferably animal-based). However, because I sell some of my animals for commercial meat, I will only feed “slop” food to my breeder pigs (ones that will not be butchered for a customer) and laying hens when it comes to these two groups. There is essentially nothing that I will not feed them. With the exception of feeding pork to pork and chicken to chicken. Although, chickens are cannibalistic, so try having a chicken butcher day and watch all your free-range girls come running.
Don’t forget the dogs! They work hard on the homestead and deserve extra protein, especially in the wintertime.
What proteins (and other items) do I feed them from my kitchen?
I feed my chickens and pigs any vegetables, leftover foods (especially clean foods with protein like leftover soups), and byproducts of dairying. I am also down to feed them discarded fats like the leftover oils from frying. The fats are great for sows keeping on weight when nursing piglets in the winter.
How to get in the habit of storing slop protein. 
Many people do not like saving slop or compost items in their kitchen because of the smell or attracting fruit flies. We keep a 5-gallon bucket with a screwtop lid by the milking rack for the kids to grab in the morning before heading up to the barn to feed. While we are cooking throughout the day, we usually grab a bowl or paper plate to toss all our scraps on throughout the day, then dump them in the evening. It is nice to use a large container for dumping clabbered milk, jars of whey, and larger quantities of oil. The screwtop lid cans the dogs and flies away from the scraps.
If a 5-gallon bucket in the corner is not your thing, there are super cute and charcoal filtered compost bins that can be set on the kitchen counter. I also try to rinse out my bin each time I dump it. For tips on what can go in your compost bin, download my free compost reference sheet.
Additional sources of protein
Not all the “extra” protein we feed our animals is kitchen waste in the traditional sense. We intentionally feed our dogs a partially raw diet. This meat comes from older freezer stock and organs and bones from our butchered animals. If I know the source of the meat, such as animals from our farm, we will use a meat chopper to grind hundreds of pounds at a time that we then freeze in zip lock bags. If I do not know the source of the meat, like meat given to us, wild game that we hunt, or salvaged road kill, we will cook it after it is chopped. Sometimes, I will add in older veggies or some cheap bags of dried peas that always seem to appear in the pantry. Get my viral dog food recipe here!
Unorthodox sources of protein in a modern world
The following sources of protein for our animals may be viewed as a little taboo. But as we dive deeper into our homestead journey, I realize that you have to work outside of the box. However, when you look at the practices of people just a couple of generations back, these were fairly commonplace. We don’t let ANY protein go to waste. If our property produces it in any way, our animals will benefit from it.
Protein Examples from the Farm
One example is that we have hundreds of piglets born here every year. Unfortunately, not all of them survive. Usually, it is because a sow smashed them. In that case, there is nothing wrong with the meat, so we will feed them to the chickens. In fact, all bones and scraps from butchering that doesn’t go to dogs will go to the chickens. One source of protein that has had people give me the side eye more than once, is feeding the mice to the chickens. The thing is, when my chickens are free-ranging around the barn, mice are their favorite delicacy. Some of our outbuildings can be a little mouse-heavy in the winter. We set those bucket traps and then toss them in the coop. When we are working around the property, we also take advantage of any bugs we find. Plus, my little boys love being the bug catchers and get new bug-catching gear every spring to pack around while we are working. It may sound a little silly, but how often do you move a log and find hundreds of grubs!
Don’t worry; the chickens aren’t the only ones that get all the treats! When we butcher meat chickens, our pigs are more than happy to handle all the guts. And, the feathers are awesome for our compost pile.
Always accept donations!
We live in a very small community. Every year, we donate pork to the town to raise money for the fireworks show, and we also donate pork to veterans in need through the food bank. In return, our once-a-week food bank in town will donate all the milk and yogurt that would go bad before the next pick-up day. We store it in our walk-in cooler and feed it to our breeding pigs (again, not to the ones that will be butchered for customers). Also, food and beer processors will often have scraps that they are happy to give to pig farmers (or sell for a small fee). We have fed our sows brewers grains, nut butter, and organic cookie dough.
What are the results of scrap protein supplementation?
With the high cost of supplemental protein in the traditional sense, being able to supplement our breeding animals makes it so we can afford higher quality feed for our production animals that doesn’t cost our customers more. We also see less weight issues with our sows during the cold Idaho winters.
Our favorite bonus is that we generally have eggs all year! The girls always go through a molting time, but between yearly pullet replacements and extra protein, we never go without!
