Mal Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I was just wondering if anyone here buys their pet meat from burns pet food at Riverstone?? I want to know what it is like (mostly chicken mince) and if it is fatty or not. I'm looking for somewhere new to get my dog food at a good price but I want a good quality too. I'm in the Penrith area. Any suggestions would be great. I use to get my meat at a place near Windsor but it became very fatty and slimy so I stopped. Also several times when I got it home it would be green. I prefer it fresh so I can bag it up into portion sizes myself. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverStar-Aura Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I have a friend who lives in Penrith and she buys her dog mince from a place called JDs in Llandilo. The quality is quite good and she's very happy with it. She did try another meat place with cheaper prices and much better quality kangaroo mince for her cats but she found them very unreliable when it came to placing orders in advance for the mince. As it's very fresh roo mince, they don't keep a lot of it in stock so orders need to be placed, but this place was very lax in that orders weren't received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chezy Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I buy from there but not chicken mince , I know with beef and roo it is fresh, so fresh I had to wait the other day while they made up my order as they had run out of meat , they freeze bones, but they are fine when defrosted , occasionally I can get them raw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 The JD's mince isn't too bad but be aware it's loaded with preservative, although they say it's "human grade preservative" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gertrude139 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Would you consider buying chicken and mincing it yourself? Then you can control the amount of fat and bone in it. I buy mine from Cordina Farms factory outlet at Girraween. They sell all the parts of the chicken. Carcass, necks, feet, heart etc. I suppose they sell mince as well but I have never noticed as I always like to buy whole and mince it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog_Horse_Girl Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I wouldn't touch Burns with a barge pole! He is a dogger. A very well-known one at all the horse sales and he buys a LOT of so-called "unwanted" horses, mostly thoroughbreds and standardbreds. A few of the horses he buys are not suitable for anything other than slaughter but so many could have the chance at being re-educated and re-homed to loving owners. Most of the horses are aged between 3 and 6 yrs...and don't deserve to end up in pet food. The horse I bought most recently was bid on by a dogger and I out-bid him because she had been a brood mare most of her life (she's 27) and didn't deserve to end up as pet meat. She was emaciated on purchase; she's now gained a lot of weight and is the most affectionate old mare I've ever known. I hope she has a few good years left in her yet but however long she has, she will be loved and pampered for the rest of her days. THAT'S what all sound and sane horses deserve IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Ethics and opinions of the guy aside, the meat quality is very good and I have never had a problem with it. When I lived at Penrith I used to buy 10kg chicken, 10kg kennel (chicken/beef mix?), chicken frames, and roo occassionally. I have also bought straight beef and been very happy with it. I know there is no guarantee what is actually put in there and horse may be an ingredient, however, given that we have 9 dogs (some with gut issues who get sick simply by changing their water), the fact that we have never had a single issue after all this time speaks volumes about the quality of it. Put it this way, I moved down near Canberra 4 years ago and we still make the occassional trip to Sydney with a big esky specifically to buy meat, then turn around and come back home. 6 hour min round trip. We don't need to very often these days as a local guy has a new contact where he sources great quality meat for us, but if we are in Sydney on a non-weekend, non-trialling day we will still call in to get some. If it is just chicken you are after there used to be a place at Liverpool (I used to drive past it when I taught at Mt Pritchard), possibly on Elizabeth Drv (?) that had incredibly cheap human quality chicken products and they also did a pet mince that I found was really good. I used to buy 5kg of carcusses, 5kg chicken wings, 5kg of chicken hearts (for the cat mainly) and it was all $1/kg. Their pet mince was 50c/kg. The chicken place inside Nepean Square (Centro now?) opposite Coles also used to do chicken bones for 70c a kilo. Depends on whether you want to give bone stuff or not. Also the big fruit market thing on the highway at Minchinbury do a pet mince that is actually all chicken, I think it is 70c/kg (or at least it was when I worked at Colyton 6 years ago). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Oh and there is also a place at Llandilo that sells all the varieties of pet mince, although I suspect that they may source from Burns anyway. Could be wrong though, the prices were very comparable to Burns and good quality stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog_Horse_Girl Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 DC - I can't put ethics aside. This is animal welfare I'm talking about. I know people like Burns will always have a business if people buy from them, regardless of whether they're AWARE that the man kills young healthy horses & makes a very nice profit from it. It doesn't matter what product a person buys, he's still a dogger! If you've ever seen how the horses are killed & how they react to the deaths of those ahead of them, you'll begin to appreciate where I'm coming from. As I said, no horse deserves to have that end to it's life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 DC - I can't put ethics aside. This is animal welfare I'm talking about. I know people like Burns will always have a business if people buy from them, regardless of whether they're AWARE that the man kills young healthy horses & makes a very nice profit from it. It doesn't matter what product a person buys, he's still a dogger! If you've ever seen how the horses are killed & how they react to the deaths of those ahead of them, you'll begin to appreciate where I'm coming from. As I said, no horse deserves to have that end to it's life. I understand that, and to tell you the truth I wasn't aware of the situation. Has the information you provided changed my opinion of the place- hell yes! Will I knowingly want to buy from there in the future- no! However, I know how easy it is for these threads to go off track. The OP asked a question which was simply "what is the quality of the meat like and is it worth buying?" So, I wanted to put all other feelings aside and simply answer the question that was asked. Yes, the quality of the meat is great. Yes, it is worth buying, as shown by the fact we have driven 6hr round trips to buy it. Others reading this (now and in the future) won't necessarily share the same thoughts on the issue and still need to be given factual information on the quality of the meat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chezy Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) irrespective of where you get your pet meat, it is from a animal that is killed at a abattoir, if you have proof that a abattoir is not killing animals under the rules that all abattoir must abide , then report them . As far as I know this abattoir does not use inhumane practices edited to say was refering to Burns Edited January 12, 2013 by Chezy & Chopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Thanks everyone for your replies. I will check out the places you have suggested and go from there. I mainly want chicken as one of our dogs has a sensitive stomach and beef seems to go through him. I do mix it up so eventually I will be adding different meat types along with the bones but since they haven't been fed barf for a while and I decided to go back to it it's going to be small steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 We just brought some Roo from there, I was happy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I wouldn't touch Burns with a barge pole! He is a dogger. A very well-known one at all the horse sales and he buys a LOT of so-called "unwanted" horses, mostly thoroughbreds and standardbreds. A few of the horses he buys are not suitable for anything other than slaughter but so many could have the chance at being re-educated and re-homed to loving owners. Most of the horses are aged between 3 and 6 yrs...and don't deserve to end up in pet food. The horse I bought most recently was bid on by a dogger and I out-bid him because she had been a brood mare most of her life (she's 27) and didn't deserve to end up as pet meat. She was emaciated on purchase; she's now gained a lot of weight and is the most affectionate old mare I've ever known. I hope she has a few good years left in her yet but however long she has, she will be loved and pampered for the rest of her days. THAT'S what all sound and sane horses deserve IMO. Well that's an emotional reason not a quality or business reason. You could apply that to any animal that ends up as dog meat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I buy my chicken meat in 10kg bags fresh from seven hills petshop. Its pretty "thick" looking. I buy 30kgs and bag it up nto portions to freeze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog_Horse_Girl Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I wouldn't touch Burns with a barge pole! He is a dogger. A very well-known one at all the horse sales and he buys a LOT of so-called "unwanted" horses, mostly thoroughbreds and standardbreds. A few of the horses he buys are not suitable for anything other than slaughter but so many could have the chance at being re-educated and re-homed to loving owners. Most of the horses are aged between 3 and 6 yrs...and don't deserve to end up in pet food. The horse I bought most recently was bid on by a dogger and I out-bid him because she had been a brood mare most of her life (she's 27) and didn't deserve to end up as pet meat. She was emaciated on purchase; she's now gained a lot of weight and is the most affectionate old mare I've ever known. I hope she has a few good years left in her yet but however long she has, she will be loved and pampered for the rest of her days. THAT'S what all sound and sane horses deserve IMO. Well that's an emotional reason not a quality or business reason. You could apply that to any animal that ends up as dog meat. When horses start being BRED to be pet food then your point may be somewhat valid. But since they're not, and since they're quite different from animals which ARE bred for pet meat, then your remarks are irrelevant to my point. Besides, saving horses is not that much different from saving dogs, is it? I've done both, and will continue to do both. And whatever is wrong with bringing emotion to the thread? It's a highly emotive topic for horse lovers when we are talking about the dogging business and Burns is a dogging business. Probably the most infamous dogger in NSW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasha Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 He does also sell horses to people that see them and want them. He does also have horses at the premises on agistment so just because there is a lot there, they aren't all dog meat. Someone obviously bought a good one off him and it became a top level showjumper. Its name is MR BURNS....... His meat is fresh, good quality and well priced to answer the OP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog_Horse_Girl Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 He does also sell horses to people that see them and want them. He does also have horses at the premises on agistment so just because there is a lot there, they aren't all dog meat. Someone obviously bought a good one off him and it became a top level showjumper. Its name is MR BURNS....... His meat is fresh, good quality and well priced to answer the OP The very few horses he on-sells, he inflates the prices to a ridiculous extent - ALL doggers do this because they're in it for the money. They buy up really cheaply ($200 on average) but won't sell for less than $550 or more each...and some of them are turned within half an hour of purchase at the sales. How many sales have you been to? On average this man buys 20 or more horses every sale, his trucks are always full at the end of the day...Camden is twice a month and there are many regional sales held monthly or more often. He uses a LOT of horses to make pet food. He makes a heck of a lot of money out of the misery of "unwanted" horses from all over this country AND many doggers also export LIVE to markets that use horses for HUMAN consumption. Not all the horses they buy are for Australia's dogs...many end up on dinner plates overseas. And that alone ought to be enough for every consumer in this country to boycott ALL doggers, not just Burns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasha Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) So you don't buy the meat. Good for you. And if others don't either, it won't stop him buying them. Do you buy blood and bone for the garden..... It is also made of knackery animals. The ones that aren't edible due to treatments etc go through the fertilizer machine And by the way, I have been to plenty of sales. He lives 5 mins from me. It's not a way I choose to make a living but he does and who am I to judge other people's choices Edited January 12, 2013 by dasha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackJaq Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) Emotion aside with race horses being dogged for pet food I would have some concerns regarding drugs in their meat. Bute is being used very routinely on horses as a pain killer and anti-inflammatory and is not allowed EVER in horses for human consumption. There is no withholding period because it never completely leaves the body. This would not be an issue with Brumbies and pet horses that have not received drugs like Bute. I would have some concerns about the potential issues for my dog but would have to ask a veterinarian if there would be an issue for dogs. Phenylbutazone, often referred to as bute,[1] is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for the short-term treatment of pain and fever in animals. In the United States, it is no longer approved for human use, as it can cause severe side effects such as suppression of white blood cell production and aplastic anemia. Source is Wikipedia, not my best but I am sure further googling will confirm this with the FDA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylbutazone Edited January 12, 2013 by BlackJaq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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