Thanks Josepha, it's a learning curve for sure. I'll share a bit how our progress is over the next couple of days.
This morning we had our first homecooked breakfast: brown rice with raw organic egg and a small amount of organic yoghurt and cream and some ground up eggshell for calcium. Everyone loved it.
Feeding took me almost an hour but that is to be expected until I get more into a routine.
Tonight they will get beef with a very small amount of greens added (a friend donated about 50 lbs. of beef that was slightly older from their freezer). We are looking into buying some grass-fed beef from an older cow or bull that will not make good steaks for people and is less expensive.
Today I'll research where I can get some organ meats (heart, liver) and some fish (possibly will have to be canned mackerel, sardines or tuna) for a reasonable price.
Amounts we are feeding for raw meat approx. (based on our ability to afford it):
15 lb. dog 4 oz./day
30 lb. dog 6 oz./day
45- 70 lb. dog 8 oz./day
This is only in part determined by weight of dog, the other factor is whether they are easy keepers, body fat, body type etc.
If we fed meat and bones and animal products only we would have to roughly double the amounts.
Thanks again for all the good info.
I have joined a yahoo group on raw feeding but haven't had a chance to do any reading there yet.
We may have one fasting day for the dogs with a slower metabolism.
Birgit