Shame on you – it’s a sin to buy suet balls WITH netting!

- This is a myth, but the suet ball itself is a wolf in green sheep's clothing....

There are a few documented cases of small birds getting caught by the foot or beak/tongue in suet ball nets and dying. It's tragic for the individual bird, but VERY rare. What happens more often is that dogs and wild animals find abandoned suet ball nets and swallow them. They can get stuck in the intestines and require surgery. But even this is quite uncommon. We should also note that there are cases where birds have gotten stuck and died in metal suet ball holders for balls WITHOUT nets. And in various types of other bird feeders for balls and seeds. Risks are everywhere.

All forms of use and littering of plastic are, of course, bad for nature. Naturally, Slåttergubben also believes that suet ball nets should be avoided. But is that really where we should focus? No…. Especially not if, like Slåttergubben, you encourage having a relationship with ALL birds and the entire ecosystem - not just the individuals around your home.

Let's draw a parallel here first. Plastic bags - my goodness, what a focus there is on plastic bags in stores. It’s as if the entire environmental issue is concentrated there. It becomes something people dare to discuss, point out, and stores boast about their "environmental work" by encouraging not to use plastic bags. Even though all studies and common sense indicate that paper bags and cloth bags have a much greater environmental impact (unless you use a cloth bag at least 1000 times). In many cases, you end up using the plastic bag again - as a trash bag or something else you might need a bag for anyway....
It takes incredibly few resources to produce a plastic bag - now, I haven’t calculated it, but if you bike to the store instead of driving a gasoline car ONCE for 20 kilometers, you can probably compare it to a generous annual consumption of plastic bags (assuming they are incinerated/energy recovered when worn out). Which almost 100% happens in Sweden. In countries with no waste management at all, plastic and plastic bags are, of course, a bigger problem.
We focus on the plastic bag - but what really matters is:
- What we put in it when we shop.
- How we get to the store.

So… The big and significant reason for why it is reasonable to warn about the dangers of suet balls is another! Suet balls are produced and sold on a large scale. But they are harmful to the environment and nature! First and foremost, there is currently no production of organic suet balls (or fat cakes, fat sausages, and similar items). Some suet balls contain palm oil - an oil that causes large ecological problems when rainforests are cleared for palm oil plantations. If it says "vegetable oil" on the package, it could be palm oil - for food products, there is now a requirement to specify exactly which oils are used. But not for feed - which all bird food falls under.

De flesta talgbollar innehåller dock bara nöttalg. Men även talgen är problematisk. Idag finns ingen svensk produktion av talgbollar och talgkorvar/fettblock. Allt är från konventionella djur i Europa som till stora delar står instängda och föds upp bl.a på soja från Brasilien. Sverige är för den delen inte särskilt bättre - även vi föder upp djur med soja för att det är ett billigt foder som djuren växer snabbt av.

In Brazil, the rainforest and valuable Cerrado savanna are being destroyed to make room for large-scale soybean plantations - this is a disaster not only for birds and entire ecosystems but also for people. Birds directly tied to these ecosystems include the ground-dwelling Rhea of the savannas and the endangered Kempfer's woodpecker in the shrinking forests.

The suet ball is indeed dangerous, just as the myth suggests, but it is what is inside the net that poses the greatest danger!

Some other things that aren't very flattering about fat balls are:
- The suet is often chemically hardened to something resembling stearin to prevent it from becoming rancid at room temperature and to keep it shape-stable. This makes it easier for manufacturers, wholesalers, and stores to handle the balls. Occasionally, you hear about birds barely eating the fat balls.

- Suet balls often do not contain much fat, sometimes as low as 12-15%. The rest is filled with the cheapest fillers possible, often wheat flour and crushed grains, conventional and not Swedish. When you calculate the price per kilo of the fat, you often find that it ends up being just as economical to hang up a package of organic Bregott, based on Swedish organic ingredients, instead.

What should you feed with then?

- Slåttergubben recommends suet - preferably untreated raw suet. It is the cheapest, and all nutrients remain in the suet. It's the closest to plump, tasty fresh insects - what most small birds prefer to eat.
If you want to feed with suet – choose organic suet from pasture-fed animals like sheep or cows, or from wild animals such as wild boars and deer.  This supports Swedish natural pastures and increases biodiversity that benefits many Swedish birds, such as the Wheatear, Swallow, Wryneck, and Red-backed Shrike, to name a few. Buying organic meat/suet supports natural pastures to a much greater extent than buying dairy products. Unlike dairy cows, beef cattle are not tied to a barn for most parts of the year. They can graze outside.

At Slåttergubben, we are currently working frenetically to secure permission to sell organic beef suet, and also to be able to offer melted organic suet as soon as possible. In the meantime, it is possible to order organic suet from Gröna Gårdar.

Is suet disgusting?
- No, we think that suet balls are even more disgusting... but sure. If you're not used to it and are a bit influenced by old fat fears, it might seem a bit unusual. Suet is excellent food for many of the garden's birds - and it's only beneficial if there are some meat residues left on the tallow - extra protein-rich. For us humans, suet is also an excellent source of healthy fat, with new research indicating that animal fats are beneficial for our blood vessels and blood levels. It's more sugar and white flour that make us gain weight and lead to lifestyle diseases - in combination with too much inactivity.

How do you feed birds with suet?
The simplest way is to hammer a couple of nails through a board and then attach it somewhere. Just thread the pieces of suet over the nails. You can also place pieces in a foldable grill grid. This allows the birds to access it well. The downside of raw suet is that it becomes rancid after a few days if the temperature is too high - ideally, it should be around freezing or colder.

Melted suet Stays Intact in Warmer Temperatures
It is quite easy to melt suet yourself. Simply chop it into pieces no thicker than a centimeter. Place it in a pan on low heat or in an ovenproof dish at 120 degrees Celsius. After a couple of hours, the pieces become small and float around in the melted tallow. You can now pour it into molds or a baking tray to set, leaving the pieces in if desired. You can mix it with seeds for appearance, but it is actually unnecessary – it's just a marketing tactic used by companies to bulk up and create a cheaper, more stable product. Melted tallow can remain in good condition at up to 15 degrees Celsius for months and can be stored in the fridge even longer without going rancid.

Are homemade suet balls always better?
- Unfortunately not - it's easy to think so. A conventionally sprayed product causes the same environmental impact whether you buy it in the store or an industry buys it. Let's take a brief overview of the most common raw materials in homemade fat products.

Margarine - often contains large amounts of palm oil. Milda is an example of this. If it is not KRAV-labeled, the raw materials are grown conventionally with spraying. The vegetable oils are chemically processed to make them more solid.

Butter - conventional. Unfortunately, this isn’t good either even if it is Swedish. Contrary to what Arla tries to imply, more and more milk production is becoming truly industrial with over 1,000 milk-producing cows per farm. This results in very little natural pasture, instead, they eat lots of silage and feed grown on fields both in Sweden and Brazil.

Butter - organic. Significantly better for the birds, cows graze more outdoors, eat organic feed, and live a more natural life.

Bregott - organic. Like organic butter but mixed with rapeseed oil. Perfect to hang out a whole package - and the birds don't get stuck in it!

Coconut Fat/Coconut Oil. Very popular. Coconut fat doesn't have the same bad reputation as palm oil. Unfortunately, this is only because it isn't cultivated on the same large scale. The fact is that rainforests are also being cleared for coconut cultivation. The yield per hectare is significantly lower for coconut than for palm oil, which means more land is needed for the same amount of oil if you choose coconut. Organic coconut oil/fat is naturally much better.

Lard - conventional. Lard is a block of melted pork fat. Birds find it very tasty - but there is no organic option available in the market today. Pigs are not animals that contribute to natural grazing lands; they are kept confined their entire lives and eat sprayed grains and possibly some soy (in conventional pig production)

Read more:

Expressen writes about Slåttergubben and how rainforests are being cleared for bird feed

The magazine Land writes about how suet balls can be dangerous for birds and dogs