Just switched Neo the wonder puppy to this food.
He loves it and is now in the clean plate club each and every meal.
Pricey, but I like how they will sell packets of “supplements” for those that want to cook for their dogs themselves.
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My cousin gets it for her new Golden. They swear by it and if they can afford it more power to them!
I sure can’t.
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I looked into The Farmer’s Dog, but ended up going a freeze dried raw approach instead. I feed K9 Natural and Primal as well as Vital Essentials.
I don’t like that I can’t see the ingredent list unless I provide a bunch of contact info.
So after all of that info provided I get a list like this:
Riley: neutered, 75lb dog, 13 yrs old, not active
USDA Beef, Sweet Potato, Lentils, Carrot, USDA Beef Liver, Kale, Sunflower Seeds, TFD Nutrient Blend, Salmon Oil [Tricalcium Phosphate, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Bitartrate, Magnesium Amino Acid Chelate, Taurine, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin E Supplement, Selenium Yeast, Potassium Iodide, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Folic Acid]
As-Fed Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein 11% min.
Crude Fat 8% min.
Crude Fiber 1.5% max.
Moisture 72% max.
Where are the bones?, where are the organs?
I am sure someone more educated on this topic will pop in, but for the price, I would rather feed a great quality, shelf stable, freeze dried food.
K9 Naturals:
Beef, Beef Liver, Beef Tripe, Beef Kidney, Beef Heart, Beef Blood, Eggs, Beef Spleen, Ground Beef Bone, Sunflower Oil, Flaxseed Flakes, Brown Kelp, New Zealand Green Mussel, Pumpkin, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Dipotassium Phosphate, Dried Kelp, Apples, Pears, Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Magnesium Oxide, Selenium Yeast, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Beta-Carotene, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement.
Minimum Crude Protein 35%
Minimum Crude Fat 37%
Maximum Crude Fibre 2%
Maximum Moisture 8%
Minimum Omega 3 0.55%
There are lots of options out there for puppy and dog. 
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I can’t think of liver without remembering the cartoon, I think Calvin and Hobbes, where the mom serves liver for dinner and the kid refuses saying “I don’t want to eat another animal’s poison filter!”
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I’m in Ontario so we don’t have Farmers Dog, but we do have other similar fresh cooked food options that I saw at a Pet Expo last year. I had my pup with me and they were handing out samples and she did really like it! Looked pretty good to me as well haha!
My pup was raised on raw from weaning and I have been feeding her raw ever since. Cooked is great, but I would think they can’t add any bone since it would be cooked and dangerous to give. Not sure why there would be no organ meat, but once food is cooked, a lot of the added vitamins/benefits are removed so maybe they don’t add it because of that??
I wish my girl liked freeze dried raw for my traveling times. She will refuse to eat it flat out. I’ve tried several different brands and they were all a no go. She does like air dried raw (Ziwi) but its so expensive! Luckily I don’t go away too often that I need to feed it or I would be broke!
We just switched to Farmers dog for our spaniel and she too is a member of the clean plate club every time! I can’t tell though if she’s just excited to eat or is super hungry by the time her next meal rolls around so still working out the portions…seems to be worth the price for sure.
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I do not feed this food and I know nothing about it, but, um, isn’t liver and organ?
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Oh yes, for sure!! Most have a little more in organ meat though, such as heart, liver, kidney - not just one type of organ.
I add extra organ meat for my pup as the 10% that is added istn quite enough. So I buy a blend of beef heart, kidney and liver and add it to her feed to up the organ content.
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I feed raw to most of my pack, but two of my older dogs have done great on Farmer’s Dog in their very senior years.
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I get ads for Farmer’s Dog food all the time and always giggle at the human grade part, because every farmer’s dog I’ve ever known has been just as happy eating manure and hoof trimmings as anything. Maybe I’m lucky that mine isn’t remotely fussy. Glad it’s working for you!
But more substantively, to me it’s too many carbs based on the sample recipes they have. I feed mostly raw based on Lew Olson’s book. She’s very anti-carb, as is my breeder, and I figure Pipes gets all the carbs she needs from the barn floor.
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How long does a bag (or pound?) of the K9 Naturals last?
I believe the reason for adding bone is calcium, if so they can just add calcium. Someone please let me know if I’m missing something.
I don’t know if there’s organ meat or not since the ingredient list doesn’t seem that specific.
I do know that Neo loves it and has even more energy which I’m not sure how I feel about at 6am!!
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I suspect that the 11% protein is based on the total weight of the feeding. Since Farmer’s dog does have a lot of moisture, 72%, and who knows if that’s water, if the total weight is high enough, the protein content should be as well.
That said, I have no idea how much protein should be in a dog’s diet. I know when we had basenjis, breeders recommended a higher percentage of protein than for “regular” dogs.
I have a spreadsheet I use to balance my horses’ nutrition and it’s aimed at weight/ius of individual nutrients based on recommendations in a book, I’ll attach for any interested. I suspect someone’s done the same research for dogs.
Nutrition Spreadsheet.xlsx (16.0 KB)
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Yes, bone is for added calcium for but you need to balance it with phosphorus in the correct 1:1 ratio. Calcium is used for blood clotting, immune function, cardiovascular system, and every cell depends on calcium. Bone has the perfect ratio of 1:1 (calcium/phosphorus). Even a slightly higher calcium ratio is ok, especially with younger pups. I tended to add a little extra bone dust when my girl was a pup, along with the 10% bone that was added in her feed and a meaty bone a couple of times a week. But I was careful as my breed can get OCD which too much calcium can bring on. I do not add any extra bone dust now, but do feed raw meaty bones 2-3 times a week (chicken feet, beef ribs, lamb flank).
So you just don’t want to add calcium without the proper balance. You can cause all sorts of other issues, especially with larger breeds such as OCD.
Meat is high in phosphorus and low in calcium. Meaty bones have both calcium and phosphorous.
I’m no pro by any means, but I have done a lot of research and reached out to long time raw feeders as I was worried going this route. The more I read, the more questions I seem to have!
And every dog is different and needs different ratios in their feed depending on size, breed, health etc. Sometimes raw or cooked does not work at all, no judgment at all!
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There is a FB group called Raw Fed & Nerdy and they have spread sheets for raw feeders. They are hard core and make/mix up their own diets for their pup with a balanced, species appropriate diet. Its way over my head as they grind up meats/bone etc from the butchers and blend their own raw or even cooked meals.
I do go to a butcher that specializes in dog food (meats from their next door human restaurant butcher shop) to get a 80/10/10 mixture. I just add veggies and some of my own supplements/sardines/tripe/bones to help with a balanced meal.
I really liked the book by Dr. Conor Brady, Feeding Dogs. A lot of really neat info written by a vet with a very detailed outlook on feeding.
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OMG right?! Mine is driving me nuts trying to eat his weight in chicken 
and cat and every other kind of in the world including his own 
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Comiserating here - luckily mine only likes horse poop, but OMG this morning it was the rear half of a squirrel. Note to self: worm for tapes in 2 weeks. LOL
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The cats left a rabbit for him a couple months ago and I’m still not quite over him trotting up to me with its leg dangling…gads
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Hmmm hasenpfeffer on the “hoof!”
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