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Quality of Ingredients - 10/1010/10
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Variety - 8.8/108.8/10
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Cost - 9.4/109.4/10
Summary
I’ll cut to the chase and say we love The Farmer’s Dog. Apart from the amazing quality and competitive prices (in relation to fresh dog food), they offer DIY homemade dog food recipes as well, proving the company’s mission is to improve the health of dogs and not to just make a penny. Coupon: 50% off Farmer’s Dog
The Farmer’s Dog Reviews
Today we’re going to be reviewing The Farmer’s Dog. When you think of “dog food”, you likely think of either dry kibble that comes in a bag or sloppy mystery meat that’s sold in cans. What if there was another way to feed our dogs something closer to human-grade food?
The Farmers Dog is a subscription fresh dog food delivery service that urges pet owners to rethink the kinds of food they are feeding their pets. The company allows pet owners to find personalized, custom-crafted dog foods that make use of human-grade, USDA certified ingredients in every package.
To help make sure that every Farmer’s Dog package measures up to the company’s high standards, a panel of board-certified veterinary nutritionists are on hand to provide input for each recipe, ensuring that they provide complete and balanced meals in line with AAFCO dog food standards.
So is fresh dog food the future? Is it time to kick kibble to the curb? Keep reading to find out what we think in The Farmer’s Dog Reviews.
Read Related Article: Spay & Neuter Initiative
The Farmer’s Dog Coupon Link – 50% off
Update: for a limited time, The Farmer’s Dog is offering Woof Whiskers readers 50% off your first box when you order through this link or the button below! Simply click “redeem discount” at the top of their webpage.
Unboxing Farmer’s Dog Food
The Farmer’s Dog shipment arrived safely in a large brown box stamped with marketing (some of which was pretty funny, including “If your dog doesn’t love it, send it back. We’ll eat it.”) and warnings that there is perishable fresh food inside. Before opening, I did a “shake test” by seeing how well everything was packed inside and there wasn’t much movement at all from things loosely banging around.
Upon opening the box, everything was indeed nicely packed. Each pack of The Farmer’s Dog box was thoughtfully sized so it fits snuggly inside the container. Everything was kept very cold as well thanks to the dry ice and biodegradable insulation that can actually dissolve in your sink!
In addition to 14 pre-portioned packs of fresh dog food, The Farmer’s Dog trial box included a recyclable container to store leftovers. This is particularly useful when spacing out feedings to two meals per day, feeding your dog one pre-portioned pack per day.
What we liked about their instructions is that it says to toss all but one in the freezer right away instead of the refrigerator. Once you feed your dog the thawed pack of food, take another out of the freezer. Other high-quality dog food companies say to place them in the fridge and use or freeze within 8 days. Pre-portioned packs make feeding your dog fresh food a lot easier.
While reviewing a different fresh dog food subscription service, without thinking, I went ahead and tossed all the dog food in the fridge which was a mistake because one dog wasn’t going to be able to finish all 14 packs within the “best by” date.
Farmer’s Dog Food Quality and Ingredients
Not only are all of the food used human quality and developed by veterinary nutritionists, but Farmer’s Dog also promises that every ingredient is prepared using human-grade food in high-quality kitchens in New York, and then quickly deep-frozen just before transport. This means that your pup gets the freshest food available based on human quality ingredients, and the company promises that their food will never be spending long periods on a shelf before it is delivered to your door.
One of the most unique aspects of the company, however, is the fact that they also provide pet parents with quality DIY recipes that allow them to make the same fresh food right in their home. This means that you can pick your very own veggies and ingredients, so you can know exactly what is going into the food. Then, all you need to do is add in a pre-mixed nutrient pack sold by the company, which provides 9 essential vitamins and minerals that many other DIY recipes lack.
So for those pet parents that like to have total control over what their four-legged friends are eating at mealtime, it is hard to find a fresher, more hands-on experience than this!
The Farmer’s Dog Recipe Analysis
At the time of this review, The Farmer’s Dog food has three recipes to choose from. This is on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of selection when comparing competitors such as NomNomNow, Grocery Pup, and Pet Plate. Here we will take a look at each recipe individually and analyze the estimated dry matter for a better understanding of nutritional breakdown.
Turkey and Parsnip
The Farmer’s Dog turkey recipe has the highest amount of carbs of all their recipes and the lowest fat. The nutrient profile of this is the most similar to premium kibbles, so we prefer using the turkey recipe when first transitioning to their fresh food.
Ingredients: Turkey, parsnips, chickpeas, carrot, broccoli, spinach, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, fish oil, taurine, vitamin B12 supplement, zinc amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, vitamin E supplement, copper amino acid chelate, thiamine mononitrate, sodium selenite, riboflavin supplement, potassium iodide, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid
Beef and Lentils
Their Beef and Lentils recipe is the middle of the road for protein, fat, and carbs when comparing it to the other two. And the bonus is beef is super tasty (according to Sasha).
Ingredients: Beef, lentils, sweet potato, beef liver, carrot, kale, sunflower seeds, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, fish oil, taurine, vitamin B12 supplement, zinc amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, vitamin E supplement, copper amino acid chelate, thiamine mononitrate, sodium selenite, riboflavin supplement, potassium iodide, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid
Pork and Sweet Potato
The pork recipe is the highest protein offering from The Farmer’s Dog, coming in at just under 40%. This is a great nutrient profile, but be sure your dog can handle the high protein fresh food by slowly transitioning.
Ingredients: Pork, sweet potato, potato, pork liver, green beans, cauliflower, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, fish oil, taurine, vitamin B12 supplement, zinc amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, vitamin E supplement, copper amino acid chelate, thiamine mononitrate, sodium selenite, riboflavin supplement, potassium iodide, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid
Taste Test
The only TINY complaint I have is in regards to the individual packages. They don’t have a tear-away bag, so you need to grab a pair of scissors to open each one. In addition to that, squeezing fresh food out of pouches isn’t too fun either, because it’s hard to really get all of it out (NomNomNow is the same way).
Once I got it in her bowl, Sasha REALLY enjoyed it – especially the Turkey recipe. One thing I noticed right away is that The Farmer’s Dog has larger pieces of real food. Some of the other big names in this industry ground up the food a bit more like traditional wet dog foods. As she ate it, I noticed she took her time and chewed the pieces, which is excellent because she has times where she eats way too fast.
Getting Started with Fresh Dog Food
Farmer’s Dog food, unlike many of the other companies that offer subscription boxes, does offer a small two-week sample package of their fresh food for curious prospective buyers. They also offer a 20% discount for first-time buyers, and provide free shipping on all orders.
Once pet parents decide to take the first step towards placing an order, the company starts off by asking the basic questions, such as how many dogs you own and what their names are. From there, the company asks about age, weight, and whether or not your pets are spayed or neutered in order to best assess what kind of meal plan would best suit their unique nutritional requirements. They also ask about breed and body type, and interestingly also ask you to select a description for your pup (silliest, most loyal, cutest, most stubborn, or normal).
Once that’s done, Farmer’s Dog tailors your order even further, asking owners to select an ideal weight for their dog, their activity level, and the pup’s eating style (picky, will eat anything, etc), before asking about allergies and the kind of food your fur-baby is currently being fed, how many treats they are given, and if they require a prescription diet.
After filling out all of that, we then move over to the actual menu section, where customers can select what kind of high-quality fresh food they want in their boxes. Users can select any combination of beef, turkey, or pork packages, or can opt to try all three for a slightly higher price. And that’s it! From that point on, you just need to wait for your packages to arrive and then follow the personalized feeding guide that the good folks at Farmer’s Dog have made just for your pup.
Before we wrap up our Farmer’s Dog review, let’s talk about some of the most common questions dog owners have. As a reminder, by clicking our button above you can get a 50% off coupon your first two weeks to give it a trial and see if it’s a good deal for your dog.
The Farmer’s Dog FAQ
When it comes to The Farmer’s Dog, the price is going to depend on how many dogs you have and how big they are. To give you an idea of the price, for a 50 lb dog with a regular activity level, you’ll be looking at about $51.74 per week for fresh food (at the time of writing, prices subject to change). If your dog is smaller (25 lbs) you can expect the weekly cost to be around $35.30 per week.
What’s in the dog food depends on which recipe you order. As far as proteins go, they currently offer turkey, beef, and pork recipes. In addition to the protein, there’s some other natural and nutritious ingredients like parsnips, potato, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, and more depending on the specific recipe.
The only place you can buy this dog food is through the company’s website. They do not sell from any retail stores as all the meals are delivered directly to your door.
Yes, all recipes at the time of writing are completely grain-free.
Yes, once puppies are weaned they can transition to The Farmer’s Dog. For most puppies, this happens around 8-10 weeks, but you should check with your vet.
Having shipping troubles with farmers dog. they have good food but are largely unreliable for shipping. My dog was out of food for 2 weeks. What are other alternatives that people have tried with similar quality
Ann – thanks for your comment; this is the first I’ve heard of shipment issues. Have you contacted them regarding this? I’m curious what their response was. I personally haven’t run into this.
I too got sporadic shipments, I would run out before the next shipment. My main problem is, since switching to delivery foods, my 65 lb Kuvasz always seems hungry. I provide extra packs of the food and she keeps wanting more! I don’t know if it’s not satisfying her or it’s so good she just wants more and more!
Hi Rita – I think it’s because your dog loves the taste. When I feed it to my dog Sasha, she would start drooling the second the package comes out of the fridge. She never gets like this with kibble.
These foods have fewer fillers and take less time to digest: would it be possible to separate her daily ration into 3 or more meals so she doesn’t feel so hungry between meals?
I am having a similar problem! My dog is 25 lbs he’s always been completely satisfied on 2/3 cup of hills science diet a day. Now after feeding him all of the farmers dog he’s supposed to get in the day he will pace for hours begging and scratching at the pantry where his old dry food was kept. I’m worried he’s just really hungry he’s never done this before. Tonight I finally gave in and gave him 1/3 cup of his old food and now he’s happily cuddled up on the couch
Well here is the second (third, fourth and fifth) time you have heard of shipping issues. They are extremely unreliable and have very poor customer service. Twice we have received dog food for another dog. So not only did our dog have no food but neither did “Gracie.” One other time the food arrived spoiled. They have done nothing. At these prices completely unacceptable. So we are using someone else.
14 food packs just arrived marked Jackson. Will packs arrive for Bailey??
I was skeptical, but my two Pit-Mixes, sniff like crazy at feeding time. I decided to try The Farmers Dog, after the Dan Bongino Podcast, spoke so highly of this product. I have one fur-baby, who would eat anything but the other one, is fussy. He snarfs this food down, toute suite. Not a crumb is left for his ‘piglet’ sister. I love The Farmers Dog!
I see the carbs are high in this farmer dog. Is that a bad thing m please let me know. Cause my 8 pound chipoo is eating this food now.
I have tried grocery pup , raisedfresh, myollie, nomnomnow
She loved the nomnomnow from oct 2018 till march 2019. Then she got sick from the chicken recipe and that was the end she refuses all recipes from them now.
She walked away from raisedfresh. And myollie shipping times was not acceptable here no room in freezer for 2 months of food.
Now my concern is the carbs being higher then protein in farmerdog.
Thanks
Hi Diane – Out of curiosity, which recipes did you use amongst the different companies?
The carbs in The Farmer’s Dog recipes are no concern. In fact, they are still much lower than most premium kibbles, let alone the fact the carbs are coming from much better ingredients.
As long as your dog does well on the food, there isn’t much to worry about. Let me know how she does with TFD. Sasha seems to enjoy this one the most.
We’ve received our 3rd shipment for our mini-schnauzer mix. In our profile we indicated he needed to loose weight. Once he was where I wanted him, I asked them to modify so he wouldn’t loose any more weight. I asked my vet to calculate how many calories a day he should have, and her estimate was about 13% more than The Farmers Dog calculated, so I will have them adjust again. Haven’t had any issues with customer service or shipping and my baby loves the food. I only order the Beef and Turkey, the Pork is a higher protein contact and I’m hesitant to try it because he’s had issues with high protein food in the past.
We love Farmer’s Dog! I’m reading the comments about shipping but we’ve never had an issue and we’re on our fourth month. They message you to remind you of ship dates and you can expedite or delay based on your need. We’ve also never received another dog’s food and their customer service has been exceptional. When T-Bone turned his nose up at turkey in the trial servings, they inquired about his eating habits, likes and dislikes. The best part of FD is that our older, finicky fellow loves eating it without people food mixed in and we’ve noticed a big change in his appearance and activity level. He also stopped chewing his feet and scratching so much. It’s been well worth the cost!
Just want to thank your site for all the information you give to are pets we love so much and who love us back unconditionally I just saw the commercial for TFD and knew nothing about it until I read your reviews they were incredibly helpful unfortunately the price is way beyond my means And I’m sure that it is so many people out there who want the best for Their pets that they love so very much again thank you so much for all the information that you give so all the pet lovers out there
I am a senior citizen (widow) on a very limited income and was really interested in this for my companion dog who is all I have left in the world. Like you, when I was SO disappointed that the price is out of my budget. I wish they offered a senior discount. Maybe then more of us could afford it.
I’m just on survivor’s benefits also. I too wish I could receive a senior discount of some sort. Between the 2 charities I support every month and my church (10%) saving enough money to help pay for my daughter’s college costs, I don’t think I could afford this 100%. Maybe I could try to buy less and add it as a topper instead?
So glad I found the Farmers Dog food. My two pups love it! I have been thinking for a long time to switch to this food! There are so many great things about the food and the support group. I am always driving them crazy with questions and they are always quick to reply and are wonderful to me! In short we love the convince and the pups love love the food! So there ya go! Go get it, you’ll love it! 🥰🥰🥰
I ordered this food for a 10 pound lazy poodle, they just debited my account $240 I feed a family of 4 on less then that a week and they eat much more than the dog. I was freaking out about the $240 they over drew my bank account, I called got a recording it was 4pm on Friday and I really wanted to speak with someone, I stocker called them hoping someone would answer but instead they blocked my number. Wow they had time to block my number but never did call me back. The food is good but I can make this for much less. I thought it was $30 per month worth it for that. I liked the dogs name on the bag nice touch would be better if the bag was resealable.
Susan, I am so glad you posted! My heart goes out to you. I am a disabled senior citizen and have only $350 a month for my food, dog food, paper products, cleaning products, etc. If that happened to me I would have to eat the dog food. Seriously, that scares me. I’m so sorry that happened to you and I hope they got back to you and resolved the matter.
MY SHIH TSU IS THE PICKIEST EATER OF ANY DOG I’VE OWNED. I DON’T KNOW IF THIS FOOD WILL BE SOME THAT
SHE WILL EAT, BUT I GUESS IT’S WORTH A TRY. HER FAVORITE PROTEIN IS CHICKEN AND BEEF. AND CROCKPOT
PORK LOIN. SHE GOBBLES DOWN EGG WHITES.
Love Farmer’s Dog! Roope loves the food – licks the empty bowl over and over. I’ve had great customer service. Love the “green” shipping materials. All thumbs up!!!
I did not realize that more will be sent to Maggie. Please cancel that as I can’t get Maggie to eat this. So afraid to get anymore as the price is more than I can do. She is a picky eater and she will never eat what was already sent. I will donate to pound. I think my next order will be about $115 so I want to cancel that. We will just stick to what the vet suggested. Barbara Darlington, 317 Oak Park Dr. Tullahoma, Tn 37388 Sorry I guess I didn’t know much the next order would cost. We are in our 80 and mind is a little slow. Maggie is 10 and healthy with what she is eating now.
Looks like the coupon expired(?)
I got this message when clicking on the link “The link you clicked on is malformed. Contact the editor of the originating page.”
I have an overweight Lhasa, I was desperate to help her lose weight without starving her. She has been eating FD for two weeks. I have never seen a dog get so excited about her meal, she jumps up and down like a bronco and barks until she is served. Not only does she eat the entire portion she usually goes back at least two times to ensure she missed nothing. FD is a bit pricey, that said if it makes our baby happy and healthy we will if necessary give up soft drinks, turn heat down a couple of degrees, etc. If this ends up helping our baby we are willing to help start a fund that helps folks who are on limited budgets. Best wishes…
Good food but to difficult to work with
The deeper I dig, the more I find marketing hype, fake reviews, sick dogs, dogs loosing significant weight and honestly, I don’t know what to think at this point.
how do you calculate for the protein, fat and carb percentages?
love the reviews you do on your site. sasha is lucky to be taste-testing all the stuff you review!
The company is the best most understanding business towards its customers. They know how to treat each family and pet as an individual. They allow you to feel that you matter. The product itself has been amazing for my dogs. My one dog has extreme health issues and this product has helped him to recovery from 5 different surgeries and be removed from 3 different medications. This product really has been life-changing for our special pet. They take the time to listen to your concerns and make adjusts that are needed according to the needs of your pet. They have been amazing through our difficult times by sending flowers and making sure he was recovering okay. This company is extraordinary. I would recommend that everyone used this company for their dogs. This was the best choice I have ever made for my pets.
I feel like my dogs are drinking a lot more water ever since I started feeding them Farmers Dog anyone else had this issue? They love the food but it does seem like they are always starving and not satisfied.
My dog Elijah loves his food from The Farmers Dog! I am happy to say their calorie calculations have kept Eli right at his ideal 45 lbs. Also, I feel fortunate that his food shipments are right on time every time!
Are there any Protein versions that are OK with Dogs that have Congestive Heart failure? Mine at Stage B2 for a 14 lb poodle mix
I started my new puppy off with the Farmer’s Dog food as a primary food supplemented with another high quality kibble. My puppy would eat the food but had the same level of interest in her kibble as she did for the more expensive “fresh” food. I also did not note any significant health differences between feeding my puppy the high quality kibble as opposed to the Farmer’s Dog fresh (fresh frozen) food. The company is very quick to ship an order but not always good with communications. Their process is to send an advance notification stating an order is being prepared which allows you to make changes before shipment if needed. Before my final order I received a text from their support when I was at an airport layover between flights stating an (unexpected) order was on the way. After I returned from my business trip I reached out to their support which was slow to acknowledge the issue and did not offer to provide a refund until I sent them multiple emails inquiring what happened and forcing them to acknowledge the issue in writing. They never clearly explained why the issue happened. I cancelled my service shortly after and do not regret doing so.
Interested in trying the trial.