Farmers Dog Food: Is It the Best Choice for Your Pet?
The Farmer’s Dog is a US-based fresh dog food subscription service that delivers pre-portioned, gently cooked meals made from human-grade ingredients directly to your door on a recurring schedule. Founded in 2014, it was one of the first companies to popularise the fresh/gently-cooked subscription model that has since spawned numerous competitors. The core offer is real food – actual chicken breast, beef, lentils, sweet potato – lightly cooked to food safety standards and portioned to the precise caloric requirement of your individual dog based on their weight, age, activity level, and breed. This review covers the ingredient quality, the cooking process, how cost compares to competing fresh food brands across different dog sizes, and the practical realities of subscribing.
What “Gently Cooked” and “Human-Grade” Actually Mean
The Farmer’s Dog markets its food as “human-grade,” a term with a specific regulatory meaning in the US pet food industry. Under AAFCO and FDA definitions, human-grade pet food must be manufactured in a facility licensed for human food production and use ingredients that would pass human food inspection standards. This is a meaningfully different claim from “made with human-grade ingredients,” which allows pet food manufacturers to use human-grade ingredients but process them in facilities not licensed for human consumption – a distinction that matters for quality control and facility inspection standards.
The Farmer’s Dog produces food in USDA-inspected facilities. The ingredients they use – chicken breast, turkey, beef, pork – are the same cuts that would appear in a supermarket. This is verifiably different from the majority of pet food, which uses “feed-grade” ingredients: material that failed human food inspection for reasons ranging from minor (cosmetic defects, excess fat trimming) to significant (contamination, condemned portions). Feed-grade does not necessarily mean dangerous, but it does mean the material entered a different, less rigorously inspected supply chain.
Gently cooked means the food is cooked at lower temperatures for longer periods than conventional kibble extrusion, with the aim of pasteurising for food safety while preserving more of the natural nutrient profile. The Farmer’s Dog cooks to an internal temperature sufficient to achieve a 7-log pathogen reduction (the same standard as commercial human food safety), which eliminates Salmonella and Campylobacter, but at temperatures below the 120-180°C of kibble extrusion that destroys heat-sensitive vitamins and denatures proteins significantly. The result is food that is both safe and nutritionally closer to homemade cooked food than to conventional pet food.
IngredientsWhat Goes Into The Farmer’s Dog Recipes
The Farmer’s Dog offers four core recipes, each built around a single primary protein source. The ingredient lists are genuinely short and readable – this is a meaningful differentiator from mainstream pet food, where ingredient lists can run to 40+ items including numerous synthetic additives.
The ingredient lists reveal something worth noting: the synthetic vitamin supplements (zinc, vitamin E, vitamin B12) are minimal compared to conventional kibble because the whole food ingredients themselves carry much of the nutrient load. Conventional kibble must aggressively supplement because extrusion destroys a large fraction of naturally occurring vitamins. The Farmer’s Dog requires less supplementation because more survives the gentler cooking process – this is the practical argument for minimally processed food and it holds up nutritionally.
Brand ComparisonFresh Subscription Dog Food Brand Comparison
The Farmer’s Dog operates in a growing category. The table below compares the major fresh subscription brands on the dimensions that matter most to buyers: cost per day by dog size, food format, protein variety, and geographic availability.
| Brand | 10 lb dog / day | 30 lb dog / day | 60 lb dog / day | Format | Proteins | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The Farmer’s Dog
US – founded 2014
|
$3 – $5small breeds cost more per lb | $8 – $12 | $16 – $25 | Gently cooked frozen, pre-portioned packs | Turkey, Beef, Chicken, Pork | US only |
|
Ollie
US – founded 2016
|
$3 – $6 | $9 – $14 | $18 – $28 | Gently cooked Fresh raw option | Turkey, Beef, Chicken, Lamb, Fish | US only |
|
Nom Nom
US – founded 2015
|
$4 – $6 | $10 – $15 | $20 – $30 | Gently cooked individual meal pouches | Turkey, Beef, Chicken, Pork | US only |
|
JustFoodForDogs
US – founded 2010
|
$4 – $7 | $11 – $18 | $22 – $36 | Cooked pantry fresh or frozen | Chicken, Beef, Fish, Lamb, Venison + vet diets | US only |
|
Butternut Box
UK – founded 2016
|
£2 – £4 | £5 – £9 | £10 – £18 | Gently cooked frozen pouches, UK delivery | Chicken, Turkey, Beef, Lamb, Fish, Pork | UK only |
The cost table shows that fresh subscription food is a significant premium over conventional kibble across all dog sizes. For a 60 lb dog, The Farmer’s Dog costs $16-25 per day versus $3-5 per day for premium dry kibble. The cost gap is widest for large breeds and narrows for small dogs where the absolute food volume is low. For a 10 lb dog, the daily cost difference between fresh food and premium kibble is often under $3 – a meaningful but manageable premium for the quality difference it represents.
Who The Farmer’s Dog Is Best Suited For
The Farmer’s Dog makes the most practical sense for small breed households where the cost per day remains under $5-8, owners of dogs that have failed to thrive on conventional kibble despite multiple formula switches, dogs recovering from illness or with conditions where food quality is particularly important, and households where the owner wants the simplicity of pre-portioned meals without the time investment of preparing homemade cooked food themselves.
For large breed owners, the economics become difficult. A 70 lb Labrador at $20-25 per day adds $600-750 per month to household food costs. Many large breed owners use The Farmer’s Dog as a topper – replacing 15-25% of the daily kibble portion with a fresh food pouch – which delivers meaningful quality improvement at a fraction of full-feeding cost. The Farmer’s Dog explicitly supports this approach and sells smaller “trial” portions to facilitate it.
Subscription management: The Farmer’s Dog delivers on a schedule you control. Deliveries come frozen and stay fresh for approximately 4 days in the refrigerator once thawed. The subscription portal allows pausing, skipping, and modifying delivery frequency. One common pain point is unexpected delivery timing – setting up the delivery schedule to match your freezer capacity and travel plans is worth doing at sign-up rather than reactively.
Honest Assessment: Where The Farmer’s Dog Excels and Falls Short
Transitioning to The Farmer’s Dog
Transitioning from kibble to fresh cooked food requires attention to two distinct issues. First, the digestive adjustment: fresh food is more bioavailable and has different fibre content than kibble, which means the gut microbiome needs time to adjust. Many dogs experience loose stools in the first week of transitioning, which typically resolves within 7-14 days. Starting with a 75% old food / 25% new food ratio and adjusting every 3-5 days is the standard approach.
Second, the caloric density difference: fresh food typically has more moisture and less concentrated calories per gram than kibble, which means the physical volume of food increases substantially when switching. Owners accustomed to measuring their dog’s food in cups of kibble may be surprised by how much more food the portioned packs contain – this is expected and correct, not overfeeding.
Important for dogs with specific health conditions: The Farmer’s Dog is designed for healthy dogs and does not offer therapeutic or prescription diets. Dogs with kidney disease, liver disease, pancreatitis, urinary conditions, or other clinical nutrition requirements should be fed under veterinary guidance. Standard fresh food formulations (including The Farmer’s Dog) may be inappropriate for dogs whose conditions require specific nutrient restrictions. JustFoodForDogs is the only major fresh food brand that offers veterinary prescription diet formulations.
Common Questions About The Farmer’s Dog
Is The Farmer’s Dog worth the cost compared to premium kibble?
For small dogs (under 20 lbs), the cost differential between The Farmer’s Dog and premium kibble is often $2-4 per day – meaningful but manageable for the quality difference. For dogs over 50 lbs, the cost becomes difficult to justify for most households at full feeding. The most cost-effective approach for large breed owners is topper use: replacing 20-25% of the daily food with a fresh food pack delivers palatability improvement and ingredient quality upgrade at roughly the same cost as all-kibble feeding on a premium brand. Whether full feeding or topper use is worth the premium depends entirely on the household’s priorities and the dog’s specific health situation.
How long does The Farmer’s Dog food last?
Unopened packs keep for four months in the freezer and four days in the refrigerator. Once opened, feed within a single meal or refrigerate and use within 24 hours. The food ships frozen in insulated packaging and arrives partially frozen or chilled depending on delivery time. Move packs to the freezer on arrival and pull to the refrigerator 24-48 hours before the next feeding to thaw. Do not microwave to thaw – gentle counter-thaw or refrigerator thawing preserves texture and nutritional integrity better than rapid heating.
Can I mix The Farmer’s Dog with kibble?
Yes – The Farmer’s Dog food can be served alongside kibble in the same meal, and this is the most common approach for large breed owners managing cost. Unlike raw food mixed with kibble (where pH interactions are a concern), fresh cooked food mixes without digestive conflict. When mixing, reduce both the kibble and the fresh food portions proportionally to avoid overfeeding total calories. The Farmer’s Dog customer service team can advise on mixing ratios for specific dog sizes.
Is The Farmer’s Dog available for puppies?
Yes – all four recipes are AAFCO approved for all life stages including growth, meaning they meet puppy nutritional requirements. When setting up a subscription for a puppy, enter the puppy’s current age and expected adult weight in the profile. The Farmer’s Dog’s algorithm adjusts portion sizes upward appropriately for growth-phase caloric and nutrient demands, and the portions are recalibrated as the puppy ages and grows.