GreenAcres Working Dog: Turkey & Rice review

Good band here, and the typical adult dry food sits in the Good band as well, so this is an even, everyday reading. Protein converts to a respectable 27.0% of dry matter, while estimated carbohydrate reaches 50.3% against a typical 46.2%, and energy comes in at 342 kcal per 100g where the typical adult dry food gives 357. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average, while transparency reads Outstanding and value Good. The label is honest and unshowy, and the one thing keeping it from climbing is the poultry fat, which names a family rather than a species.

Ingredients, as declared: White Rice (25%), Turkey Meal (24%), Barley (20%), Oats, Poultry Fat, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Turkey Digest (3%), Dried Peas, Salmon Oil (0.5%), Minerals, MOS (500mg/kg), FOS (500mg/kg), Dried Rosemary, Glucosamine (300mg/kg), Seaweed Meal, Chondriotin (150mg/kg)

Turkey meal at 24% carries the animal content, with turkey digest at 3% sprayed on as the palatant. The water leaves meal before it ever reaches the mixer, so that 24% is close to what lands in the finished biscuit. Turkey is a lean and digestible meat that most dogs take to without any trouble.

The cereal side is the story of this recipe. White rice at 25% comes first, barley at 20% is a bigger share than most dry foods give it, and oats sit behind them both. Barley is easily digested once cooked and brings fibre and micronutrients along, though it does carry gluten. Between the three, estimated carbohydrate reaches 50.3% of dry matter, with beet pulp adding to the 3.2% fibre total.

The fats come from poultry fat and salmon oil at 0.5%, and linseed adds plant omega 3. The result is a moderate 10.9% fat and 342 kcal per 100g, a shade below the typical dry food. For a dog in real work the answer is volume and a second meal.

The functional extras are sensible, and none of them is decoration. MOS and FOS are both declared at 500mg/kg, a pair of prebiotics that feed the useful bacteria low in the gut from two directions. Dried rosemary is the natural antioxidant on the fats. Seaweed meal carries iodine along with a range of trace minerals. The joint pair, glucosamine at 300mg/kg and chondroitin at 150mg/kg, comes with a dose attached and not just a mention.

The added minerals are printed per kilo: zinc at 100mg, iron at 42mg, manganese at 30mg, copper at 7mg, iodine at 1.0mg and selenium at 0.25mg. Vitamin A comes in at 19000 IU, vitamin D3 at 1900 IU and vitamin E at 110mg. Nothing here is exotic, and for a big working bag that is rather the point.

£3.80 a kilo, sold in one 15kg bag.

Feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition comes to roughly 246 grams and £0.93 a day, on a maintenance figure of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label asks 265 to 325 grams for a dog between 15kg and 20kg, a more generous figure with the working dogs it has in mind. Let condition settle where your dog sits between the two.