Huntland Grain Free Adult: British Grazing Lamb review

Each of the three finishes in our Good band, the same band where most adult dry food settles. The turkey comes out fractionally ahead of the lamb, with the salmon a shade behind. Pillar by pillar the three read the same way: Good on protein and processing, Average on nutritional balance, Outstanding on transparency. What earns the band is straightforward: half the bag declared as a named animal, a printed split between the fresh and dried shares, and no cereal at all. The carbohydrate estimate is 44.7% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food.

Ingredients, as declared: British Lamb 50% (includes 30% Freshly Prepared Grazing British Lamb, 18% Dried Lamb and 2% Lamb Stock), Sweet Potato, Peas, Pea Protein, White Potato, Linseed, Beet Pulp, Omega 3 Supplement, Vegetable Stock, Mint, Naturally Derived Fructooligosaccharide, Naturally Derived Mannan Oligosaccharides, Vitamins and Minerals.

The 50% headline is the range's best feature, and the split behind it is what makes it trustworthy. Each label prints how much arrives as freshly prepared meat, how much as dried and how much as stock. That matters. Water makes up most of a fresh meat entry and the oven removes it, while a dried portion goes into the kibble more or less as it is. The recipes with the larger dried share therefore deliver more finished protein than the headline on its own would tell you.

Protein converts to 28.2% of dry matter and fat to 14.1%, a sensible middle for an adult dog who works a bit and rests a bit. Carbohydrate is estimated at 44.7% of dry matter, a shade under the 46.2% typical of adult dry food, with sweet potato ahead of peas and white potato as the binders. No grain appears in any of the three.

The gut and coat additions are consistent across the range. Linseed carries omega 3s in their plant form, and the fermentable fibre in beet pulp firms up a stool. The naturally derived fructooligosaccharides and mannan oligosaccharides are food for the bacteria of the large intestine. Each recipe then adds one small flourish of its own, which is decoration rather than a working dose.

Two entries stay unspecific. Nothing on the label says where the omega 3 supplement comes from. The vitamins and minerals sit inside the ingredients list with no dosed panel, so a zinc or copper figure cannot be checked the way some labels allow. Ash comes in at 8.7% of dry matter and declared calcium differs noticeably between the recipes, which is the one place a range this consistent stops being consistent.

British lamb at 50%, arriving as 30% freshly prepared, 18% dried and 2% stock, the largest fresh share in the range. Pea protein appears in this recipe alone, mint is its finishing note, and the label covers toy breeds right up to giants. Calcium is declared at 2.62% of dry matter, the fullest mineral loading of the three.

£5.50 a kilo across the range, sold in a single 10kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 237 grams of the lamb or the turkey a day and about 262 grams of the salmon. The figure works from around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.31 a day on the two meat recipes and £1.44 on the salmon.