The scores
The Farmer's Dog Turkey Recipe: A (90/100) — Turkey, chickpeas, carrot, broccoli, spinach, parsnip, salmon oil.
The Farmer's Dog Beef Recipe: A (90/100) — Beef, sweet potato, lentils, carrot, beef liver, kale, sunflower seeds, salmon oil.
Both variants sit at A/90 under the same Fresh Food Rubric v1.0. Same production facility, same supplementation philosophy, same AAFCO formulation-based substantiation for all life stages.
How the ingredients compare
Turkey variant: Turkey (lean poultry), chickpeas (single legume), carrot, broccoli, spinach (cruciferous-rich vegetables), parsnip (root vegetable), salmon oil. Seven food ingredients before the supplement tail.
Beef variant: Beef (denser ruminant protein), sweet potato (complex carb tuber), lentils (single legume), carrot, beef liver (organ meat!), kale, sunflower seeds, salmon oil. Eight food ingredients before the supplement tail — with the crucial addition of beef liver at position five.
The most important structural difference: Beef includes organ meat (beef liver) at position five. Turkey does not include a secondary animal ingredient in the top eight. Under the rubric this is a real difference in animal-ingredient stacking, but both still earn the same A/90 because other rubric factors (clean panel, chelated minerals, taurine, human-grade sourcing, veterinary nutritionist formulation) compensate.
Where The Farmer's Dog Turkey pulls ahead
Lower fat for sensitive digestion: Turkey is one of the leaner mainstream dog food proteins. For dogs with pancreatitis history, weight-management goals, or fat-intolerant gut reactions, Turkey is the variant to pick. The guaranteed analysis typically runs about 1–2 percentage points lower on crude fat vs. the Beef recipe.
Cruciferous vegetable density: Broccoli and spinach together at positions four and five make Turkey the most cruciferous-forward Farmer’s Dog variant. Cruciferous vegetables contribute glucosinolates, vitamin K, folate, and soluble fiber — a specific phytonutrient profile the Beef recipe’s kale-only contribution doesn’t quite match.
Red-meat rotation alternative: Dogs with confirmed or suspected beef sensitivities do well on Turkey. Dogs rotating proteins for allergy-management purposes use Turkey as the novel-ish protein since it’s less common than chicken in the dog food landscape (though still a poultry, so poultry-allergic dogs will react to both). Shop on Amazon →
Where The Farmer's Dog Beef holds its own
Organ meat inclusion: Beef liver at position five delivers vitamin A, B12, iron, and copper in bioavailable animal forms that no vegetable can replicate. Organ meat is the single most underrated rubric advantage — most commercial dog foods skip it entirely. For owners trying to approximate ancestral-diet nutrition density, Beef is the clearly better Farmer’s Dog variant.
Higher calorie density: Beef plus sweet potato plus lentils delivers more calories per gram than Turkey plus cruciferous-plus-parsnip. For high-activity breeds, working dogs, sled dogs, or hard-keeper dogs who struggle to maintain weight on leaner formulations, Beef is the better fit.
Sunflower seed omega-6: Sunflower seeds at position seven contribute linoleic acid (omega-6) and vitamin E. While salmon oil on both variants handles the omega-3 story, sunflower seeds on Beef add a plant-source omega-6 that Turkey doesn’t include. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
This is a tie at A/90 on measurable ingredient quality — both variants are among the cleanest cooked-fresh subscription recipes in our catalog. Pick Turkey for moderate-activity, sensitive-digestion, weight-managing, or red-meat-sensitive dogs. Pick Beef for high-activity, hard-keeper, or organ-meat-density-seeking dogs. For DCM-predisposed breeds where any legume is a concern, step laterally to Farmer’s Dog Chicken (A/90, legume-free) or Farmer’s Dog Pork (A/90, legume-free).