The scores
The Farmer’s Dog: A (90/100) — Top-tier cooked-fresh. USDA human-grade beef, a minimalist 8-ingredient food panel, and a proprietary nutrient blend.
Ollie: A (90/100) — Top-tier cooked-fresh. Beef plus beef kidneys plus beef liver stack, USDA-sourced, flash-frozen without chemical preservatives.
Both brands sit at A/90 under the same Fresh Food Rubric v1.0 — the highest grade either achieves under the current rubric (the theoretical ceiling is A/98 with feeding-trial substantiation plus HPP documentation plus third-party certifications stacked, which neither brand reaches).
How the ingredients compare
The top ingredients reveal two related but distinct formulation philosophies:
The Farmer’s Dog (Beef): Beef, Sweet Potato, Lentils, Carrot, Beef Liver, Kale, Sunflower Seeds, Salmon Oil
Ollie (Beef): Beef, Carrots, Beef Kidneys, Potatoes, Peas, Sweet Potatoes, Beef Livers, Chickpeas, Spinach
The Farmer’s Dog uses 8 food ingredients before the supplement tail and includes one legume (lentils) plus one tuber (sweet potato). Ollie uses 9 food ingredients, includes two legumes (peas and chickpeas), and layers in two organs (kidneys and liver) plus two tubers (potatoes and sweet potatoes). Both avoid every major red-flag additive: no BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, artificial colors, artificial flavors, natural flavors, by-products, or rendered meals. Both use chelated trace minerals and taurine supplementation.
Where The Farmer’s Dog pulls ahead
Shorter ingredient panel: 8 food ingredients vs. Ollie’s 9. Fewer ingredients isn’t automatically better, but in a fresh food specifically, tighter recipes mean less formulation complexity and fewer low-value filler candidates. Farmer’s Dog also omits potatoes as a distinct starch (using sweet potato alone), which stacks one less higher-glycemic carb.
Single-legume formulation: Farmer’s Dog has lentils at position three as its only legume. Ollie has peas at position five plus chickpeas at position eight — a two-legume stack. Under our rubric, neither triggers a formal "legume stack" penalty (which requires peas + lentils + chickpeas + faba beans combined at ≥3 entries in top 8), but for DCM-predisposed breeds (Golden Retrievers, Doberman Pinschers, Boxers, Great Danes), the simpler single-legume profile is worth weighing.
Sourcing specificity: Farmer’s Dog explicitly brands its beef as USDA human-grade with a documented human-grade production facility. Ollie uses USDA-sourced ingredients, but the human-grade facility designation isn’t as prominent in the label claims. Both are real commitments; Farmer’s Dog is louder about documenting it. Shop on Amazon →
Where Ollie holds its own
Deeper organ-meat stack: Ollie includes both beef kidneys (position three) and beef livers (position seven) — two different organ meats. Farmer’s Dog includes beef liver (position five) as its single organ. Kidney contributes selenium and B-vitamins; liver contributes vitamin A, B12, iron, copper. The dual-organ stack is a genuine micronutrient advantage for dogs whose owners are deliberately trying to approximate ancestral-diet organ nutrition.
Broader whole-vegetable variety: Ollie’s panel includes carrots, sweet potatoes, and spinach alongside the protein and legume fractions. Farmer’s Dog has carrots and kale (plus sweet potato at position two) but slightly less vegetable variety by count. Both get the same rubric credit for whole vegetables in the top 8.
Recipe variety: Ollie offers four proteins (beef, chicken, turkey, lamb) plus a baked line at a different price point. Farmer’s Dog offers four proteins (beef, turkey, chicken, pork) without a baked alternative. The choice likely comes down to which specific recipe fits your dog’s protein preferences. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
This is a tie on measurable ingredient quality — both A/90 under the same rubric. The Farmer’s Dog wins marginally on ingredient-panel brevity and single-legume formulation; Ollie wins marginally on organ-meat depth and vegetable variety. For DCM-predisposed breeds, lean Farmer’s Dog. For organ-meat nutrition density, lean Ollie. For the majority of households, the practical deciders are subscription UX, delivery cadence, pricing, and whether the dog’s palate prefers one recipe over the other. Read the full reviews: The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie. If feeding-trial AAFCO substantiation matters more than either brand’s formulation-only pathway, JustFoodForDogs (A/90 with feeding-trial) is the A-tier peer to consider.