Ingredients?

[linkhttp://www.mordanna.com/dogfood]www.mordanna.com/dogfood[/link]
 
this link will teach you all you need to know about dog food.

My number one rules are trying to stay away from foods with :

*animal byproducts, grains listed first, and "splitting" (like companies that say rice, rice bran, white rice (more than two--two is fine)...or something similar).  Those are my main criteria.  If my dog had allergies, I would change my criteria.  I also *prefer* for there to be at least two meat sources first...or at least in the top 3.  

papillon: what are your thoughts on grains first in senior/less active formulas like Solid Gold's Holistique Blendz?

It is my understanding that the Holistique Blendz was made for you to mix in your own meat source (like cooked chicken, etc).  I don't think it is appropriate to feed alone.

I've used Solid Gold HB in exactly that way (mixing with approx. 50 - 75% meat or rmbs) and got great results with it.  I'm doing the same thing with Mmillenia, which is also rather grain heavy, now that summer has come and I'm switched over to barley.  The Border collies do best on oatmeal in the winter and barley in the summer, and as much fish as possible in any season.

Since I use kibble supplementally, I don't get too cut up over amounts of grain - though I want to avoid low quality fractions and whatnot as much as possible.  I've got one dog that doesn't get grain of any kind, and in fact gets very little commercial  food, period.  I've got two others that eat grain free food for other reasons (age and small white dog eye goop).

Becca,
 
I LOVE YOUR AVITAR!!!!
 
OT: have you moved recently? I see your in Semora. That's not far from where I live!

It is my understanding that the Holistique Blendz was made for you to mix in your own meat source (like cooked chicken, etc). I don't think it is appropriate to feed alone.

 
To clarify, it is fine to feed alone. 

I was in the middle of typing all the stuff i avoid in pet food when i realised thay are all listed on mordanna's site,plus loads more!

Firestorm have a look at this link,it includes everything you should avoid in your dogs food.

[linkhttp://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients]www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients[/link]

As for the holistique blendz it may be fine to feed alone,however i for one,would definately not feed it with out the addition of extra protein and fat,namely from meat,IMHO it is seriously lacking in that department!

kennel_keeper, I have indeed moved.  Our farm in Walnut cove is on the market and we've moved here where we HOPE Patrick will be able to find a better job.  Or at least one where he won't get outsourced in a year.  [8|]

Where are you?  You can PM me.  The new place is the BOMB - big pond and lots of room to run.

One of my highschool mates does IT and networking and it's been hard to keep a job that even pays well. The only reason they offshore a lot of IT these days is because people in other countries will work for much less than an american. Once those other people realize they have been taken advantage of and could make what an american is making, then they will ask for more pay. When that happens, all the american companies that thought they were saving money boy offshoring will realize they haven't and then the jobs should return to our country.
 
Case in point. Dodge superduty pick-up trucks are made in Mexico. But they don't pay the mexicans UAW level wages, like they would have to in America. They pay them in pesos at a bare subsistence level in the mexican economy. Essentially, labor there is a third of the cost here. Then, they ship the trucks back to the US and charge the price they would have to if a UAW worker built it. NAFTA was supposed to support free trade and expanded markets but it turned into a union breaker.
 
My IT friend is looking into changing careers and get into installing hot tubs and re-building motorcycles. Let's see someone try and outsource or offshore that.
 

Unfortunately Ron, these folks are NOT going to stand up, unite and demand higher pay, because they are making VASTLY more than they would doing other jobs in their country.  What they are earning NOW is a fortune to many.
 
The labor unions have done good things....but they have also gotten very greedy.  And by golly if the cost of union healthcare adds $1900 to the price of the average vehicle, then something is very wrong with that picture.

What they are earning NOW is a fortune to many

 
There's a lot of truth to that. In India, an IT worker can make about 8 to 10 grand a year, which is a fortune, in their economy. And they don't have unions. And people over here that spent $40k on education can go and flip burgers. Then, again, that's free enterprise and a company can do whatever it wishes to optimize labor costs.
 
Another high school mate, the one that has four dogs and feeds Iams, was doing contract computer programming for a major company that started offshoring. The offshore source has slipshod qc, the process takes 4 months instead of my friend's four days. And money switches columns. Expenditures in outsourcing goes up on a project after 4 months of back and forth, though stateside labor is nearly nil. So, then, the manager thinks he looks good because he reduced his labor costs by 2/3 but it's still costing as much, just in a different column on the accounting sheet.
 
I'm not union and haven't needed one but I'm getting tired of friends losing their job for someone's balance sheet.
 

Once those other people realize they have been taken advantage of and could make what an american is making, then they will ask for more pay. When that happens, all the american companies that thought they were saving money boy offshoring will realize they haven't and then the jobs should return to our country.

I know this is OT but that is not true.  That is not how economics works. Those people are making FAR more than they would in their own economy.  American companies have no obligation to pay them higher wages. Wages are based on the economy and cost of living.  OUR economy and COL determines the wages paid here. Just because we get paid a certain wage here does not mean that workers in other countries should get paid OUR wage. That's just now how it works. Even at what we would call a "slave wage" here,  that is a premium wage for them. When a person is making about $700 a YEAR in a country like Sri Lanka , Indonesia, India, Pakistan, etc..... making $20 a day is pretty damned good money,  $4300 MORE than they could make at the wage for their economy.  It really irks me when people who don't understand world economics just assume that Americans are "taking advantage" of foreign workers and cheating them. That is NOT the case by any means.  They outsource because they can pay an 'above average' wage for workers in a foreign economy that is far below what they would have to pay for workers in our own economy. Those workers are happy as hell to be working for that kind of money because they would never get paid that much by employers in their own country.

It really irks me when people who don't understand world economics just assume that Americans are "taking advantage" of foreign workers and cheating them.

 
Irking, it's what I'm good at.
 
I understand your point, wherein a company can pay offshore labor that is less than our labor price and still have those workers well-paid. Let me further show my misunderstanding of world economics by pointing out that some of these countries that we outsource to don't have the tax structure that we do.
 
Here, in Texas, where we are all raised to not understand world economics, several companies "outsource" by hiriing illegal immigrants. These guys are happy to work for less than what a legal american will make because they don't pay taxes. For example, using redneck economics, an undocumented worker making $10/hr brings home more pay than a documented worker making $12/hr and paying taxes. And the illegal may send some of his money back to Mexico to build up a retirement there, where the US dollar spends so much farther. I work with these guys every single day and it helps to bolster my ignorance of world economics.
 
So, my jobsite was pretty barren last Monday when they joined the protest against the govt asking them to acquire documentation and pay taxes like the rest of us ignorant citizens. One guy I talked to doesn't want to pay the taxes we have to pay. I asked "Tienes Te Tarjeta Verde?" (Do you have a green card?) "No" was the proud reply.
 
Once they see what taxes do to their check, they'll want raises, which won't be possible during the present contracts they are working on. Many may go back to Mexico. Mexico doesn't have the taxes we do. School districts and other clients are not going to like the increased prices of bids to pay what it's going to take to keep those workers who must now make more just to afford the taxes here.
 
In India, I could probably live like a king on $10k/yr.
 
Notice how we don't outsource to Great Britain with a tax rate of nearly 50 percent, thanks to socialized medicine.
 
But then, you may be right, I may know nothing about world economics.