A Flint River Ranch News Feed

The Flint River Ranch company has announced it will be increasing the price on its Flint River Ranch Lamb, Millet, and Rice Dog Foods effective May 10th, 2008, so make sure to get any needed lamb and rice dog food orders in before then.  On May 10th the prices will change from:

FRR Lamb & Rice – 20lb bag (LMR20): From $30.89 to $32.89
FRR Lamb & Rice – 40lb order (LMR40):  From $56.79 to $58.79
FRR Lamb & Rice – 200lb order (LMR200): From $276.99 to $289.99
FRR Lamb & Rice – 520lb order (LMR520): From $679.99 to $729.99

The price changes are due to the continued price pressures on the cost of ingredients in Flint River Ranch pet foods.   Following the pet food recall in 2007, many pet food manufacturers turned to buying their lamb exclusively from New Zealand, which has long been recognized for its high quality and efficient production capabilities.

Large commercial pet food companies have made a huge impact on the cost of lamb since most have discontinued purchasing from their old sources in China.  This coupled with the declining value of the US dollar and a historic drought in New Zealand and Australia (severely depleting their viable crops) has caused commodity pricing to soar to historic levels.

Flint River Ranch has made contractual agreements with its suppliers to maintain its quantity and high quality demands, but it has had to do so by agreeing to purchase lamb at the same price being offered by the larger pet food factories.  This has resulted in the cost of lamb literally doubling overnight.

The cost of pet foods ingredients like lamb continue to rise without any sign of leveling off, but we will continue to do our best to keep Flint River Ranch prices as affordable as possible.

As previously mentioned, the official Flint River Ranch company initiated a change in shipping at the beginning of the year with the result that all “small box” shipments (Flint River Ranch pet foods and treats under 20lb in weight) and custom shipping will now be shipped only from the two main FRR distribution facilities — Atlanta, Georgia for all East coast customers and Denver, Colorado for all West coast and most central state customers.

This change has created slightly longer shipping timeframes for many customers as well as an increased number of multi-item orders being shipped out from different FRR distribution centers, resulting in products in the same order often arriving on different days.

As of April 3rd, 2008, we’ve added support for multiple UPS Tracking Notifications to handle these types of shipments. Both our online customer account system and our order notification e-mails have been upgraded to now display multiple UPS tracking numbers and scheduled delivery dates for multi-item FRR orders in which deliveries are scheduled for different days.

We also want to take a moment to provide an updated list of Flint River Ranch official distribution facilities and the areas they currently serve:

Western U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

* Denver, Colorado (Commerce City, CO) – Official Flint River Ranch West Coast Distribution Center
Serves all West Coast states and most central states in the United States, with regular and “small box” shipments to Flint River Ranch customers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming

Los Angeles, California (San Bernardino, CA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada

San Francisco, California (Stockton, CA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Northern California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona

Salt Lake City, Utah (UT) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and California

Portland, Oregon (Tualatin, OR) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana

Eastern U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

* Atlanta, Georgia (GA) – Official Flint River Ranch East Coast Distribution Center
Serves all East Coast and some central states in the United States, with regular and “small box” shipments to Flint River Ranch customers in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Thornburg, PA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, District of Columbia (D.C.), West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin

Keene, New Hampshire (NH) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island

Tampa, Florida (FL) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Florida and Georgia

Central U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

Chicago, Illinois (Addison, IL) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Missouri

Columbus, Ohio (Chillicothe, OH) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Maryland

Kansas City, Kansas (KS) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, and Tennessee

Dallas, Texas (Northwest TX) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas

Minneapolis, Minnesota (St. Paul, MN) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota

If you’re interested in learning how long a FRR shipment might take to your state, you can utilize our helpful new Flint River Ranch Delivery Graph to get an average timeframe for deliveries as well as the most common distribution locations used for shipping FRR pet foods and treats to your state.

In an earlier post we mentioned some of the changes in store for the main Flint River Ranch company in 2008. Here at A+ Flint River Ranch we have some exciting developments going on behind the scenes as well. One has already been put into production, while two other additions are only a few weeks away from making their debut. Check out what we have in store for you in the very near future.

Enhanced Automated UPS Tracking Now Up and Running

We’ve completely re-written the code that handles our UPS Tracking Notifications for Flint River Ranch pet food orders. This code tracks the time of shipment, Flint River Ranch shipping distribution center used for the order, and most importantly to the customer, handles the e-mails that are sent out letting you know when you can expect to receive your shipments.

We’ve optimized the code to more efficiently inform you of shipping information. In other words, you can expect to receive your tracking notification e-mails quicker than ever before with more important information in the shipping update e-mails than ever before.

Coming Soon: Auto-ship Information Available Online

By popular request we will soon have extensive auto-ship information available online for our Flint River Ranch automatic shipment customers. In just a few weeks you will be able to log in to your Flint River Ranch account to view your complete automatic shipment information, including the products in your auto-ship, the frequency and current status of your automatic shipment, the next scheduled shipping date for your upcoming auto-ship, the current shipping address information, the credit card expiration date, and more.

Even better, you’ll be able to make changes to your automatic shipments online before your next shipment is sent out, so, for example, if you need to ship to a different location or change the frequency or date of your next shipment, you’ll be able to do so quickly and efficiently through our online interface.

No other Flint River Ranch distributor — or even the Flint River Ranch official company — has these capabilities available at this time, so we’re very excited to be able to make this functionality available to our customers in the next few weeks.

Coming Soon: Flint River Ranch Discount Coupon Codes

We are also working hard to add the ability to use discount coupon codes when checking out. This functionality will enable us to offer seasonal promotions, referral discounts, and special reward coupons to our customers, with the discounts automatically applied to your order at online check-out.

We expect to have the online automatic shipment information manager available prior to the release of the discount coupon codes, so at this time we’re estimating this functionality will be making its debut in another month or two.

These are just a few of the many projects we’re currently working on behind the scenes at A+ Flint River Ranch, and we hope they will be just several of the many unique features and services that lead our customers to continually select A+ Flint River Ranch as their one and only choice for ordering Flint River Ranch pet foods.

Flint River Ranch will soon be adding a new dog food formula to its product line. The Flint River Ranch Chicken & Rice Nugget PLUS formula will be enhanced with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate supplements, or glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), for arthritis and joint pain-related care and comfort.

The Chicken and Rice PLUS formula will be similar to the existing Flint River Ranch Senior PLUS formula, but it will come in the nugget form (as opposed to the irregular-shaped kibble pieces) and will not have the reduced calorie and reduced fat properties of the Senior Lite and Senior PLUS formulas. We expect it to be an ideal formula for active, non-overweight adult dogs with existing joint issues or the predisposition for arthritis and other joint-related issues.

Flint River Ranch has some new developments in the works for 2008 that we want to let our customers know about. (At A+ Flint River Ranch we also have some exciting enhancements in store for 2008 that you can read about here.)

First, the not-so-exciting news is that the Flint River Ranch official site has announced the company will be raising its prices effective January 14th, 2008. While we have very little flexibility in terms of working with the prices that Flint River Ranch sets, rest assured that we will continually strive to keep our operating costs and other expenses as minimal as possible in order to ensure that you continue to receive the absolute lowest prices on Flint River Ranch pet foods and treats.

As far as why prices are increasing, there are two major factors exerting pricing pressure on the company. The first has resulted from so many pet food companies that previously used cheap (and potentially toxic) Chinese-imported ingredients in their pet foods finally looking to convert to American-grown ingredients after the international pet food recall in 2007. Flint River Ranch has used these high-quality, human-grade ingredients grown in the United States for more than 15 years, but the increased demand from so many new pet food companies has made it increasingly difficult and more expensive to acquire these high-quality ingredients. Vendors with whom FRR has purchased from for the past 15 years can now pick-and-choose whom they want to sell to, and prices have unfortunately been going up with each order.

This pricing pressure from increased demand for high-quality ingredients has been compounded with the rising cost of energy, which has had a dramatic increase on the cost of doing business, especially in terms of shipping costs. In order to keep Flint River Ranch’s extremely high quality of production consistent, the company has had to start paying higher costs for its ingredients and operations.

As a result, after January 13th, prices on average will raise about $1 for the 10lb bags, $2 for the 20lb bags, and $3 – $4 for the 40lb orders (view all of the new Flint River Ranch prices here).

The good news is that Flint River Ranch customers can take advantage of current pricing through January 13th, so make sure to get any large orders in over the next two weeks. The even betters news is that current A+ Flint River Ranch customers will receive an automatic 5% discount when placing orders over $150 from now until January 13th!

Additional FRR Changes to Look For in 2008

In 2008 Flint River Ranch will continue to focus on streamlining operations in order to keep prices as affordable as possible without sacrificing any of FRR’s ultra high-quality standards. One immediate change of note for 2008 is that all “small box” shipments (FRR bags and products under 20lb in weight) and custom shipping will be shipped only from the two Flint River Ranch official site distribution facilities — Atlanta, Georgia on the East coast and Denver, Colorado on the West coast. As a result, some orders may take a day or two longer to arrive than they previously did, and customers placing orders for multiple items may have their orders shipped out from different FRR distribution centers, resulting in some products arriving on different days.

If you’re interested in learning how long a FRR shipment might take to your state, you can utilize our helpful new Flint River Ranch Delivery Graph to get an average timeframe for deliveries as well as the most common distribution locations used for shipping pet foods and treats to your state.

In terms of product returns, the Atlanta and Denver distribution facilities will now be the only two locations for returns to be handled, and if you need to make a return you’ll now need to first call (1-800-354-6858) or email the Flint River Ranch Operation Center for an RAC (return authorization code) before a return can be processed.

In terms of product changes for 2008, the Flint River Ranch company will gradually be eliminating the regular Senior Lite formula in order to focus on the Flint River Ranch Senior PLUS formula, which features all the same ingredients as the regular Senior Lite formula while adding Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate supplements for arthritis and joint-related pain prevention and management.

The company is also expected to combine the best attributes of its Adult Cat Lite and Cat Hairball Management formulas into one formula that’s even more palatable and beneficial to your cat’s health. Cat lovers looking for a highly nutritious, tasty cat food that’s both high in protein and low in carbohydrates will find the new formula offers the best of both worlds.

Flint River Ranch has also seen a slight increase in complaints over the past year for some of the Adult & Puppy Dog Food formula, the Lamb Meal, Millet, and Rice Dog Food formula, and the Senior formula bags having too much kibble breakage and excessive morsels of small size. Flint River Ranch is considering gradually transitioning these formulas from the kibble-sized pieces to the oven-baked “nugget” shapes currently used in the Rainbow Trout & Sweet Potato Dog Food formula and the Nugget Dog Food Formula.

The change would give FRR a visually consistent product while eliminating the possibility of excessive kibble breakage and any ‘crumbling’ issues due to shipping and handling. The nugget shape would also allow Flint River to market a better product since the oven-baked nugget form incurs less waste in production and is more durable during shipping.

We continue to be invigorated by the opportunity to serve our customers the highest-quality pet food currently available, and both A+ FRR and the main Flint River Ranch company have many enhancements and changes in store for this year — we think everyone will be pleased with what we have planned in the coming months.

Happy New Year!

We have a short post today to let our customers know we’ve put together a listing of Flint River Ranch reviews, ratings, and feedback from unbiased sources across the Web that testify to Flint River’s unmatched ultra premium quality and A+ FRR’s exceptional customer service. We’d love to hear from you as well — please don’t hesitate to send your Flint River Ranch reviews, comments, and feedback to us.

> New Flint River Ranch Reviews and Ratings
> New Customer Testimonials

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Holiday season!

With winter rolling in and the holiday season in full swing, shipping delays for Flint River Ranch pet foods may occur from time to time. Added shipping times during the holiday season are to be expected, and seasonal weather can impact shipments as well. Flooding in the Pacific Northwest earlier this month had a minor delay on some shipments to Oregon and Washington, and the recent major snow and ice storms in the Midwest and Northeast (and elsewhere across the country) impacted some shipping times to these parts of the country.

Please take the possibility of increased shipping times into account when placing your Flint River Ranch pet food orders and consider that while many shipping times will still be in the normal 2 to 4 business day range, some shipments may be closer to the upper end of the 5 to 7 day period at times.

Flint River Ranch has also initiated a recent change in shipping that will result in pet food and treat products under 20lbs in weight now being shipped only from one of the two main Flint River Ranch distribution facilities — Atlanta, Georgia, and Denver, Colorado. Multiple-item orders that contain some products under 20lbs and some 20lbs and over will be shipped via UPS from multiple distribution centers and may arrive in multiple shipments on different days as a result.

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday season, and we thank you again for continuing to make the health and wellness of your pets a priority!

At A+ FRR we’re always looking for ways to save our customers money, and we’re excited to announce the latest savings on Flint River Ranch pet foods. Our Flint River Ranch Adult Lite Cat Food Formula (LIT) cat food is now available in a convenient 36lb ordering size.

By selecting the larger 36lb LIT option over the standard 9lb bag, cat food customers will receive 4 6lb bags of the Flint River Ranch LIT cat food formula while saving nearly 10% compared to purchasing four individual bags ($72.49 compared to $78).

So continue to get the absolute lowest prices on Flint River Ranch pet foods at A+ Flint River Ranch, and save over $5 with our new 36lb FRR Lite Cat Food Formula option! And stay posted for more ways to save on Flint River Ranch food in the future!

» Order our FRR Adult Lite Cat Food Now!

The following is a brief recap of a recent conversation with a potential Flint River Ranch customer with their comments and our observations. It started with the individual’s statement that Flint River Ranch pet food products have not been changing its formulas to “keep up with the times.” The customer was feeding a more “modern” brand, believing that Flint River Ranch formulas were “old-fashioned” and “out-dated.”

We have always taken great personal pride in the fact that our pet food formulas are truly a selection of the very finest quality ingredients that are properly combined for superior nutrition. A 15-year history of demonstrated results of our “standard” formulas speaks for itself. Considering that our structured dog food and cat food formulas do utilize the oven-baking manufacturing process, we might appear to some as “old-fashioned.” To get a better understanding for the person’s comments, we asked for more detailed feedback and they provided the following.

The label on my dog food says “Organic” and therefore must offer better nutrition…

Does the label say 100% organic? Doubtful. “Organic” is often hyped for offering better nutritional value, but that’s not always the case. It does indicate that environmental care has been used in eliminating chemicals and pesticides — something Flint River Ranch has focused on since we started. Having said that, pet food that hasn’t been manufactured in a complete organic plant environment cannot be considered organic.

High quality ingredients have the same nutritional value when properly handled in the manufacturing process. If poorly handled, any ingredient, including organic can have limited nutritional value. We could hype Flint River Ranch formulas as they do include some organic ingredients. As our plant is not 100% organic, we prefer to refer to our ingredients as human quality. In addition to required supplier certification, we also test extensively for toxic molds, chemicals, and pesticides.

The label on my dog food says “Whole Chicken.”

Whole chicken really means whole chicken, which of course can include bones, blood, intestines, heads, feet, and in some cases feathers. Flint River Ranch uses only the meat portion of chicken — there are never any poultry by-products in our chicken meal. The hormone-free, human-grade chicken we use is of the same high quality that you feed to your family.

The label on my other dog food has “Herbs, Botanicals, and Nutraceuticals…”

Nutraceuticals include generically-engineered designer foods — genetically modified grains, dietary supplements, pharmafoods, and physiochemicals (including herbs). Herbal products in particular should be used with caution because of their potential with toxicity. Just because herbs are natural doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good – or safe – for your pet.

There are many herbs that are GRAS (generally recognized as safe), but what works for one dog may be extremely toxic to another and should not be randomly available to all types of dogs. They must be properly supervised by a trained veterinarian familiar with the guidelines and current regulations. The extremely small amount of botanicals in pet foods generally follows the old adage of “above all else, do not harm” and are generally included primarily for marketing hype, providing little if any value to the pet’s health.

A quality dog food does not need supplements unless recommended by a professional to treat or cure a specific issue. Don’t put your family pet at risk from marketing hype claims. Check with your professional veterinarian or caregiver that knows your dog or cat and do your own research. It is not the tinker-toy list of ingredients that is important — what is important is how well the nutrients are digested and utilized by the animal.

The label on my dog food has “Cellulose” needed for good fiber.

Cellulose is the main ingredient of plant tissue and fiber, including trees. It is also used in the manufacturing of explosives, paper, and textiles. Basically, Cellulose is “sawdust” used as a cheap filler in pet foods.

You are your pet’s master and not his medical doctor. It does makes sense to help prevent disease and other health challenges with proper nutrition supported by professional care. Our industry that offers many fine dog goods is the same industry that offers low-quality garbage foods as well.

While it has been known in the industry that many pet food brands are made by companies that specialize in private label products — i.e. companies that produce products for a large number of different brands. Generally, we have no problem with this if the ingredients are as represented.

The challenge became public knowledge with the recent major pet food recall. Flint River Ranch does not “farm out” any production.

All our products are made in one plant with certified USA ingredients. (Note: All ingredients used in Flint River Ranch foods are from the United States except for our certified range-fed lamb meal, which comes from New Zealand).

The cost is higher to seek out the finest ingredients, require supplier certification with our own continued in-house testing and production quality control; however, we believe our animal companions are worth it — we are sure most of our customers do as well.

Flint River Ranch behind the times? We think not. We just happen to make the very best pet food in the national market. Our only real disadvantage might be the general lack of consumer knowledge about our industry, ingredients, and what it takes to make a great pet food.

Wal-Mart has pulled two Chinese brands of dog treats from its shelves following customer reports of sickened pets. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stopped selling Chicken Jerky Strips from Import-Pingyang Pet Product Co. and Chicken Jerky treats from Shanghai Bestro Trading on July 26th. The company subsequently conducted 17 sets of tests on the dog treats, with test results released today indicating the presence of trace amounts of melamine in the treats.

A statement from Wal-Mart warns customers to be especially wary of Chicken Jerky treats from Shanghai Bestro Trading with a UPC number of 0087784900006 and item number of 839751. Wal-Mart officials don’t know if the amount of melamine found in these dog treats would be enough to sicken or kill a dog that ate the suspect products, but there’s been at least one report of a customer claiming her dog died after eating some of the tainted treats.

MSNBC has more on this developing story.

» View Our Complete 2007 Pet Food Recall FAQ