Black Hawk

Black Hawk's strongest number is not on the label, it is on the shelf. Availability scores 83 out of 100, the highest in our index, and the range is carried by all six specialist retailers we track: Petbarn, Pet Circle, Petstock, Budget Pet Products, PETO and Habitat. Ingredient quality sits at 76 and transparency at 74, both upper-middle rather than leading: seventh and eighth respectively among the twenty brands we score. Ownership sits with EBOS Group through Masterpet in Australia and New Zealand, and Australian manufacture is no separator: SavourLife and Ivory Coat are made here too.

The range is not one thing, and that matters more here than for most brands. Both dry lines we price lead with chicken as the first ingredient: Adult Chicken & Rice at 26% protein and 16% fat, rated 85 out of 100, and Grain Free Adult Chicken at 30% and 18%, rated 84. Those sit at the better end of the shelf. The recurring weakness in our scoring is that cheaper lines lean on rice and grain to fill the panel, so read the recipe, not the badge.

Black Hawk Adult Chicken & Rice 20kg carries an editorial estimate of $169.00 AUD, which is $8.45 per kg and about $2.10 a day for a roughly 15kg adult dog. The same bag sits at $189.00 on the Petbarn shelf and $149.00 on a PETO subscription, a $40.00 spread that moves the per kg figure from $9.45 down to $7.45. Member pricing closes part of it: $169.00 at Petbarn, $165.00 at Petstock. Prices are editorial estimates, so confirm the live figure with the seller.

The grain-free decision carries a price. Grain Free Adult Chicken 15kg estimates at $159.00 AUD, or $10.60 per kg and about $2.50 a day, which is $2.15 per kg above the chicken and rice bag, or roughly 40 cents a day. What that buys on the panel is 30% protein instead of 26%. It also runs $144.00 on a Pet Circle subscription against $174.00 at Petbarn, so the discount matters as much as the recipe. Not veterinary advice.

This suits a large dog fed from the discounted 20kg bag, and owners who would rather pick food up than wait on a delivery. At 76 out of 100 overall with availability at 83, nothing in the index is easier to restock, and an estimated $2.10 a day on the $169.00 list figure is competitive everyday feeding before any member or subscription price is applied. The playbook is simple: choose a named-meat-first recipe, buy the biggest bag you can store, and take the member or subscription price.

Skip it if value or the ingredient panel is your deciding number. Black Hawk scores 74 on value, third among the dry ranges stocked by three or more of the retailers we track, behind SavourLife at 78 and Meals for Mutts at 75. SavourLife's 18kg Original Adult Chicken estimates at $8.06 per kg and about $2.00 a day, under both Black Hawk dry lines. On ingredients, 76 sits below Prime100 at 83 and ZIWI Peak at 88, and transparency of 74 trails Scratch at 95. Not veterinary advice.