Introducing Montana Lower

When animal activist & entrepreneur Montana Lower contacted us asking about our supply chain, like always we opened the doors, the factory and she asked us all the hard questions.

She wanted to feed her dog George good dog food, made from the best locally sourced free-range meat and certified organic produce. And, part of the process she wanted to know exactly where our ingredients came from, how we made the food and what our commitment was to sustainability.  

We knew right away that Montana and her family shared our values of truth, transparency, and sustainability.  

To celebrate Montana, George & her family joining the Frontier Pets community we sat down for a Q&A.  

Here is what she had to say…  

Why is sustainably important to you, and how do you practice it at home? 

Conscious living is a core family value we share in our home, to us that means living a holistic lifestyle that is self-sustainable, and that extends to considering the environment, economic and social/humanitarian impact in everyday decisions.  

Conscious living is a journey, and has been a natural progression for our family and the key for me has been surrounding myself with people who push me past the limits and expectations to live the best version of life that serves my family.  

 What does it mean to be an environmental engineer?  

 I was trained as an environmental and civil engineer, specialising in humanitarian engineering. Essentially it means to be able to solve and design complex systems - with respect to the environment and the people who live in it. I’ve worked on more standard projects like building roads and buildings, to designing vertical and rooftop gardens and sustainable garment production in countries like Cambodia.  

Now, I apply my knowledge to my own business, a natural skincare as a vessel to heal our earth. We do this through prioritising native and traditionally harvested plants and rewriting beauty industry standards to encourage raw beauty and self love.  

Tell us about your pets - most notably, your dog - and how they bring joy to your life?  

Georgie boy is my right hand man.  

I love going on adventures with him and my daughter Blue and watching the way they see the world with such simplicity and joy.  

Our favourite things to do are go for looooongg walks on the beach, swim after the ball together in the river, eye gaze (lol) and bike ride.  

Tell us about your journey with Frontier Pets (i.e. how long have you been using it, why did you start)? 

As a family we make sustainable choices to feed our family which includes hunting our own fish and other meats where appropriate. Our dog George would get the leftovers of our catch so he was eating a raw balanced diet that I would hand make.  

As our daughter Blue is getting older and life is getting busier chasing her round bush school, I needed a more convenient option. I was very aware that as humans we are the largest consumers of factory farmed animals and our pets are the 2nd largest.   

As a conscious consumer I wanted to extend our family values to include the whole family – and this includes George.  I didn’t want George eating meat meal often found in off the shelf pet food products. As I started to research the best diet for dogs, I came across raw food as being biologically appropriate. When you think of dogs as scavengers before they were domesticated, that makes sense and raw was what we had instinctively been feeding.  

Then when I spoke to the team at Frontier Pets, I deep dived into their supply chain, found that all their meat, offal and eggs are sourced from local free-range farmers.  

All their fruit and vegetables are sourced from Australian certified organic growers, some of which don’t meet supermarket standards and are classified as ‘ugly’ produce.  

Their commitment to a long-term sustainability plan which includes carbon neutrality, in-house designed fully recyclable packaging and animal welfare means this is a brand where you can vote with your wallet for a better world.  

We considered all these factors when consciously choosing how to feed George.   

How do you prepare Frontier Pets food for your dogs?  

It’s simple. I just add warm water and let it sit for a minute.  The resulting wet food looks exactly like a raw meal, only it smells amazing and really fresh.  

The freeze-dried process extracts all the water and adding it back in you see the bowl transfer into a beautiful nutrient rich mince for George and he just loves it.  

What do you love most about Frontier Pets as a brand, and why should MC readers choose Frontier Pets?  

It’s a way to support Aussie farmers practicing sustainable agriculture by feeding your pet a healthy free-range meal with a side of certified organic veggies, that supports good health and vitality of pets. The recipe was designed by holistic Veterinarian and animal nutritionist Dr. Kathy Cornack so in my view Frontier Pets have created food that’s built on integrity but with the right team making sure it’s a healthy balanced meal for your dog. And, so far they’ve invested over $5M into sustainable agriculture, so our pets can actually be part of the solution.  The more individuals who choose Frontier Pets the more value there is in the sustainable agriculture system, and we may be able to see the end of factory farming in our lifetime.   

Any last thoughts about Frontier Pets and/or sustainability? 

I also love they are taking water out of the shipping system through their innovative freeze-dried process.  This process is a very gentle and clever means of extracting all of the water out of the wet raw product, leaving a highly dense nutrient based food, that requires no preservatives.  It’s so convenient because you can store the food in the panty and add the water back at mealtime in your home.  Traditional dog foods, including raw, contain the water content.  That’s a huge amount of water to transport around the country – adding to the C02 emissions.   Frontier Pets not only don’t sell you water, they reduce the amount of carbon due to this reduced transport load. 

Shop dog food here.