Simple Farming and Coding; It’s What Makes the People Happy
What is Hidden Stream Farm Known For?
Nowadays, it would seem that the majority of food is genetically modified, grown around pesticides, or filled with preservatives, but Hidden Stream Farm has made it their mission to provide clean, healthy, pasture-raised livestock. Larger farms often use hormones to speed up an animal’s growth, to keep up with demand, but that’s not the case here. Hidden Stream Farm believes that, “healthy animals make healthy people,” and as a result they’ve dedicated their farm to producing chicken, beef, and pork with no chemicals, hormones, or antibiotics.
How is it that Hidden Stream Farm manages to keep their animals happy and healthy? Well, it’s achieved by moving cattle and chickens to fresh pasture every day and raising their animals with non-GMO feed. Why is it that this process sets Hidden Stream Farm apart? Well, according to the article, “What would it take to scale up pastured meat production?” by Pasa Sustainable Agriculture,
- “It’s estimated that less than 5% of the 32 million beef cattle, 5% of the 121 million hogs, and .01% of the 9 billion broilers produced in the U.S. were raised and finished on the pasture.”
Even though pasture-raised livestock isn’t as heavily focused on here in the U.S. that doesn’t mean that Hidden Stream Farm isn’t busy. If it wasn’t for the demand of healthier meat product options, then Hidden Stream Farm wouldn’t have had a need for a coding solution for their new packaging.
What Kind of Coding Was Hidden Stream Farm in Need of?
When Eric Klein, Owner of Hidden Stream Farm and Katy’s Eggs, first reached out he said,
- “As we expanded the Katy’s Eggs brand, we launched a new packaging label, but we needed an efficient way to mark the cases and apply an expiration date to each carton and case of eggs.”
Remember, the importance of adding origin and traceability information is to keep consumers safe; the last thing producers need to be stressing about is the whereabouts of their products. Not only does traceability information make it easier to keep track of your products, but if you ever need to recall a batch, you’re able to do so efficiently. In terms of adding date information like date codes, expiration dates, and best-by dates, this information is essential to informing consumers about the freshness of the product and whether or not it’s safe to consume or not.
Did Our SNEED-JET® Titan T6 do the Job?
After Hidden Stream Farm added a SNEED-JET ® Titan T6 to their workflow, they’ve now been able to print on hundreds of cartons and cases every week. The printer has been such a great addition that Mr. Klein even goes on to say,
- “We are glad that we found this printer through a quick Google search; it has worked very well for our needs as a small family business. Not to mention that it’s very reliable, all we need to do is keep the cartridge clean and keep the battery charged; it’s so simple to use that even our 11-year old can use it.
While the printer is simple enough to use, if you do find yourself needing some assistance, we’re only a call away. Mr. Klein goes on to say,
- “While setting the original parameters was difficult to figure out, it was nothing but a quick phone call to Sneed that got us up and running quickly.”
Overall, it’s safe to say that the printer has saved the Hidden Stream Farm a lot of time on printing mailing labels, labor, and printing costs.
