Efficient egg grading
The OptiGrader range is a famous range of grading machines, especially in the United States. These types of graders are setting high standards in food safety, egg quality, cleanability, sanitation, and performance.
Farmers Hen House consists of local Amish and Mennonite farms that are located in Bloomfield (IA), Kalona (IA), and Northern Missouri. What started as just 3 farms has grown to an astounding 50 farms today. The company’s product range includes free-range, organic free-range, and pasture-raised organic eggs of the highest quality.
They also show that local + traditional farming certainly does not mean old + outdated. Farmers Hen House successfully deploys blockchain technology for showing reliable egg heritage data, and through that runs a state-of-the-art egg traceability platform that provides the consumer with maximum transparency.
Growing the market means more business for local farms
It’s impressive what the company has achieved so far, but they won’t just stop there. “We constantly aim to grow our sales because it allows us to grow our team and provide a market for even more farmers”, says Ryan Miller, President of Farmers Hen House.
This growth mindset has already led to a strengthening of the local farmer communities within the network. A growing production also requires a production facility with equipment able to handle the new capacity and quality requirements.
So in 2018, Farmers Hen House decided to move on from their old grader and go for a serious upgrade.
“We had Diamond egg grader previously and felt like the SANOVO OptiGrader would be the easiest transition from that machine. The loader’s small space and the reliability was also something we liked, as well as the longevity and quality of the transfer”, explains Ryan Miller.
Performance to rely on
Since their brand new OptiGrader 600 started production in 2019, the machine outperformed expectations with improvements in throughput, machine up time, and flexibility in regards to the packing operations.
“The OptiGrader has exceeded my projections by 10% on throughput and our up time has also exceeded our estimates by 1-2%. I really like the loader and how it handles the product, but also the packing lanes are really good at handling the variety of cartons that we use”, elaborates Ryan Miller.
We are looking back at a great collaboration with Farmers Hen House and are proud to supply grading equipment to a company with strong values and ambitions in strengthening local communities.
If you want to learn more about the company and its products, please check out www.farmershenhouse.com. They even have some great egg recipes to try at home!