What You'll Learn
- How a working organic feed mill builds traceability from receiving through distribution.
- What documents and tests verify incoming product, from bills of lading to mycotoxin checks.
- How lot naming in an ERP system ties product to a physical location and follows it to the customer.
- Why yearly crop variation drives regular lab analysis and reformulation to meet feed standards.
- What an Organic System Plan and a mass balance audit actually involve in practice.
Watch Time: 13:15
This video profiles Scratch and Peck Feeds, an organic livestock feed manufacturer in Washington’s Skagit Valley, walking through what organic compliance looks like from receiving to distribution. Founder Diana Ambauen-Meade started this values-driven company in 2009 after failing to find organic feed for her own chickens, and being organic was a given from day one. That ethos runs through the whole facility, and this video shows how those values translate into concrete, documented processes.
Traceability is the spine of the operation. It begins at receiving, where every incoming load is verified against documents like the bill of lading, washout ticket, purchase order, and scale ticket, and backed by mycotoxin testing, moisture checks, and a magnet check for metal. Each lot gets a unique name in the ERP system that’s tied to a physical bin, and that identifier follows the product all the way through milling, bagging, and out to the customer, with operators scanning product at each handoff for both a visual and a digital record. Suppliers are vetted through a supplier approval program and the Organic Integrity Database, and finished feed carries a compliant tag showing feed type, weight, ingredients, lot number, and best-by date. Because organic crops vary year to year, the company runs regular laboratory analysis on incoming ingredients and finished feed and reformulates with a specialist partner to ensure they meet Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) requirements.
The video also grounds several organic requirements in practice. Compliance Director Tracey Vanfield explains the Organic System Plan every organic facility must maintain, and how it must include information like materials, suppliers, commingling prevention, and integrated pest management, and frames certification standards as a way to assess risk and focus effort where it matters most. She also describes a recent mass-balance audit during their organic inspection, which traced raw materials through formulation, production, distribution, and remaining inventory. The closing message returns to the theme that opened the video, that certification is what lets consumers trust the organic label and that a strong organic culture starts with leadership.
About the Featured Operation
Scratch & Peck Feeds
- Organic Livestock Feed
- Burlington, WA
- 30 Employees
- Certified organic since 2013
A manufacturer of organic, non-GMO animal feeds built on near-food-grade grains rather than fillers, formulated for poultry, pigs, goats, and sheep. Its vision centers on health—for people, animals, and the land—and on encouraging wider adoption of organic agriculture through what it calls collective leadership.
