I work directly with customers to manage diets and tailor specifications for Pig and Poultry. We have monthly NIC team meetings to discuss and develop new innovations to add to specific diets. I sit on the Pig and Poultry teams where we review and develop products including new requirements and regulations. We combine our knowledge before implementing research into different markets.

Creating VITAL

Our zinc-free pig starter feed, VITAL was implemented on the continent before being recently launched in the UK. I’ve been working with the UK technical team to run commercial trials, taking knowledge from the NIC to create a UK specific solution. Working together and reviewing data from European producers has enabled us to create a set of diets specifically for our UK producers’ needs. VITAL has been a significant project for the team and it’s great to see the culmination of years of hard work as it’s launched.

VITAL is a feed solution to zinc removal. It’s a range of diets developed for piglets that will be fed without zinc in the future, focussing on supporting gut health and growth. VITAL is part of our Nutricare approach which considers the role of health, management and nutrition as part of a complete programme.  

UK zinc-free production

The UK is one of the later European countries to take the step to zinc-free production. Different countries are at different stages with the Netherlands and Belgium having already completely removed zinc.

Favourite part of project VITAL

It’s always rewarding to work on a project which is directly relevant to what’s happening in the industry and solves a problem for customers. No two days have been the same whilst working on VITAL and I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside many teams across the business. It’s been such a varied project from designing the trials to planning the diets.