Start Your Career as an Animal Nutritionist
With profit margins tighter than ever and immense pressure to make every aspect of agriculture as efficient as possible, modern farmers can't afford to be let down by any aspect of their business. Everything from crop yields to the rate of pasture growth needs to be tightly controlled, the same applies to the food their livestock eats. The right diet can help animals to grow faster, be healthier and more suitable for the industry's needs and the wrong diet can achieve the opposite - that's where an animal nutritionist comes in.
As an animal nutritionist, you'll design the diets of farm animals in order to ensure they are at the peak of their productivity for their species, factoring in a huge number of variables from age to weight to location and breed. You'll be supporting the commercial managers of the farm in helping them get exactly what they need from their supply chain, including the feed they buy and how they manage their pastures for forage. It's hugely varied as a career path, with elements to suit all lifestyles. You can spend most of your time out on the farm working directly with animals, in the lab designing new food products or working alongside food companies in the boardroom advising on sales and marketing strategies.
Opportunities for progression are also varied, depending on your chosen career path. You can choose to develop your research skills further and gain more academic qualifications in the field, or you can choose to operate as a consultant - travelling between sites dispensing advice and support. As with all agricultural and livestock jobs, it's a great choice for those who love the outdoors, but with such a varied number of options career-wise, you won't be pigeonholed into a specific area.
A career as an animal nutritionist is the perfect balance between hands-on experience with animals, data-driven research into their needs and business-focused management of a farm's requirements, this role has more than enough variety to result in a long and fascinating career.
Salaries depend on experience, but can range anywhere between £22,000 for a PhD holder in the subject - to upwards of £50,000 for a seasoned and experienced nutritionist with years of experience.
Agricultural Recruitment Specialists are the UK and worldwide market leader in agricultural, farming, horticultural and food recruitment.
If you are looking for a new role, please send us your CV in complete confidence to info@agriRS.co.uk and one of our consultants will call you to discuss options.
Alternatively, if you are a client looking to grow your team, then please contact our highly successful team on 01905 345 155.
If you would like to find out more about Agricultural Recruitment Specialists Ltd, then please visit www.agriRS.co.uk
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