Nutreco plans to invest in a new research unit in the Netherlands. The facility will strengthen Nutreco’s capacity in calf and beef cattle research. It expands the trial capacity for developing innovations and will enable Nutreco’s animal nutrition business to increase its presence in the global market for ruminant nutrition. The unit is scheduled to open in the first half of 2015.
In the context of a growing world population and limited resources, there is a demand for new nutritional solutions that increase animal performance, support animal health, and reduce the need for antibiotics. This investment is part of Nutreco’s animal nutrition research focus areas of young animal nutrition, health and welfare, feed efficiency and application solutions.
Research capacity
Construction is scheduled to start in the second half of this year and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015. It will be located in Boxmeer, the Netherlands.
After completion, researchers of the ruminant team will have access to a facility with 160 calf places and 80 beef cattle places. This is in addition to existing dairy cattle research units in the Netherlands and Canada. The research unit will have the latest equipment to monitor feed intake and animal performance for individual and group-housed animals. These include automatic feeders and special housing, which will make detailed metabolic studies possible.
LifeStart
The Calf and Beef Research Centre will also contribute to LifeStart, Nutreco’s new dairy calf nutrition program that will be launched in October. The development of young calves is crucial for them to reach their full potential in later life.
There is a large unmet demand by dairy farmers in this field. A thorough understanding of the mechanisms behind young animal nutrition allows Nutreco to develop new and innovative feeding programs.
