posted on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 in AMVC Employee Blog
We’ve all heard the saying, “You are what you eat,” but how literal is that when it comes to pigs? Trey Kellner, AMVC Nutritional Services swine nutritionist, emphasizes the importance of a proper diet and what he wished people knew about both the swine industry and nutritional services.
“We feed different phase diets to meet those requirements for maximum feed efficiency while having the lowest cost production possible for both our customers and ourselves.”
Kellner strives to meet the needs for each stage of growth as precisely and economically as possible. To help complete this goal, growing pigs consume seven to eight different diets. 
Younger pigs are composed of muscle or lean tissue, and as they grow older more fatty tissues rather than muscle start developing. Since this process requires different nutrients, Kellner then must feed pigs diverse diets.
“The amount of science, care, and diversity that is in the swine industry.”
When asked what he wished people knew about the swine industry, Kellner had three main topics; the amount of science, care, and diversity this field offers. Pig farming is typically viewed as working in the barn and completing the manual tasks. While that is a very important side of raising pigs, science is also a vital aspect. There are so many scientific related 
jobs that are connected to working with swine like genetics, animal reproduction, chemistry, and of course, nutrition. Due to a wide range of jobs, the swine industry attracts people of many backgrounds to come together. Lastly, Kellner emphasized the amount of care that is put into raising healthy pigs while creating a high-quality pork product. By focusing on proper feeding, the staff at AMVC Nutritional Services is doing just that. “We are trying to feed our neighbors as well as the world,” Kellner expresses.
Being a swine nutritionist is no easy task. Kellner and the AMVC team oversee around 500 diets that are distributed across 20 different feed mills within nine different states. AMVC Nutritional Services feeds pigs from the nursey stage all the way to sow lactation. To help both the office and
farmer, an app is used to order feed. Farmers select the amount of feed they need, and the order is then sent to the office.
The task of raising pigs is constantly changing and we are adapting how to best do this. Proper diets and utilizing new technology will help us continue to professionally raise pigs.
Tags
- our team
- swine