Cargill appointed Nicky Oelbrandt as junior ruminant nutritionist. She will provide technical support for its Animal Nutrition and Premix Business’ ruminant team based in Central and Western Europe, Middle East and Africa. Oelbrandt is based in the Provimi brand office in Rotterdam but will also work at the Cargill Animal Nutrition Innovation Center at Velddriel, The Netherlands.
She also supports the ruminant product manager and the commercial team, advising customers on the use of Provimi products and services and ensuring they gain maximum benefits from the portfolio. A recent master's graduate in animal sciences from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, Oelbrandt specialized in adaptation physiology in different animals, looking at the effect of feed on the animal’s performance.
After graduating, she completed an internship for Provimi based at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia. She gained a great deal of experience from the ruminant nutrition team and co-operated in a large feedlot trial to investigate the effect of replacing urea with nitrate in beef feedlot diets.
Oelbrandt was responsible for gathering and analyzing data in the trial including feed intake and body weight gains, and for analyzing blood and feed samples. She then reported results to the team. In addition, she collaborated in research on the effect of dietary nitrate on the blood methemoglobin levels in steers.
