Who are you?
Chloe Paine
Poultry Technical Manager
I have always been interested in agriculture as a career. I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I always wanted to. This passion led me to pursue post graduate studies in agriculture and I obtained an MSc in animal science.
My career started out as a technical advisor for a large integrator with external compound feed sales and as I always wanted to understand the relationship between feed formulation and resultant observed performance on farm, I became involved in the nutrition part of the process and finally moved full time into feed mill nutritionist.
I continued to develop my nutrition role including micro nutrient content and in practical application of scientific concepts structured around precision nutrition. This led me to the role I am in now, working for Trouw Nutrition as Poultry Technical Manager.
What is important in your role?
When I approach nutrition it is as an integrated approach of three: Feed - Farm - Health.
I consider I am sitting on a three legged chair. One leg is feed (nutrition), one leg is farm (management) and one leg is health. If all of these are not equal then the chair is uneven – the animal cannot function / produce optimally; it would be uneven. If one leg is completely short the chair will fall over. In other words the best and/or highest specification nutrition for a diet cannot work / support production if health and farm management aren’t also considered.
I strive for precision nutrition, to formulate diets that come as close as possible to the needs of the animal, supporting the highest production as possible. It means reduce the “overage” or buffer that might be added into a diet (this costs money) without creating an under supply of a nutrient (this would reduce overall performance). The aim of precision nutrition is to control efficient nutrient use. It is achieved by increasing one’s ability to provide an animal with exactly what it needs at each stage of production utilising knowledge and tools such as NIR, databases, models. This maximises profitability and reduces waste.
How do you balance this with the needs of sustainability?
Sustainability is the key to a better future. For me precision nutrition and efficiency are integral in this key. Maximise production....Maximise profitability....Reduce waste....Do more with less.
Maximise (and measure) the nutrients we can get from the raw materials. To help achieve precision nutrition one must take advantage of advances in feed additives and analytical services.
An example where sustainability is supported and the accurate understanding of what an animals requirements are and then we formulate a diet exactly for that, is Split Feeding layers. We have researched and understand what nutrients a layer hen needs at what time of the day in order to optimise the number and the quality of the eggs laid. We move away from feeding one layer feed throughout the day and we create a morning feed and an afternoon feed each with its own formulation with nutrient levels for the birds needs at these times. It means we can overall feed lower protein and lower mineral levels, overall leading to less nitrogen, lower ammonia and less phosphorus emissions.
To go further in the sustainability journey we are looking for the best way and best inclusion rate for increasing the use of locally grown feedstuffs. Not as simple as it seems. For me to consider a raw material as an alternative protein substitute in poultry diets it would need to be in good supply (available throughout the year), reasonably priced (cost effective for its nutrient composition) and have adequate (with low variation) nutrient levels. We then also need to understand any limitations that could affect animal performance, anti nutritional factors such as tannins and enzyme inhibitors. A lot more work and research still needs to be carried out in this field.
In the meantime we should concentrate on optimising performance, and producing eggs or meat with the highest efficiency possible. A healthy animal is an efficient animal. A well managed animal is an efficient animal. Precision nutrition meets an animals requirements more accurately and that creates an efficient animal.
What do you do in your spare time?
I enjoy the outdoors. As a family we enjoy walking and exploring the countryside. Visiting historical sites and natural areas.
Most of our outings are dog friendly and we take our 2 pugs with us. They have climbed (Thorpe Cloud, Mam Tor, Thors Cave), covered miles of beaches and countryside, navigated sea and loch (by boat) and snow boarded!
Always involved in sport. I have participated in many in the past; running, swimming (incl open water), horse riding, tennis. Currently the sport of choice is cricket and I am a member of the Ashbourne Womens Cricket team.