118 | nzdairy Ruminate helping to balance the Richard Loader “Ruminate manufactures a range of feed additives including everything from macro-minerals, trace elements, and vitamins right through to rumen buffers, enzymes, amino acids and everything else in between.” DAIRY SERVICES » Ruminate Innovative and passionate about making proud and successful farmers through happy, healthy animals, Ruminate’s journey began in 2016 when Alastair Nelson and business partner Jack Tarrant identi ed an opportunity to establish a company focused on ruminant nutrition. “Kiwi farmers have been heavily focused on grass as our competitive market, but it’s not a fully balanced diet,” says Alastair. “We saw signi cant opportunity to help farmers balance the diet at different times of the year for different stock classes and different production phases, and really dial up the feed ef ciency of their systems to bring animals to a premium happy state.” Over a ve-year period Ruminate Ltd has evolved from a two-man operation working out of a mate’s farm shed, to operating from a purpose-built building in Napier with a highly experienced team of fourteen, while Alastair, Jack and four team members work in the eld visiting customers, delivering a high service sales offering. “Ruminate manufactures a range of feed additives including everything from macro-minerals, trace elements, and vitamins right through to rumen buffers, enzymes, amino acids and everything else in between. Every month we go onto farm and analyse the clients’ feed resources, understand their system and any issues or limitations they believe they have, then help design a feed management programme using the farmer’s resources alongside those resources we can buy-in or grow to balance the diet. What we put into a bag for a farmer is determined on the feed testing and diet work we do on farm. We have our own feed nutrition programme called Doc Taylor, which tells us what the mix should be.” The Ruminate team provides a very close consultative service relationship with their farmer clients, sometimes involving outside specialists like vets, agronomists and feed company representatives in their farmer discussions. With its northern most client in Kaikohe and southern most in Tuatapere, Ruminate services the depth and breadth of New Zealand, says Alastair. “We have one of our team members based in the South Island and I cross the Strait each month as well. We also work very closely with veterinary clinic partners, who do some of the consultative work on our behalf. Our core customers include dairy, sheep and beef, intensive beef feeding customers, sheep and goat milking customers, and we have a retail Alastair Nelson and business partner Jack Tarrant (above). The Ruminate team (below). Feedworks is changing the Agriculture Industry. Feedworks are proud to support Ruminate Ltd www.feedworks.co.nz PO Box 530, New Plymouth 0800 584 569 We take pride in our ability to introduce new technologies, see their development through research, market investigation, commercialisation and finally a valuable profitable outcome for our customers. , , , .
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