Independent Dairy Nutrition Consulting Built Around Your Operation
Independent Advice. Collaborative Relationships. Your Herd First.
Successful dairy nutrition starts with understanding the whole operation — not just the ration. Facilities, forages, genetics, labor, and economics all shape successful nutrition programs. Getting it right requires a nutritionist whose recommendations are shaped by one thing: what works for your herd.
NutriQuest dairy nutrition consultants work collaboratively with feed mills, ingredient suppliers, technical advisors, and each other. The team works with dairy herds across the Midwest and nationwide — from small, single-site operations to large, multi-site enterprises spanning multiple states — and brings that breadth of experience to every producer relationship.
Nutrition Built Around Your Dairy
Every operation is different: different genetics, different forages, different facilities, different goals. NutriQuest doesn’t apply a standard template. Every program is built from scratch around the specific realities of your operation, then continuously monitored and adjusted as conditions change.
Advice You Can
Trust
When a nutritionist works for a feed company, their recommendations are shaped by that relationship, whether they intend it or not. NutriQuest has no such alignment. The recommendations reflect the needs of your herd.
Better Value For Every Dollar
Feed is the largest cost in dairy production. NutriQuest’s nutrition and procurement teams work together, meaning feed cost optimization is built into the consulting relationship. Producers who want competitive ingredient sourcing alongside their nutrition program can access both through the same independent firm.
Freedom Without Disruption
Working with an independent nutritionist doesn’t mean disrupting supplier relationships you’ve spent years building. NutriQuest works alongside your existing vendors, providing an independent layer of evaluation that protects those relationships and your margins.
How We Work With Your Herd
NutriQuest dairy consultants begin with a thorough review of your facilities, forage program, genetics, labor structure, herd records, and economic goals. Only then does formulation begin.
From there, the relationship is ongoing and practical. Scheduled farm visits keep the program aligned with what’s happening in your barn. The team collaborates closely with your veterinarian, suppliers, and allied industry advisors, monitors ingredient markets regularly, and reviews production data to adjust the program as your herd and markets evolve.
Consulting Grounded In Ongoing Research
NutriQuest’s dairy consultants don’t work in isolation from science. They are connected to it. The team’s applied research program focuses on four areas directly relevant to dairy producers: Nutrition, Calf Health, Transition Cow Success, and Improved Production. Research findings are regularly presented at the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA).
NutriQuest’s dedicated dairy research facilities in Hawley, Minnesota and Eastern Wisconsin, gives the consulting team direct access to controlled trials and emerging science, so the advice arriving at your farm reflects what works now, not just what was working five years ago.
Feed Cost Optimization
Feed represents the largest single cost in dairy production. Producers working with NutriQuest also have access to the firm’s Procurement Solutions team for competitive feed ingredient sourcing — not as a separate vendor relationship, but as part of the same independent firm. Nutrition and procurement work together, which means the program that’s best for your herd can also be the program that’s best for your cost structure.
Meet the Dairy Nutrition Team
Dan Schimek, MS
Vice President, Dairy Consulting
Dan leads NutriQuest’s dairy consulting team with 20+ years of experience spanning both research and applied dairy nutrition. His career has included developing products and technologies for U.S. and international dairy markets — a breadth that shapes how he approaches each producer relationship. As VP of Dairy Consulting, Dan brings both the strategic and the day-to-day dimensions of the consulting program together for clients.
Jeff Rortvedt, PAS
Senior Dairy Nutritionist
With 35+ years in dairy nutrition, Jeff has served as lead nutritionist for some of the highest-production dairies in the Midwest. His experience spans decades of change in genetics, technology, and production systems — and his depth of knowledge shows in how he manages the details of high-performing herds. PAS (Professional Animal Scientist) credential reflects a career-long commitment to the science behind the practice. Dairy producers looking for a nutritionist who has seen nearly everything and stays current on everything new will find that in Jeff.
Mason Amundson, MS
Dairy Nutritionist
Mason has 10+ years in dairy nutrition with experience across an unusually wide range of operation sizes — from 80-cow family dairies to herds of 5,000+ cows. That range is a practical asset: Mason understands the nutrition challenges specific to smaller, owner-operated dairies just as well as the complexity of large commercial operations. Producers of any size will find an advisor who has worked in a barn that looks like theirs.
Amanda Staudinger
Dairy Nutritionist
Amanda specializes in two of the most complex and high-impact areas of modern dairy nutrition: transition cow programs and automated milking systems. The transition period is where cow health and early-lactation performance are won or lost — and AMS operations add a layer of nutritional precision that requires specific expertise. With 10+ years of experience, Amanda is the team member producers managing these challenges turn to.
Eric Staudinger
Dairy Nutritionist
Eric brings 15+ years in dairy nutrition with a particular focus on helping producers evaluate and implement new technology. New tools arrive constantly in dairy production — precision feeding systems, data analytics platforms, genomics-informed ration design — and the gap between a technology that works and one that’s right for your operation requires someone who knows how to evaluate the difference. Eric helps producers make those decisions with confidence.