Independent Swine Nutrition Consulting for Pork Producers
Your Operation is Specific. Your Nutrition Program Should Be Too.
Pork production has never been more technically demanding. Genetics change faster than most feeding programs keep up with. Ingredient markets move weekly. New technologies arrive constantly, each promising performance gains that may or may not translate to your barn, your genetics, your cost structure. When feed is the largest single cost in production, getting nutrition right means getting it optimized for your specific operation, not just adequate.
NutriQuest swine nutritionists work with 70+ producers across the Midwest to build exactly that: a Best Cost program designed around your operation's specific genetics and economic drivers, not a one-size formula. With the support of NutriQuest, clients typically realize $1 to $5 per head in value.
$1-$5
per head in value creation
70+
producers across the Midwest
2
Ph.D. nutritionists on your side
The Best Cost Approach
Most nutrition programs are built on one of two foundations: least cost — minimize the feed bill, accept the performance trade-off — or best performance — push for maximum gain, accept the margin compression. NutriQuest does neither.
Best Cost Formulation starts with your operation’s specific economics: your genetics, your markets, your cost structure. NutriQuest models grow-finish diet economics to find the formulation that optimizes profit margin per pig — not the cheapest diet, not the highest-performing diet, but the most profitable one for your barn.
That distinction matters most at scale and in volatile ingredient markets, where the difference between a program built for your operation and one built for a generic producer can be measured in dollars per head.
How We Work With Your Operation
By-product Ingredient Valuation: By-product ingredients can be one of the most significant financial levers in a swine nutrition program or one of the biggest sources of hidden costs. The same ingredient can represent real value or real risk depending on the market, nutrient variability, and how it's included in the diet. NutriQuest accurately determines the nutritional and economic value of by-product ingredients and manages the risks of their use — a direct input to Best Cost Formulation.
Genetics-specific Formulation: Swine genetics have changed faster than most standard nutrient requirement tables. The nutritional needs of a late-maturing sire line are meaningfully different from those of a high-lean maternal line. NutriQuest formulates to the specific maternal and sire lines in your barn, calibrated to what your genetics require, not what an industry average assumes.
Independent Technology Evaluation: New nutritional technologies come to market constantly, and most of the information a producer receives about them comes from the companies selling them. NutriQuest serves as an independent technology filter by reviewing the evidence, modeling the economics for your specific operation, and helping you determine whether a technology will deliver value in your system.
What Engagement Looks Like: NutriQuest works with producers through a structured, ongoing relationship — not periodic phone calls. What that typically includes:
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Monthly in-person visits to review nutrition performance and ingredient markets
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Barn walk-throughs and production support
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Grow-finish diet modeling based on current ingredient costs and market conditions
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Collaboration with veterinarians and other technical advisors
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Customized feeding program development aligned with your operation’s goals and economic drivers
Consulting Grounded in Ongoing Research
NutriQuest swine nutritionists don't work in isolation from the science. They are connected to it. The team has direct access to NutriQuest's dedicated swine research facilities across the Midwest, including challenge modeling capabilities for enteric and respiratory health, nursery and grow-finish research centers, and a 2,800-sow research unit. When NutriQuest validates a technology or formulation approach in its own facilities before recommending it to producers, that's what independent, research-grounded consulting looks like in practice.
Feed Cost Optimization Built In
Feed is the largest single cost in pork production. Producers working with NutriQuest 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 Swine Nutrition Team
Chad Hagen, Ph.D.
Co-Founder & Swine Nutrition Advisor
Chad co-founded NutriQuest with more than 25 years of swine research, development, and production experience behind him. His career has spanned the full arc of swine nutrition science, from basic research through applied production consulting, including the development of multiple patented innovations in animal health, performance, and meat quality. Working directly with Chad means working with someone who has been inside the research, understands production economics, and is focused entirely on one outcome: improving the profitability of your operation.
Dustin Dean, Ph.D.
Senior Swine Nutritionist
Dustin brings 18+ years in swine nutrition and production, with particular depth in by-product ingredient valuation and feed application. Accurately evaluating the nutritional and economic value of by-product ingredients — and managing the risks of their use — is a core input to Best Cost Formulation, and it’s a capability Dustin has developed across hundreds of producer engagements. Dustin also enjoys the teaching dimension of the work by helping producers understand the ‘why’ behind their nutrition program so the team can execute it confidently, not just follow a formula.