Equine Nutrition as a Career

[chalice18]

I am wondering what the plausibility of making equine nutrition a career is? Obviously, people do it, but is it a good job market? I guess I am looking for details about the job, finding a job, etc.

I have been really struggling with deciding what I want to do as a career, after realizing that veterinary medicine might not be for me. I LOVE it, but I’m not sure it is my career path. That said, animals are my life, and I would love to work with them in some capacity. However, working with animals and paying the bills don’t always seem to go hand in hand.

I took an Equine Nutrition class through the University of Edinburgh two years ago and loved it. And it’s something I have always had in the back of my mind. I’m currently looking at NC State’s MS/MAS program in Animal Science and am fascinated by the classes.

Does anyone have any experience, thoughts, or input on this type of career? Thank you!!

[ShoulderIn]

I’m currently a senior at NC State in Animal Science, and a lot of my professors are in Nutrition and they do pretty well for themselves! You will do a lot with research and jobs are mainly with universities., but it’s hands on and they get to be with their families at the end of the day. Nutrition was not my favorite subject (I was counting down the days until the end, but I know that is given them a lot of opportunities! If you need any contacts to them, I’m happy to help you!

[sublimequine]

All the equine nutritionists I’ve come across are DVMs.

[Ghazzu]

There are plenty of nutritionists with PhDs out there, and some with both a DVM and a PhD (a classmate of mine is one.)

Most of the Purina feeds (equine and other livestock) research people are PhD’s.

[BeckyS]

You could look at being a nutritionist in another type of field, as well. We have a nutritionist that comes to the dairy farm every so often, takes samples of feed, and comes up with a TMR for each age group of our animals getting silage.

I always thought it sounded like a fun job, but I never really enjoyed science.

[cutter99]

Many feed companies hire people with Animal Science degrees for both formulation and nutrition work, as well as work with dealers and end user customers. That is not to say advanced degrees are not wanted- my husband has a Master’s and PhD in Animal Science has has never experienced a shortage of potential employers.

I was a Business major in college, and had a very successful 15+ year career in feed sales, and have worked for 2 of the top ten world wide manufacturers. I sold for all species, but did most of my work in the equine area. At times I worked my butt off, like many, many 70 + hour weeks, BUT was very well compensated in both salary and commissions, plus cell phone, car stipend and mileage, insurance, ESOP, continuing education reimbursement, and other yearly bonuses for outstanding achievement. I have been on farms ranging from back yard places to some of the finest Olympic level riders in the world, and everything in between.

[moonlightsonata]

go the DVM route

[Ghazzu]

[QUOTE=moonlightsonata;8753130]
go the DVM route[/QUOTE]

Why not? spend the rest of your life neck deep in debt.

The OP stated she wasn’t sure that vet med was the route she wanted to go.
Anyone who isn’t 110% sure that it is the only thing they want to do would be foolish to take that path.

[gottagrey]

Its probably a tight job field but one where the job market is not flooded with applicants - and it falls into the ever increasing popular STEM career path… not only nutrition but you could also get into some sort of pharmaceuticals - drug rep or something like that. I think as more owners, trainers, etc get more educated and open area pastures decrease or when there’s issues w/ drought/fllooding animal nutrition because increasingly more important.

there are plenty of animal related careers that extend beyond vet/ vet tech. Pursue it and my best wishes to you in your chosen career path