Reni Hvam Nielsen is our new Product Manager for VikingBeef. She is prepared to lead a relatively new area at VikingGenetics, one that promises to be an important edge for progressive cattle breeders.
Nielsen was born in Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark. Her love and interest in cattle arose when she was still a child. Her grandfather had a small farm with around 20 cows and 30 pigs where she spent all her summer holidays and autumn breaks.
“I have always been among animals, and as a child I thought I was going to be a vet, but then I found out that you can also prevent the diseases and their problems,” she smiles.
“If you are a vet you are called when the animal is sick, but as an animal scientist you get to choose the right genetics and choose the right diet for them in order to prevent them from becoming sick”, she adds. And it was the second thing that led her to enroll in the university to study agronomy.
Reni Hvam Nielsen studied at the Royal Agricultural and Veterinary School in Copenhagen and as a part of her degree she travelled to Australia for six months where she also worked in a dairy barn where she did research.
“I had a bit of the practical approach as well as the theoretical in Brisbane, Queensland where there are a lot of beef cows”, she says while explaining that she is also interested in breeding horses and likes to ski with her family.