Rienk van der Scheer
Next year, Rienk van der Scheer will celebrate 35 years at Schothorst Feed Research. “In the late ’80s, after completing my Animal Husbandry studies in Groningen, it was tough to find work,” he explains. That’s why Rienk chose to pursue an additional degree in Agricultural Information Science, and with that, he started on May 1, 1990, as an assistant in trial automation at Schothorst.
From Data to Results
“In my early years in Lelystad, we didn’t have a network, so I spent hours underground laying cables. Fortunately, I’m not claustrophobic. I was also responsible for connecting the workstations in the main building and barns to the network,” Rienk recalls. Now, as a trial supervisor and system administrator, Rienk benefits from increasing automation in data collection, which has improved accuracy and efficiency. “Automation allows us to record more data with fewer errors,” he says, adding that researchers now get direct access to trial data. For instance, dairy cows are automatically weighed and scored twice daily, and the intake of feed and water for both poultry and pigs is tracked automatically. When needed, SFR coordinates specific slaughter data with smaller abattoirs to meet research requirements. This extensive data collection has built SFR’s expertise, which they share with the industry through training and courses.
Today, Rienk mainly works with poultry: “We monitor feed intake, of course, but we can also track water intake per pen, which is essential for many trials. For laying hens, egg production and (individual) egg weights are also recorded automatically.”
Much has changed in his field over the decades, but Rienk sees a constant factor: “As a trial supervisor and system administrator, you’re really at the center of it all; I coordinate with researchers, the lab, and animal caretakers to ensure every trial is conducted accurately and that clients get reliable answers to their research questions.” Rienk finds it very important that SFR involves all parties early on in discussions about trial proposals. “That way, we can determine what’s needed to gather all the data, and at the end of the trial, we hand over all the collected and analyzed data to the researchers.”
What Rienk appreciates at SFR is the collaboration with many different people: “It’s truly a team effort, and communication is easy.”
Living in Lelystad, Rienk bikes to work every day. “It’s about a half-hour ride, which is a nice distance,” he says. “It also keeps me in good shape.”
