Nick Munce has joined MSD Animal Health’s pig team as business manager. Based in the North-east, he’s well known in the pig industry and has more than 20 years experience in the animal health sector.
Originally from Northern Ireland, Nick started his career in sales with wholesaler AgriHealth – a role he says was excellent grounding for the very competitive livestock health sector.
“It gave me an astute understanding of the tough challenges farmers faced in managing herd health and how important it is for businesses working in this sector to add value to their products and services,” he added. “Those principles remain vitally important in today’s livestock health industry with technical support as important as the products on offer.”
Nick has spent the past 14 years with another leading pharmaceuticals company where he held a number of key positions. In recent years he was pig business and technical manager for the UK and Ireland, but before this he was involved with DNA technology and the opportunities it offered to advance cattle health strategies, veterinary diagnostics and improve herd performance. He says this area of molecular biology is fascinating and something that the pig industry might benefit from in the future.
“The pig sector is eager to embrace innovation to help improve and sustain herd health. Developing strong working partnerships between producers, vets and companies like MSD, is a fundamental way of integrating new technology into the industry and can help to raise productivity and achieve targets,” he said.
Proactive support
MSD continues to encourage strategic herd health management and the use of proactive, veterinary-led disease control policies, according to the director of its integrated livestock business unit, David Schofield. The pig team, comprising vet Ricardo Neto, key account manager Russ Warin, senior product manager Nick Butler and pig business manager Nick Munce, can provide support and expertise to producers and their vets, alongside a proven and expanding portfolio of porcine veterinary products.
“With increasing opportunities for expansion and more favourable market prices, producers are beginning to invest in their businesses and improving herd health is a priority,” Mr Scholfield said. “Our team is a valuable and experienced industry resource and is primed to help pig businesses raise health status, lift performance and increase profitability.”