About

I have more than 35 years of experience (over 15 years in New Zealand) on how to maximize homegrown feed and bought in feeds to drive animal performance and on farm production.

I completed a Doctorate in Animal Nutrition in 1984 with research on feeding dairy cows followed by three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the United States Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin doing research on forage to grain ratios for dairy cows.

I then spent 18 years with Pioneer Hi-Bred Northern Europe in the role of Head of Nutrition and Forage Conservation for Northern Europe. 

in 2005 I emigrated to NZ to work for Pioneer® brand products in NZ, and have been responsible for the management of forage products for more than 10 years. In this position I have worked closely with a range of farms  to provide solutions and technical support in how to maximise farms’ return on their feed investment through effective silage making and management as well as optimising the feed mix. I successfully completed the Advanced Overseer course for sustainable nutrient management on farm and have started to work with Farmax, which helps me to understand the complexity of the whole farm system.

Having been born and raised on a farm in North-West Germany, and with the amount of both academic and practical experience in NZ and around the world, I believe I am well positioned to understand situations on farm and transfer complex technical information into a real world setting.

Recent publications and presentations

Kleinmans, J., McDougall, S., Holmes, A. 2019. Yield and quality of whole crop faba beans harvested and ensiled at different maturities. Agronomy New Zealand 49, p.1

Kleinmans, J. 2017. 1. How to value corn hybrids in EU and NZ. 2. Silage inoculants classification and characteristic analysis. Presentations at 5th China Forage Conference, 23-24 Febr. 2017 Beijing

Kleinmans, J. 2016. A review of silage inoculants in the New Zealand market. Foundation for Arable Research. https://assets.far.org.nz/blog/files/a5227a2f-0edc-43fa-a4f3-543a08802a7b.pdf

Kleinmans, J., R.J .Densley, T. Hurley, I.D. Williams, F. Calvert 2016. Feed value of maize silage in NZ. NZ Society of Animal Production Conference July 4-7 Adelaide p.100-102  http://www.nzsap.org/view/biblio/volume/76

Kleinmans. J., W.R. Dewar, H.J.H. Erasmus, R.J. Densley 2011. Using silage inoculants to improve the quality of pasture and maize silage in New Zealand. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 73:75-80 http://www.grassland.org.nz/viewpublication.php?pubID=343

Professional Memberships

NZARN – Chairperson of NZ Association of Ruminant Nutritionist 2018-2023 http://www.nzarn.org.nz 

NZGA – Member of NZ Grassland Association  http://www.grassland.org.nz