The company’s current figures describe a business operating in 95+ countries, with 12 production sites across three continents, more than 1,100 employees, and around 25 million pets fed daily.13

Note: Some older Versele Laga webpages still state figures such as 11 production sites or 75+ countries. Those appear to reflect an earlier stage of the company’s expansion; newer 2026 corporate pages provide the updated figures above.

At its core, Versele Laga is an animal-feed and pet-care manufacturer rather than simply a single pet-food brand. Its business covers a broad range of animals. Historically, the company became particularly well known for pigeon and bird nutrition, but over time it expanded into food and care products for:

• Companion and aviary birds
• Racing and show pigeons
• Dogs
• Cats
• Rabbits
• Hamsters and other rodents
• Ferrets
• Horses
• Poultry and farmyard animals
• Fish
• Reptiles
• Wild garden birds
• Other animals

The company’s portfolio currently encompasses numerous specialist brands and product lines rather than one universal food formula.3

1932: The beginning

The story begins in 1932, when Prudent Versele started producing cattle feed from his grocery store in Astene, Belgium. The business grew rapidly. Within roughly five years, demand had become large enough for Prudent Versele to establish the company’s first dedicated cattle-feed factory in Deinze. The company did not originally start as a dog-food, cat-food or bird-food company; its roots are in livestock feed.

1950s: Expansion into birds and pigeons

Under the second generation of the Versele family, the company expanded its expertise beyond cattle feed. By 1957, it was investing heavily in the production of high-quality nutrition for pigeons, birds and farmyard animals.2 This period helped establish one of the company’s most important areas of expertise: specialized bird and pigeon nutrition. The pigeon business became particularly significant because specialized feeding is extremely important in racing and breeding pigeon communities.

1960s: The Laga connection

The history of the name Versele Laga is connected to the merger with the Laga-Hautekier feed business. Historical accounts describe a major merger in 1966, involving the factory of Joseph Laga-Hautekier. This helped create the corporate foundation behind the Versele Laga name that became internationally recognized.3 The name Versele Laga combines the two family and business names.

1969: Diversification

The third generation broadened the company substantially. Rather than focusing primarily on agricultural feed, Versele Laga began developing food and care products for a much wider range of companion animals and performance animals. The company also began expanding through acquisitions and into markets across Western and Eastern Europe.4 This period marks the transformation from a traditional feed manufacturer into a broader animal-nutrition company.

2010: Moving beyond Europe

A major milestone came around 2010, when the fourth generation expanded the company’s production internationally. Specialized production facilities were established in China and the United States, allowing the company to manufacture closer to important markets. This strategic shift transformed Versele Laga from a Belgian and European animal-feed producer into a global pet-nutrition company.

2015–2018: Expansion in the United States

The company strengthened its position in North America through acquisitions. In 2015, Versele Laga acquired Goldenfeast, a U.S. manufacturer specializing in premium companion-bird food. In 2018, it joined forces with Higgins Premium Pet Foods, another established U.S. pet-food company. These moves were particularly relevant to Versele Laga’s strategy in the companion bird and small-animal market.

The company describes the period from 2018 to 2025 as a phase of continuous investment. This included modern production facilities, technological upgrades, strategic acquisitions, expansion of international production and development of new animal-nutrition products. The objective was to strengthen its position as a vertically integrated manufacturer rather than simply purchasing finished products from outside suppliers.5

In 2026, the company announced a transition toward one strong master brand: Versele. The change is intended to create a stronger unified identity across its different animal categories while retaining the specialist brands within the portfolio.14

Consequently, Versele Laga represents the established historical identity, while Versele is the company’s new master-brand direction in 2026. This distinction is relevant when researching the company, as older packaging, websites and retailer listings may still use “Versele Laga”.

One of Versele’s biggest strengths is its multi-brand portfolio. Some of the best-known brands include:

NutriBird

NutriBird is one of the company’s best-known specialist brands for companion and aviary birds. It is particularly associated with extruded pellet diets for parrots and other birds. The range includes maintenance and breeding diets and has historically been one of Versele Laga’s flagship bird-nutrition lines.9

Prestige and Prestige Premium

Prestige focuses heavily on bird nutrition, particularly seed-based diets. The company describes Prestige Premium as offering bird-specific nutrition based around ingredients such as seeds, nuts and fruits.6 It is especially recognizable among owners of parrots, finches, canaries and other cage and aviary birds.

Opti Life

Opti Life is the company’s dog-and-cat nutrition line. Its positioning emphasizes complete nutrition and the relationship between pets and their owners. It represents Versele’s move into the mainstream four-legged companion-animal market.17

Complete

Complete is a range of all-in-one extruded diets primarily aimed at small mammals, including rabbits and rodents. The concept is designed to reduce selective feeding, where an animal eats only its favourite components of a mixed diet.7

Nature

Nature focuses on rabbits and rodents. Its products include natural-style muesli mixtures, snacks, grasses and related nutrition.8

Menu Nature

Menu Nature is associated with wild-bird feeding. The concept focuses on feeding wild birds in gardens and outdoor environments.

Country’s Best

Country’s Best is aimed at farmyard, ornamental and hobby animals. The range includes nutrition for animals such as chickens, ducks, pheasants and rabbits, among others.5

Cavalor

Cavalor is the horse-oriented brand in the wider portfolio. It focuses on nutrition and care for horses, including sport and performance animals.

Goldenfeast

Goldenfeast is a premium companion-bird food brand acquired by Versele Laga in the United States. It emphasizes ingredients such as dried fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes, seeds and grains.

Other brands

The wider portfolio includes brands and product families such as:

• Crispy
• Happy Life
• Lara
• Mariman
• Orlux
• Oropharma
• Reptilix
• Fishlix
• Colombine
• Plus I.C.+
• Show
• Traditional
• Classic

The exact portfolio can vary by market, and some brands have specialized regional distribution.18

Broad animal coverage

A notable characteristic of Versele is the breadth of species it serves. While many pet-food companies specialize primarily in dogs and cats, Versele has historically built substantial expertise in birds, pigeons, small mammals, horses, farmyard animals, dogs and cats. This makes it particularly relevant in specialist-pet markets.

Bird and pigeon heritage

Bird nutrition is arguably one of the company’s defining areas. Although its history began with livestock feed, the company developed significant expertise in pigeon and bird nutrition during the second generation.2 That heritage is reflected today through brands such as NutriBird, Prestige, Prestige Premium, Orlux, Oropharma, Colombine, Plus I.C.+ and Mariman. This is one reason Versele Laga is particularly well known among bird breeders, parrot keepers and pigeon fanciers.

Versele emphasizes that it is fundamentally a producer, rather than simply a marketing company outsourcing most of its products. The company currently states it produces more than 95% of the products it commercializes itself.10 Its stated production model gives it control over much of the chain, from raw materials and formulation to manufacturing, packaging and distribution. This vertical integration is important for quality control, formulation, manufacturing consistency, product development and traceability. The company currently describes 12 factories across three continents in its newer corporate materials.11

Versele positions science, nutrition expertise and veterinary knowledge as important parts of its product-development process. The company says its product development is supported by in-house veterinarians and nutritionists. Historically, it has also emphasized cooperation with nutritionists, veterinarians, universities, research centers, breeders and sporting organizations. This collaboration is particularly relevant to specialized products such as breeding diets, performance diets, pigeon nutrition, bird diets and horse nutrition.

Sustainability has become an increasingly visible part of Versele’s corporate strategy. The company reports that approximately 95% of its products are produced in-house, while it is also working on reducing packaging impacts.9 Current sustainability initiatives include:

Packaging

Versele states it is working toward making its product packaging recyclable, with a goal of having its products in recyclable packaging by 2030.10

Transportation

The company’s Deinze facility is located alongside the Leie waterway. It states that around one-third of its raw materials are currently transported by water, which can reduce emissions compared with road transport.11

Biodiversity

The company has also supported conservation initiatives, including a long-running collaboration with Loro Parque Fundación, which works on threatened species and biodiversity projects.

Versele traditionally describes its organizational philosophy around four major values:12

• Respect: Respect for animals, customers, employees, partners and the environment.
• Passion: A strong commitment to animal wellbeing and the human-animal relationship.
• Expertise: Using accumulated knowledge and specialist expertise to develop better nutrition and care products.
• Responsibility: Taking responsibility for product quality, customers, animals and the wider community.

Today, Versele is no longer primarily a Belgian company in terms of its market reach. The company says it operates in 95+ countries and feeds approximately 25 million pets every day.13 Its international manufacturing footprint extends across three continents, while its products are distributed internationally. This makes Versele one of the more substantial European companies in the specialist animal-nutrition sector.

One of the notable aspects of Versele is that it remains a family-owned business. The company describes its history as spanning four generations of the Versele family.15 This gives it a somewhat different character from many multinational pet-food corporations owned by large publicly traded consumer-goods groups. Its development has been based heavily on family ownership, manufacturing expertise, specialist animal nutrition and international expansion.

Understanding the distinction between the corporate identity and the brand portfolio is essential for researching the company.

The company explicitly describes the 2026 change as moving toward “one strong master brand Versele”, while strengthening its individual category brands.14 Conceptually, Versele serves as the umbrella or master brand, while NutriBird, Prestige, Opti Life, Nature, Complete and others function as specialist brands.

Versele’s importance comes less from being a household name like some giant dog and cat-food companies and more from its specialization and breadth. Its strongest differentiators include:

1. More than 90 years of history
2. Four generations of family ownership
3. European manufacturing heritage
4. Strong expertise in birds and pigeons
5. Large specialist-pet portfolio
6. Presence in more than 95 countries
7. In-house manufacturing
8. Extensive product development expertise
9. Multiple specialist brands
10. Expansion from agricultural feed into global pet care

The company itself describes its current portfolio as covering nine pet categories and says it feeds approximately 25 million pets every day.16

Versele Laga can be summarized as a Belgian family-owned animal-nutrition company that evolved from traditional livestock feed into a global specialist manufacturer of food and care products for companion, performance and other animals. Its historical competitive strength is particularly apparent in birds, pigeons and small animals, while its modern strategy increasingly positions the company as a comprehensive pet-care manufacturer across many species.

• 1932: Prudent Versele begins producing cattle feed in Astene, Belgium.
• 1937: First cattle-feed factory established in Deinze after rapid growth.
• 1957: Expansion into pigeon, bird and farmyard-animal nutrition.2
• 1960s: Versele/Laga business combination and continued industrial expansion.3
• 1969: Diversification into broader pet and performance-animal nutrition.4
• 1990s–2000s: Expansion and acquisitions across Europe.
• 2010: International production expansion, including China and the United States.
• 2015: Goldenfeast acquisition strengthens U.S. companion-bird business.
• 2018: Partnership/acquisition involving Higgins Premium Pet Foods.
• 2018–2025: Continued investment in production and strategic acquisitions.5
• 2026: Company begins transition from Versele Laga to Versele as its master brand.14

Versele Laga and Versele function as a “house of animal brands” rather than one single pet-food brand. The structure includes:

• Versele (Master Brand)
• NutriBird: Parrots and companion birds
• Prestige: Birds
• Opti Life: Dogs and cats
• Complete: Rabbits and rodents
• Nature: Rabbits and rodents
• Menu Nature: Wild birds
• Country’s Best: Farmyard animals
• Cavalor: Horses
• Goldenfeast: Premium companion birds
• Plus numerous specialist brands

This multi-brand structure is one of the most distinctive aspects of the company.15

Versele Laga is a 1932-founded Belgian family business that has grown into a global animal-nutrition and pet-care manufacturer. Its historical roots are in livestock feed, with especially strong development in pigeon and bird nutrition, followed by expansion into dogs, cats, small mammals, horses, wild birds, reptiles, fish and farmyard animals. Today it operates internationally and maintains a large portfolio of specialist brands. In 2026, it entered a new branding phase in which Versele became the principal master brand while established names such as NutriBird, Prestige, Opti Life, Complete and Nature continue to serve their respective categories.16

1. Our story – Versele-Laga
2. United states – Versele-Laga
3. Our brands – Versele-Laga
4. Firma Versele-Laga viert 90 jaar passie voor dieren | PIPA
5. Produkty – Versele-Laga
6. About us – Versele-Laga
7. Versele-Laga: over ons
8. Qui sommes-nous? – Versele-Laga
9. NutriBird – colorants
10. Nutribird – Colourings – Versele
11. Kleurstoffen
12. NutriBird – Farbstoffe
13. Accessibility – Versele
14. Qui sommes-nous?
15. 90 year Versele-Laga – Versele-Laga
16. 90 jaar Versele-Laga
17. Versele-Laga, the best choice for your pet – Versele-Laga
18. Brand-urile noastre – Versele-Laga