The first chicks have been hatched at a new facility that Cobb has opened in Turkey to supply increasing demand in the country and across the Middle East.
Cobb has made a multi-million euro investment in purchasing and completely redeveloping the hatchery located in Bandirma, south west of Istanbul.
The hatchery has been designed initially to produce 5 million parent stock a year, with the first order of Cobb500 being supplied to Banvit, which has been a Cobb customer for many years and is one of the leading producers in the Turkish market. The facility has been completely redesigned and upgraded to comply with Cobb's global standards with the emphasis on efficiency and biosecurity.
"The hatchery will operate as a single stage operation to ensure optimum chick quality for our customers in Turkey," said Lloyd Ponder, Cobb Europe hatcheries manger. "We hatched our first parent stock using the single stage format and have been very pleased with chick quality from day one.
"We also commissioned Petersime in Belgium to redesign our ventilation for the hatchery. This ensures we have air handling units feeding into each room to optimize the pressure and air volumes to each room so we can consistently achieve the best results for our customers."
Cobb's partner in the venture is Erol Can, who has been the company's sales agent for the past five years. Erol will lead the Turkish operation and continue to be an important driver of Cobb's growth in the region.
"The hatchery is in an important strategic position," said Mark Sams, Cobb business unit manager for the Turkey region. "Turkey represents a large and important market, and the hatchery is well placed to supply the growing local demand for our breed as well as helping to cater for the success of Cobb throughout the Middle East.
