A new partnership for Cobb-Vantress with hatchery company Grelier is leading to a significant increase in the market share for the Cobb500 broiler breeder in France.
Grelier, the broiler distribution subsidiary of Hendrix Genetics, is a leader in day-old chick sales in the French market. Now known as Caringa, the company has a very strong position in many parts of France for both colored and standard broilers.
According to Paul Brochard, Cobb manager in France: "Cobb has been associated with Grelier over the past two years in the production and distribution of hatching eggs and day-old chicks in France and in export markets, and now the French poultry integrators are fully recognizing the breed's advantages - from more chicks at the hatchery to the higher meat yield at the processing plant.
"The Cobb500 is regularly showing more than one percent higher yield than dwarf breeds at weights under 2kg. French hatcheries have also [learned] very quickly how to manage the breed and get good performances in terms of hatching eggs and hatchability, with a very low number of floor eggs.
"On the broiler farm, many growers confirm that the bird is easy to manage and achieving good performances whether in feed conversion or daily weight gain with good liveability."
Mathieu Lemarie, general manager of Grelier Poussins Accouveurs/Caringa, added, "The Cobb involvement in France, and the technical support it provides at all the levels, is showing the real potential of the Cobb breed which will continue to strengthen its market share."
