Achieving the performance and genetic potential of the Arbor Acres Plus breeder and broiler in the local market was high on the agenda at a recent customer roadshow organized by Arbor Acres South Africa. Attendees at the annual event were shown what can be achieved with Arbor Acres by a number of international and local technical specialists, who are available for customers to optimize their performance and secure the genetic potential available from the industry's leading breeding company.
The event attracted 75 people in total, including hatchery and broiler managers from Chubby Chick Breeder, Supreme Breeder, Sovereign Foods Breeder and Botswana Breeders.
Aviagen's Mohsen Ganjaei, technical services manager for Arbor Acres in the Middle East and Africa, explained how to increase chick numbers with good production persistency while Eddie van Lierde, incubation specialist, demonstrated why it is important to keep your broiler eggs and chicks comfortable, and explained how it is done.
Dr. Zoltán Marton, Aviagen veterinarian within its Global Veterinary Team, who provides veterinary advice and support to Arbor Acres customers throughout the Middle East, Africa and Russia and Eastern Europe regions, also gave an overview of osteoarthritis, beak necrosis and anti-parasitic drugs.
Ganjaei said: "We were delighted that so many PS customers attended the roadshow and that we were able to provide useful and relevant insights and technical knowledge to support them. This meeting tackled some difficult topics but also showed the levels of flock performance that is possible with the Arbor Acres birds. The key theme throughout was that modern genetics require modern management and I believe our customers found this very useful."
Puzant Dakessian, Arbor Acres commercial manager for the region, added: "The popularity and success of Arbor Acres in Africa has been on the rise in the last year and this event provided an excellent opportunity to discuss a variety of issues with PS customers in the region. We've seen broiler performance increasing significantly in the last few years with regard to feed conversion and body weight, with feed conversion improving on average by 2 to 3 points annually and body weight by 50 grams. Further performance increases will be witnessed in the years to come."
