The 25-year relationship between RCL Foods and Cobb-Vantress was celebrated during the presentation at the Golden Comb Awards in September, held in the Brahman Hills Hotel, South Africa.
Senior management from Cobb Europe spoke about the ongoing success of the relationship to the attendees of the Golden Comb Awards, made up of the owners and senior executives of poultry producers in South Africa. Wes Schwimmbacher, director of agriculture at RCL Foods, received the commemorative plaque.
“We value the long-term relationship in our business which has seen the Cobb500 become recognized as the bird of choice in South Africa,” said Pieter Oosthuysen, senior accounts and technical service manager for Cobb in Africa. “This is mainly due to it being a balanced breed, with a reputation for easy and efficient production and good yield.
“The bird is supported by our superior technical support and continuous genetic improvements that we are seeing in the breed.”
The original agreement to purchase Cobb birds was signed in 1992 when RCL Foods (then called Rainbow Chicken) purchased Bonny Bird Company who had the original grandparent facilities. They then decided on placing Cobb500 grandparent stock and these facilities supplied 50 to 60 percent of their requirements.
The distributor agreement with RCL Foods was signed in 2000 allowing the company as Cobb South Africa to start selling the breed to the entire South African market, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia. This was when RCL Foods moved to 100 percent Cobb stock in their own operations.
“RCL Foods has become market leader for Cobb500 parent stock sales in South Africa,” said Tore Mercan, sales and technical director for Cobb Europe. “We are proud to celebrate 25 years of working together and congratulate RCL Foods on achieving their successes.”
South Africa achieves some of the best performances in the world as recognized by success in the Cobb Champion Awards since their inception in 2015.
