For over 60 years, Aviagen has been organizing and hosting production management schools in many of the major markets of the global poultry industry. The schools are designed to support and help customers to train and develop their employees in flock management and production techniques, and to optimize the genetic performance of Arbor Acres®, Indian River® and Ross® breeding stock.

Aviagen has been in the Indian market with its own production facility since 2008 and realized that now is the right time to start a poultry management school in India. The chance to share best practices from around the world and to transfer knowledge from Aviagen’s team of specialists has proven to be influential for customers in many markets.

The school is specifically designed for production managers, supervisors and veterinarians who routinely handle the birds and manage flock performance and welfare. All generations including grandparents, parent stock and broilers are included to cover the different commercial products that are sold in India.

The initial day at the Production Management School in India delivered a welcome, an Aviagen worldwide update, a presentation on the genetic program and what to expect and some management topics including back to basics, managing broiler breeders through nutrition and hatchery “how to” publications. It closed with a talk on male management.

The second day utilized more speakers from Aviagen’s regional and specialist teams. They covered ventilation requirements for environmentally controlled and open-sided houses, gut health, broiler management, latest trends in broiler breeder equipment, poultry diseases in India and their treatments, Ross® 308 AP broiler breeder management and a presentation of best performance flock award.

The last day attendees were escorted on a tour of the Aviagen production facilities, highlighting the company’s emphasis on the importance of biosecurity. This tour was followed by a visit to the quarantine farm and a series of practical workshops on brooding setup, vaccination and post-mortem techniques and grading.

The school used a tried and tested Aviagen formula for school events: a combination of lectures, practical demonstrations and a tour of the modern environmentally controlled production facilities in Elayamuther, India. The focus of the event was “back to basics” management techniques and some key information on managing Aviagen breeding stock.

Paul Gittins, business director, Aviagen India comments, “The first poultry production school in India was a tremendous success with attendees fully engaged and embracing new information to take back and apply in their respective company operations. On completion of a customer support event like this we get motivated by the people and become even more enthusiastic about the great prospects for the domestic industry. We hope Aviagen can continue to share the success and progress made at the school and we all offer a big thank you to the customers who attended and look forward to working with them further in the near future.”