One of the highlights of Aviagen's recent Central and Eastern European (CEE) Conference was the presentation of the regional Ross Parent Stock Flock Awards. The awards are given every second year to congratulate customers on achieving the genetic potential of their Ross flocks in a region where Ross is the breed of choice.

Winners from each country were selected from the data they had supplied to Aviagen's technical team. The top three performers were Perutnina Ptuj d.d. of Slovenia, D.O.O. Spasic Farm of Serbia and Croatia's Koka d.d., all of which managed to maximise the potential of their birds through good management practice. Perutnina Ptuj were the proud recipient of the regional flock award for the second time running with an outstanding result of over 143 chicks per hen-housed (60 weeks) – a truly remarkable achievement.

Jonny Harrison, Regional Technical Director, said: "These awards are given in recognition of the excellent management and hard work demonstrated by our customers. We are really impressed with the overall performance of Ross stock within the region and are delighted to see such strong results, which reflect the performance potential of Ross products.

"The collection of performance data is a vital tool in the enhancement of existing and the development of new Aviagen products so we are delighted that our customers are supporting us in this. I would like to thank our customers for their cooperation in supplying the data and look forward to receiving data from even more customers in the coming months not only to enhance the technical input from our team but also to assist Aviagen's world-leading R&D team.

"The Ross bird is a big success in this region, offering a great balance of breeder and broiler traits, giving customers the maximum return on their investment and of course, customers also benefit from Aviagen's extensive technical support."

Slavako Visenjak from Perutina Ptuj d.d. said: "We have been delighted by the performance of our Ross stock and these flock awards are an excellent way of recognising the work carried out by our parent stock farmers. We hope to see continued improvement in performance and will be working hard to retain this award."

All the award winners received a certificate and commemorative plaque. The full list of winners is as follows:

• Slovenia: Perutnina Ptuj d.d.
• Serbia: D.O.O. Spasic Farm
• Croatia: Koka d.d.
• Bosnia: A.D. Vetprodukt
• Hungary: Gallus Kft.
• Bulgaria: Kamtchia AD
• Czech Republic and Slovakia: Best, spol. s r.o
• Romania: Avicola Focsani SRL.
• Ukraine: Myronivsky Hliboproduct OJSC, and
• Moldova: Avicola Shaver SRL.

Winners of Aviagen's Central and Eastern European Flock Awards