Their Huna Pluimvee farm, south of Hertogenbosch, reared its first flock of 10,000 broilers in 1990 and has expanded to a capacity of 180,000 birds in six houses, growing broilers to around 2.4 kg (5.3 lb).

From left: Wout van Wolfswinkel, Cobb Europe senior account manager, Martijn Gruyters, Cobb Europe senior manager technical services, Patrick and Elvera van den Hurk, Tore Mercan, Cobb Europe sales and technical director

The winning flock of Cobb500 broilers was hatched by Probroed & Sloot and grown to 39 days, achieving 2.68 kg (5.9 lb) with an average daily gain of 68.7 grams and feed conversion of 1.51 – adding up to an EPEF of 441.

Patrick van den Hurk, who is a technical specialist for company Coppens, runs the unit with his wife Elvera who looks after the daily farm activities while her husband is away at work.

The presentation was made to Patrick and Elvera by Tore Mercan, Cobb Europe sales and technical director at the European Technical Seminar, held bi-annually in the Netherlands. Martijn Gruyters, senior technical service manager for Cobb, said the winners had one of the best broiler flocks of the European region: “This really shows that our Cobb500 is competitive and ready for the Dutch market.”

Cobb-Vantress, Inc. makes quality protein accessible, healthy and affordable worldwide. Our research and technology innovates the global poultry industry. With headquarters in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, we are the world’s oldest pedigree broiler breeder. We distribute poultry to more than 120 countries.

Find more at cobb-vantress.com