Tydstroom Poultry, part of Pioneer Foods which supplies food and beverage in South Africa and is a prominent global exporter, is a totally integrated operation from grandparent farms to processing plant and feed mill.

The first flock of CobbAvian48 grandparents was placed last summer and parent chicks are now being hatched.

Hennie Lourens, executive manager of the agri-division of Pioneer Foods, said: "We are mainly growing chickens up to 35 days and the CobbAvian48 will suit our pattern of production well. The breed has an impressive growth rate up to this age as well as high chick numbers."

The company, based outside Durbanville in the Western Cape, is producing more than 750,000 chickens a week, primarily supplying fresh, cut-up chicken for some of the country's leading retailers.

Pelayo Casanovas, sales and technical director of Cobb Europe, said: "We are very proud of having Tydstroom as a new addition to the Cobb family. Tydstroom is a very professional company run by a great team of people with whom we share very similar core values."

left to right: Pelayo Casanovas and Roy Mutimer from Cobb Europe with Hennie Lourens and Dawid Koen from Pioneer Foods