Hubbard Polska, for many years the only primary breeder with GP farms and hatchery in Poland, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in a strong position in its local market. The technical results of the Hubbard Flex and Hubbard F15 breeders and broilers over the last few years have led to a continuous increase of market share in the Polish market.

Hubbard Polska team, led by Dr Andrzej Rosinski (centre)

Poland has now become one of the largest and most important poultry markets in EU. Broiler breeder placements have grown from five million in 2003 to nearly seven million in 2009 – an increase of 40 per cent over the last six years! Hubbard has grown together with the Polish industry and supplies at least one out of every five broiler breeders placed. Hubbard sales volume in 2009 has increased by 33 per cent from the previous year – an excellent achievement of the local team led by Dr Andrzej Rosinski.

Like most of the Northern European countries, Poland is mainly placing standard-type breeders. However about four to five per cent of the market uses dwarf-type breeders, predominantly for cages but also for floor systems. The Hubbard F15 'Feed saver' is clearly the leader in this segment of the market. On floor systems, the breeder feed consumption per egg or chick produced is about 20 per cent lower for the Hubbard F15 than for any standard-type breeder, which is a cost saving of about 10kg of feed per breeder female. The Hubbard F15 broiler is also appreciated by the market and is often used by integrations producing broilers with a live weight of 1.8 to 2.2 kg. The FCR of the Hubbard F15 broiler is the best you can get, according to Hubbard.

Both the Hubbard F15 and the Hubbard Flex breeder show good productivity with a peak of 86 to 88 per cent (F15) and 84 to 87 per cent (Flex), good persistency, very good and persistent fertility and hatchability. Under the same conditions, the Hubbard Flex achieves on average a cumulative hatchability of 84 per cent at 60 weeks, while the main competitor reaches only a hatchability of 78 per cent and the third player in the market about 81 per cent.

The Hubbard Flex broiler shows very good growth, liveability and FCR. It can easily be used for the production of heavier broilers with a live weight of more than 2.5 kg in 40 to 42 days, or an average daily gain of more than 60g. The Hubbard Flex broiler also gives a very good carcass yield (76 per cent) and breast meat yield (26 per cent). The breast meat yield is 0.5 per cent higher than the main competitor in the market.

Both the Hubbard F15 and Hubbard Flex broilers are well recognised for its drier litter. As a result of this and the higher activity of the broiler throughout the growing period, the incidence of hock burns and footpad lesions are significantly lower than any other competitive breed. These traits are becoming more important for the EU and for leading retailers, and they give the Hubbard broilers a clear advantage with regards to animal welfare regulations.

During the recent Hubbard Polska seminar held from 12 to 14 May 2010, the 20th anniversary of Hubbard Polska and the success of Hubbard in Poland were celebrated together with more than 120 Hubbard customers from Poland