Aviagen France celebrated its first anniversary earlier this year with the initial meeting in a series of industry events. This second meeting, held near Nantes, included a number of presentations from Aviagen experts covering a range of topics.

Dr Richard Bailey and Dr Leonardo Linares presented on gut health and broiler nutrition respectively, while Aviagen EPI’s Otto Van Tuijl looked at opportunities to influence broiler performance through practical light and feed programmes.

Thierry Rolland, General Manager of Aviagen France, said: “The first meeting we held to help celebrate Aviagen France’s one year anniversary was a great success and we said at the time we planned to hold another event soon for broiler customers. This is exactly what we’ve done and I’m very pleased that it was well attended and that we were able to share important industry insights and technical information.

“These events are vital for us to bring customers, the local Aviagen France team and Aviagen specialists together to ensure we remain close to our customers and can share with them the latest technical information. The next step is now to organise visits to broiler operations followed by recommendations and training.”

A key element to the day was that attendees were able to hear first-hand experiences from other countries, with Henrik Hansen from DanHatch discussing his experience of broiler growing in Denmark, which has greatly reduced the impact of pododermatitis since 2002. Nigel Joice, one of the top independent broiler growers in the UK and producer of Ross 308 broilers, also gave a practical overview of his experience of broiler growing in the UK.