During the broiler seminar, Richard Weatherley, Cobb broiler specialist, stressed the importance of water quality. “Water is the most important factor for the birds after feed and their health strongly depends on how clean it is,” he said. Achieving a satisfactory level of water consumption would help attain good feed consumption, healthy growth and target body weight.

Cobb technical manager, Lydia Malakheeva, spoke about the physiology of birds - a topic often not fully covered but a key factor in good poultry management.

Climate control in the poultry houses - another important component in success of a poultry business - was covered by Cobb technical manager, Bukrineva Galina, who said that farms with proper ventilation achieve better feed efficiency and growth rate, lower mortality, fewer rejects and higher profits.

During the veterinary seminars Cobb veterinarian Andre Derkx and Lydia Malakheeva emphasised that close cooperation between managers and veterinarians in an enterprise would help guarantee success. Knowledge of aspects of biosecurity helped in stopping infection spreading on to a unit and so preventing undue bird losses.

Andre Derkx also gave a post-mortem workshop, where he explained his method of autopsy and the critical points in making a correct disease diagnosis.

Patrick van Trijp, Cobb technical director for Russia, commented: “All the events were well supported with the participants appreciating the knowledge and expertise of the speakers. To achieve the best results requires more than just the best genetics, and we encourage our customers to take advantage of our experienced specialists.”