Cobb South Africa Technical Seminar Hailed ‘Huge Success’
SOUTH AFRICA - Technical support for customers has helped the Cobb500 to establish a leading position in the South African market, Pieter Oosthuysen, regional technical manager for Cobb, told the company’s latest seminar in Rustenburg in the north west province.
3 April 2014
3 minute read
"The Cobb500 is now the breed of choice in South Africa," he said. "This is the result of good sales and technical service management of the customers as well as support by the biggest integration, Rainbow Farms, with a second grandparent operation recently converting to Cobb.
"We provide what we believe is technical support second to none in South Africa," he stated. "This is reflected in the increased market share as breed sales are driven by good relationships, timely delivery of orders and top quality chicks that are correctly sexed and perform to expectations."
The seminar was organised by Cobb South Africa, supported by Cobb Europe. Both Theo Bezuidenhout, Cobb South Africa manager, and Pieter Oosthuysen described the two days as a ‘huge success’ attended by over 40 broiler producers, veterinarians, hatchery managers and breeder managers from all over the country.
The seminar was held at the upmarket, popular hotel and conference centre, Water Glen, just outside of Rustenburg, near Sun City.
Top speakers from South Africa and Europe covered technical areas on breeders, hatcheries and broilers. Mr Bezuidenhout covered the South Africa production results and a short talk on the world of Cobb, while Santie Smit, local broiler specialist at Cobb SA, presented her data analysis of broilers as influenced by housing type.
Dr Fambies van Biljon, veterinarian at Sovereign Foods, spoke on the use of E.coli vaccinations to improve broiler performance. Mr Oosthuysen, spoke on his new approach to feeding breeder males based on data analysis of top and bottom performing flocks.
This was followed by Mark Foote, Cobb hatchery and incubation specialist, who spoke on the impact of hatcheries on broiler performance and some recent trials with Cobb-Europe to quantify these effects. The final speaker was Richard Weatherley, the Cobb Europe broiler specialist, who closed the day with talks on brooding and water quality and sanitation.
