A dedicated team from Aviagen^®’s distributor, Arbor Acres® South Africa and the Arbor Acres Turkey, Middle East and Africa (TMEA) regional support team recently hit the road to bring the latest broiler and breeder flock management advice to customers throughout the Republic of South Africa.

Aviagen^® is committed to strengthening Arbor Acres South Africa’s customer success by helping maximise the performance and efficiency of Arbor Acres flocks in production. This year marks a successful sixth road show tour to a number of South African customers, which included Eagles Pride, Daybreak, Chubby Chicks, Supreme, Grain Field Chickens and RCL Foods.

During an eight-day period in October, Arno Van der Nat, general manager of Arbor Acres South Africa; Richard Beevis, Arbor Acres technical service manager; Dr. Zoltan Marton, Arbor Acres veterinary services specialist and Dominic Elfick, international product manager, made up the support team that visited with owners, production managers, nutritionists and veterinarians in each of the customer companies. Together they reviewed the performance data and exchanged ideas and the latest practices in effective male management, optimum broiler brooding and feeding into the laying period. The Aviagen Arbor Acres team also presented a valuable benchmark analysis of year-on-year improvements in performance indicators such as chick numbers, livability, hatchability and feed conversion ratio (FCR).

When customers share production data, the Arbor Acres support team has the expertise to help them analyse this data and highlight critical points where improvement is most readily achievable. This exercise builds excellent dialogue and trust between the team and its customers by providing concrete results and added value to local producers.

Arno commented on the effectiveness of the travelling road show. “This method is a great way to visit our customer base and deliver critical production, genetic and health updates and insights on parent stock and broilers.”

George de Kok, agricultural director, Supreme Poultry, commented, “The annual Arbor Acres road show was once again a memorable event. The topics highlighted the genetic development and improvements being made with the Arbor Acres breed. It is very satisfying to note these improvements now routinely expressed in our commercial performances in the field. The format facilitated great participation and engagement from all concerned, and left the team with plenty to consider and take back into the operational areas. The learning experiences are invaluable to our business, and we thank the local Arbor Acres South Africa team for their efforts.”

Henri Gerber, technical adviser, VKB Group, added, “We love what we do at Grain Field Chickens. The roadshow topics were highly relevant and enabled us to understand the Arbor Acres breed better. I believe Grain Field and Arbor Acres collaboration will continue to go from strength to strength.”

“Our South African customers look forward to this roadshow every year and recognise the added value it provides and on-going benefits of being part of the Arbor Acres family. The visits highlighted the dedication of producers in South Africa, which has helped to progress the performance of broilers and breeders, as well as the popularity of the Arbor Acres brand,” said Richard Beevis, technical service manager, Arbor Acres Middle East and Africa (MEA).

About Aviagen

Aviagen^® is a global poultry breeding company that develops pedigree lines for the production of commercial broiler chickens under the Arbor Acres^®, Indian River^®, and Ross^® brand names. The Rowan Range^® and Specialty Males^® are specialty breeding stock from Aviagen that offer greater flexibility for customers to meet specific or niche market requirements. The company is based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA with a number of wholly-owned operations across the United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Latin America, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S., and joint ventures in Asia. Aviagen employs more than 4,600 people and has a distribution network serving customers in more than 100 countries.

For further information, please visit www.aviagen.com.