Second triumph for UK flock manager
Cargill Meats Europe is the latest winner of the Cobb Flock of the Year for Europe, Middle East and Africa region and the award is a second personal triumph for breeder farm manager Adrian Nicholas.
Five years ago he managed the flock that won the award for Corbett Farms which supplied hatching eggs for Cargills UK poultry enterprise then known as Sun Valley.
The flock peaked at 84.6 per cent and laid 168.8 total/164.5 hatching eggs to 60 weeks, with a cumulative 87.6 per cent hatchability and 4.5 per cent mortality.
Congratulating the winners, Antony Taylor, Cobb account manager for UK and Ireland, benchmarked this result against UK and EU performance it compares with an average of 140.9 chicks/breeder among the top 25 per cent UK flocks and overall average of 132.8 chicks /breeder.
Award plaques and certificates were presented to Mr Nicholas, rearing farm manager Derek Morris and their colleagues, by Pelayo Casanovas, sales and technical director of Cobb Europe. Cobb UK and Ireland technical service manager Mark Foote paid tribute to the teamwork and detailed management through rearing, production and hatchery that had contributed to the success.
John Reed, agricultural director of Cargill Meats Europe, said the award showed the highly competitive potential of the Cobb 500 as well as the hard work of his employees. He added: It sends a message to the rest of the business in terms of what can be achieved.
The winning flock was reared at Ripple Farm, Tewkesbury, by Derek Morris who believes that grading the birds from five weeks of age into three sizes where they remain until end of lay provides the foundation for success.
The production farm at Yarpole houses the flock in four sheds and Adrian Nicholas spends a day in each shed in turn to check that the flock management is up to his high expectations.
It was the first Cobb flock weve had for a while and we didnt at first realise its potential, he says. The birds kept on achieving fantastic chick numbers and so we retained them for two and a half weeks beyond the normal 60 weeks. It was a very quiet flock that was also easy to manage.