May 12, 2015

Russian delegation visited Hubbard facilities in France

In mid-April this year, individuals from several Russian poultry integrators visited Hubbard's facilities in France.

The delegation was accompanied by the management of BALTISA, the sole distributor of Hubbard for CIS-countries and Baltic States.

During the visit to the head office and farms of Hubbard in Quintin, Brittany, the group was updated on the recent developments on R&D as well as breeder and broiler management of the Hubbard F15, a leading product in Russia for more than a decade.

Yves Jego, Hubbard's R&D director, presented the key points in the selection programme for the Hubbard F15 including the feed conversion ratio (FCR), robustness and total meat yield.

The director foresees an annual improvement of the Hubbard F15 in the field of +1 egg/HH; +50g live weight; -2.3 points FCR; and +0.26% breast meat yield. This is also confirmed by the actual field results in Russia and other Hubbard F15 customers around the world.

Nicolas Neyra, Hubbard's regional manager for CIS and Baltic States, explained that a pure line female in the R&D programme produces, through its progeny, nearly 20 million kg of broiler live weight. This shows the importance of the R&D programme for the whole industry, in addition to the sanitary quality of the breeding stock supplied to the market.

The group also visited a Hubbard F15 GP production site, where strong bio-security rules are applied. These include an "all-in-all-out" system, a fully fenced area, high-level sanitary rules for vehicles and personnel, and filtered air with positive pressure (FAPP) ventilation.

At the end of the trip, a visit to a breeder farm with Hubbard parent stock was made. This showed the group a farming model typical for Brittany, in the west part of France; a family business which possesses 80 hectares of cereal production and serve four houses of parent stock as a contract farmer for an integration.

The full automation of feeding, egg collection, selection and treatment of eggs allows the business to operate in a very efficient manner.