June 23, 2017

German broiler grower Bernd Janzen wins first Cobb Champion Award

US poultry research company Cobb-Vantress announced Tuesday, June 20, the first winner of the 2016 Cobb Champion Awards, introduced last year to recognise annually world-class performance at breeder, broiler and hatchery level in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The family of Bernd Janzen, who lives in Lower Saxony, Germany, won the award in the broiler category, achieving an average weight of 2.718 kilogramme (6 lbs.) at 38 days with a feed conversion of 1.56 with a flock of 320,000 Cobb500 broilers--representing a European Production Efficiency Factor of 454.

Mr. Janzen, who has been growing broilers for more than 10 years, said, "I have seen ups and downs in all breeds in recent years, but we were most impressed by the performance of the Cobb bird after testing it last year for the first time. The bird delivers and helps me make my business profitable".

Hendrik Ahlers, sales manager of Cobb Germany, sees a clear link to the company's breeding programme at Herveld in the Netherlands. "These birds, bred in a European environment, deliver precisely what we believe are our market needs", he said.

Patrick van Trijp, Cobb senior accounts manager, commented that in Bernd Janzen's eight houses with 40,000 broilers each, he "creates an excellent environment that allows the Cobb broiler to perform to its potential." 

In behalf of Cobb Europe and its distributor Cobb Germany, Van Trijp and Ahlers presented the award to the Janzen family with a trophy and plaque also going to Probroed & Sloot, an independent broiler hatchery chain operating in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. 

  The Janzen family pictured with Hendrik Ahlers (left) and Ulrich Stratker (right)