December Business Update: What’s new in the world of poultry?

In November, poultry breeding company, Aviagen, delivered close to 36,000 day-old chicks to its customer Provita Breeder in Bangladesh. The chicks were hatched at the Aviagen hatchery in Baekke, Denmark, and shipped from Copenhagen Airport with Qatar Airways Cargo via Doha, representing the company’s first international shipment from this location and a new trade route. The company says this strengthens the security of supply. While colder climate and concerns for bird health and welfare have in the past precluded shipment from Copenhagen Airport, Aviagen has taken added measures to ensure the chicks are kept in temperature-controlled conditions from the hatchery to the aircraft.

HatchTech Incubation Technology will support Greece’s largest integrated poultry company, Nitsiakos, in upgrading its hatchery operation. The company says that the project will see HatchTech work with Nitsiakos to maximise the quality of its chicks, as well as the genetic potential of its embryos. The companies will also focus on space utilisation and improving productivity, with a view to Nitsiakos expanding its hatchery by 3,000 sqm and increasing output to 83.5 million eggs annually.

MSD Animal Health in the UK has developed their Sphereon vaccine technology to increase the convenience of poultry vaccination on-farm. Developments have been made to extend the range of vaccines this technology is available for, as well as the packaging. Sphereon technology works by freezing live viral vaccines into small, highly soluble spheres which dissolve in water to provide a quick and convenient method for vaccine mixing. Sphereon technology was previously used exclusively for Infectious Bronchitis vaccinations, but vaccinations against Infectious Bursal Disease and Newcastle Disease have now been introduced to the range.

The Adisseo group has signed an agreement to acquire Nor-Feed and its subsidiaries, a French group that designs, manufactures and markets plant-based specialty ingredients and plant extracts for animal nutrition.

Biogas production at layer complexes is part of CP Foods’ strategy for combating climate change as well as reducing waste to landfill and incineration. Somkid Wannalukkhee, senior vice president for Egg Business, said the company’s 7 layer complexes in Thailand produce biogas from chicken manure and convert it to electricity for use in operations, allowing the complexes to save 70–80% on total power costs.

Gategroup has pledged to make its entire egg supply chain cage-free by 2025, and has already transitioned 75%. Its global, group-wide, minimum welfare standard is ‘barn’ (cage-free) eggs. The company is also in the process of conducting an audit of its suppliers to ensure that they are complying with its procurement standards and will be publishing its results in its first Sustainability Report in 2022.

Pitik Digital Indonesia and Charoen Pokphand Indonesia have entered into a cooperation agreement which outlines trials of Pitik’s digital technology implementation in chicken farming through smart farming technology and machine-learning. According to Pitik, the target achievement of broiler chicken harvesting weight in Indonesia is still behind by 20-30% of the world’s livestock standards, and their device was developed to solve this issue by detecting important variables in the cage in real-time.

Tags: UK, Poultry, chicken, CP foods, Greece, chicks, Aviagen, HatchTech Incubation Technology, Nitsiakos, MSD Animal Health, Sphereon, Adisseo group, Gategroup, Pitik Digital Indonesia, Pokphand Indonesia