Cobb has become the first poultry breeding company in Brazilto achieve approval for its compartmentalization project inaccordance with the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the WorldHealth Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

The project has been validated by the OIEand now approved by the Brazilian AgricultureMinistry (MAPA).

It was first discussed in 2000 and gainedmomentum in 2005 after the detection of largescale, highly pathogenic avian influenza inSoutheast Asia. The aim was to createsub-populations through certifying the health

of poultry at units with enhanced biosecurity. Compartmentalization increases control over bird health through

these stricter biosecurity standards, with periodic risk audits, atraceability system and surveillance of both the flocks and wild

animals around the units. In Brazil, the projectis a partnership between MAPA and Ubabef(the Brazilian Poultry Union), with theparticipation of the private sector.

“Cobb's participation in the project is basedon the need to protect our genetic base,minimizing the risk of avian influenza and

focusW O R L D W I D E ONE 2014

in this issueMAJOR STEP TOWARDS GLOBAL RECOGNITIONOF HIGH HEALTH STANDARDS Expansion for QC laboratory in Brazil.....................3

Kazi Zahedul Hasan (left) who iscatering for poultry appetite inBangladesh...............................4 and 550 years on - Reproductores Cobb inArgentina.............................................5

New Kentucky feed mill under way..........................6Saudi visit to Cobb and Tyson Foods.....................6GP awards at regional seminar in Dubai.................7Cobb Germany reviews European gains..................7First poultry course in Thailand...............................8New face in Asian sales team.................................8Distinguished service award for Steve Tweed........8

Cobb leads in pioneeringcompartmentalizationin Brazil

Genomics to helpmeet future worldfood needs

The well isolated Cobb complex at Agua Clara in Mato Grosso do Sul State with three rearingand six production units.

continued on page 2

The project is basedon the need to protectour genetic base‘

’More than two-thirds of the extra foodneeded to feed the world’s expandingpopulation will need to come throughadvances in technology, Jerry Moye,president of Cobb-Vantress, Inc., toldleaders of the UK farming industry.

Speaking at the Oxford FarmingConference, he said to meet the doublingin food supply estimated to be requiredin 2050 improved efficiency would haveto contribute some 70 percent alongwith additional farmland and increasedcropping.

continued on page 2

P I O N E E R I N G C O M PA RT M E N TA L I Z AT I O N I N B R A Z I L

Newcastle Disease,” said Cobb-Vantress Brasil technical managerPaulo Raffi (below).

“This will facilitate international trade, provided compartment-alization is officially recognized bythe importing country as well asthe Brazilian government.”

To develop its own compartmentmodel covering the states of SãoPaulo, Minas Gerais and MatoGrosso do Sul, Cobb based theproject strictly on OIE rules. Thelocation and design of the farms,animal movement within andoutside the compartment, controlof pests, the flow of people andvehicles and water quality wereevaluated. So, too, were equipmentand facility disinfection, litter, feedand input quality, vaccinesand medications, waste

treatment, and movement of breeding stock, with recordingof all procedures and monitoring flow of material andinformation.

“The OIE recognizes that breeding companies alreadywork as a compartment due to the need to protect theirflocks from disease through stricter biosecurity plans thanon commercial units,” said Paulo Raffi. “The main challengewas to complement this work with risk analysis, a traceabilitysystem and a monitoring program covering the flocks withinand outside the compartment.”

A plan was established providing the ability to respond quickly andefficiently to any health emergency. To put it into practice, Cobb istraining all employees, so that ‘alert’ conditions can be minimized or,where appropriate, addressed.

“This is easier in Brazil due to the high levels of biosecurity alreadyestablished. We are working now on diagnostic capability and

emergency response, especiallymonitoring for low pathogenicviruses and of wild birds around thecompartment units.”

Jairo Arenazio (right), Cobb'sgeneral manager for South America,pointed out that Cobb is a pioneer incompartmentalization in Brazil: “Thisinitiative is at the root of the successof our business in South Americaand of our exports of breeding stockfrom Brazil. Without it, we would havehad to create an alternative officiallyrecognized regime to ensure thehigh health status of product for bothdomestic and especially international markets.

“At the moment the global poultry industry is facing up to the threatof avian influenza, We couldn’t let Brazil, which exports poultry tomore than 150 locations around the world, to be ‘held hostage’ tointernational regulations restricting bilateral trade. We had to create

a new regime to ensure the high healthstatus of our stock.”

To Jairo, compartmentalization is simplya set of hygiene measures with routinemonitoring to ensure that ‘nothing outsidecomes in, and nothing inside gets out.’

In other words, if there is any healthchallenge from diseases featured on OIE'sA list in areas surrounding a poultryoperation, there are risk mitigationmeasures to ensure that this challengedoes not affect the birds. There are also

control measures to avoid transmission outside the compartment.“With the new OIE regime Brazilian poultry farming is taking

another major step towards global recognition of the high healthstandards of our industry and our products,” he added.“Compartmentalization will bring us even greater assurance onbiosecurity. And I’m sure it is here to stay.”

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continued from page 1

This initiative isat the root of thesuccess of ourbusiness inSouth America

‘’

The poultry industry has an important role toplay through increasing the efficiency ofbroiler production. “Broiler genetics havemade great strides and still have hugepotential for improvement,” he said.

Mr Moye took the example of improved feedconversion. Over the 10 years to 2010 theimprovement of 0.145 meant that 17.4 milliontonnes less feed are now required to producethe 60 billion broilers consumed around theworld each year.

With maize making up 55 percent of thediet, 9.57 million fewer tonnes are neededeach year – equivalent to cropping 2.66 millionfewer acres (1.08 fewer hectares) of maize.

“Everyone in agriculture has a responsibilityto produce safe food,” said Mr Moye. “Animal

breeding must develop animals that are fit foruse in agriculture. Genetics and agriculturemust develop products that meet the needs ofall consumers.

“Consumer interest movements should bebroadminded enough to understand theirpotential impact outside of their respectivemarket places.”

Mr Moye said that use of a genomicstrategy in continuing the advances inpoultry breeding would help sustainableintensification through increasing foodproduction from existing farmland whileminimizing pressure on the environment.

“We are serving our customers through useof innovative research and technology tomake protein healthy and affordable foreveryone.”

Genomics to help meet future world food needscontinued from page 1

N E W I N V E S T M E N T D O U B L E S C A PA C I T Y

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With the continued growth of the Cobb business inBrazil, the company’s quality control laboratory hasundergone major expansion which was completed inDecember.

The new investment of US$600,000 will double thecapacity to 30,000 tests per month using serology,bacteriology and molecular assays. The laboratory isconsidered a benchmark facility for the Brazilian poultryindustry, both for assay quality and for the range of itstesting.

Located in Guapiaçu area in the São Paulo region, thelaboratory was opened in 2008 and is responsible forassessing the biosecurity level of poultry farms,hatcheries and feed mill to help maintain the high healthstatus throughout the Cobb operation in Brazil.

“In addition to expanding our testing capacity, theinvestment improves the working in each laboratorysection and significantly speeds some of ourprocedures,” said Márcio Gereti, laboratory coordinatorat Cobb-Vantress Brasil. “We’re also optimizing ourdatabase classification, increasing the informationbackup capacity to five years.”

In addition to the serologicalassays, flock samples are analyzedwith microbiological and moleculartesting using two different methods toensure total reliability of the results.

“This combination of techniques forsalmonella testing generates a finalresult within three days - two dayssooner than with traditional laboratorytechniques. Two days is a highlysignificant time in any case whereintervention is needed,” explained DrLeonardo Sestak, Cobb veterinarianresponsible for avian health andlaboratory management.

“What’s more, in the third day of testing itis now possible through molecular typing toidentify which serogroup and sometimeswhich serotype. It’s possible to rule out twoimportant serotypes for poultry, Salmonellaenteriditis and Salmonella typhimurium, byrunning real-time PCR technology usingspecific primers.”

In addition to the entire Salmonella testing,the laboratory runs other bacteriologicaland molecular assays, antimicrobialsusceptibility tests and mycological examsthat help veterinarians to define the bestprocedure in the field.

The laboratory has the latest equipmentsuch as a new ELISA plate washer machinethat can rinse a whole batch of 96-wellplates at a time and a mediaclave that canrapidly and safely prepare large volumes ofmedia broth at a specific temperature.

“As a breeding company at the top of thefood chain, we need to adopt the best andlatest procedures in testing and analysis toensure our Cobb products always meet thehighest health standards,” added Dr Sestak.

There is regular coordination with the otherCobb Laboratories in the United States andEngland, exchanging technical informationabout global poultry health issues aswell as ongoing improvements to laboratoryroutine.

Expansion for Brazilian laboratory facilities

The team at the enlarged laboratory complexalongside the headquarters of Cobb-VantressBrasil.

L A R G E S T P O U LT RY B R E E D E R I N B A N G L A D E S H

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Kazi Farms catering for growing poultry appetiteIn less than 20 years Kazi Farms has grownto become the largest poultry breeder inBangladesh where the Cobb500 has a marketshare around 75 percent.

Founded by Kazi Zahedul Hasan in 1995,Kazi Farms began with a hatchery in Nayanpur,Gazipur, initially producing 25,000 chicks/weekfrom imported hatching eggs. Soon capacityincreased to 75,000 chicks/week.

Then two years later the first parent stockfarm was built in Chawkpara, Gazipur, to beginproducing chicks from its own hatching eggs.

In 1999 Kazi Farms started rearing commercialbroilers in Bhaluka, Gazipur. Expansion continuedapace with more parent stock farms in the northerndistricts of Thakurgaon and Panchagarh, as well as a feed mill inThakurgaon to supply the new farms.

In the early years of the business, Kazi Farms produced a range ofbroiler breeds including the Cobb100 and later it became the firstCobb500 franchise in Bangladesh. Today the company produces 40percent of the Cobb500 sold in the country with Sasso among theother breeds provided.

In 2001 Kazi Farms was selected to become an exclusivedistributor of Hy-Line layer breeds and has had Hy-Line grandparentfarm facilities in Thakurgaon for more than 10 years.

With the country’s population and demand for meat and eggsincreasing, Kazi Farms has built three commercial layer farms withtotal capacity of 10 million eggs/day.

In 2006 the company expanded into commercial poultry feedmanufacture, with its facility at Gajaria, Munshiganj, now one of thelargest feed mills in South Asia with production capacity of 40tonnes/hour and a 20 percent share of the Bangladeshi broiler feedmarket. The mill uses state-of-the-art sanitizing pellet millingmachinery from Buhler of Switzerland. By eliminating any possiblebacterial contamination from the feed, the process helps ensure thatpoultry farmers experience fewer disease outbreaks and achievebetter results.

In all, there are now three grandparent farms, 12 breeder andcommercial hatcheries, 31 farms and 21 sales centers.

“Our aim is to produce high quality chicks and feed which sell at apremium,” said Kazi Zahedul Hasan, founder and managing director.

Above: Established in 2005 and located in Al Buraimi, Oman, Buraimi Model Poultry Farm isKazi Farms' first parent stock farm operating outside Bangladesh.Below: Layer chicks at the Kashempur Hatchery, Gazipur, Dhaka, receiving protective vaccinesagainst potential virus exposure.Page 5 bottom: Processing chicks in Taraganj Hatchery, Rangpur, for distribution throughoutBangladesh.

continued below on page 5

Expansion set to go onA bright future for the poultryindustry in Bangladesh is forecastby Kazi Zahedul Hasan, Kazi farmsmanaging director.

“Driven by rising per capitaincomes, the poultry industry ofBangladesh is growing rapidly,” hesaid. “We expect this expansion tocontinue over the next ten years.

“Our expansion in the nextdecade will take place across thepoultry industry.

“We are building new broilerfarms, and are planning to reach10 percent of the country’s total production within five years.In egg production we hope to take 15 percent share of the marketin five years.

“We also expect major growth in this area in our chicken-basedfrozen foods and fast food restaurants in the next 10 years.”

A N N I V E R S A RY I N A R G E N T I N A

Leader in the broiler breeder market in Argentina,Reproductores Cobb held a special event to markthe 50th anniversary of the partnership betweenCobb-Vantress, Inc. and Granja Tres Arroyos.

“We cannot speak of poultry business inArgentina without talking about Joaquin De Grazia,chief executive officer of Granja Tres Arroyos,”said Gustavo Wassermann, operations managerfor Cobb-Vantress Brasil (CVB).

“Our partnership with Granja Tres Arroyosassures us leadership in Argentina whereReproductores Cobb holds an 80 percent share ofthe open market.”

More than 150 guests attended the celebrationevent at San Nicolas on the Parana River,organized by Reproductores Cobb, which handlesdistribution of Cobb products throughout thecountry.

Among those taking part were Jerry Moye, president ofCobb-Vantress, Inc., Jairo Arenazio, director general of Cobb-VantressBrasil, Rodrigo Terra, product manager for Cobb-Vantress Brasil, andFrank Siewerdt, Cobb-Vantress geneticist in the United States.

Speakers at the event included Carlitos Paez, one of the survivorsof the 1972 plane crash in the Andes, and the economist andjournalist Thomas Bulat, who spoke about the positive outlook for thepoultry industry and agribusiness in South America.

Celebrating 50 years of Reproductores Cobb

Standing left to right: Beatriz Hernandez, administrative managerReprodutores Cobb; Gustavo Wassermann, operation manager CVB;Cesar Stofel, technical assistant Reprodutores Cobb; Frank Siewerdt,geneticist CVI; Rodrigo Terra, product manager CVB; Joaquin De Grazia,CEO Granja Tres Arroyos; Roberto Ricagno, technical assistantReproductores Cobb.Sitting left to right: Jerry Moye, president CVI; Edmond El Jammal,production manager Reproductores Cobb; Hugo Salomone, salesmanager Reprodutores Cobb; Jairo Arenazio, general manager CVB.

Left: Jerry Moye presenting Joaquin De Grazia with a gift celebrating the50-year partnership.

5

“We’ve helped farmers in Bangladesh inother ways, too. They have difficulty gettingreliable disease diagnosis, with governmentlaboratories not well equipped. We’veestablished four laboratories in different areasof our country to help our farmers get theaccurate disease diagnosis they need.

“We have also implemented strong andeffective biosecurity procedures at all ourlocations to prevent poultry diseases,particularly avian influenza.”

In 2005 Kazi Farms started exporting hatching eggs and broilerchicks to different countries, the first Bangladeshi poultry company todo this. Those countries now include Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Oman andUAE.

Recently the company launched 'Ready to Cook' meat products on

to the market including sausage, nuggets,drumsticks and meat balls.

In 2004, Kazi Zahedul Hasan was namedthe ‘Business Person of the Year’ by the DailyStar and DHL Business Awards. Then in 2009he received the award for ‘Most ImprovedDistributor’ by Cobb-Vantress, Inc.

“We are committed to be the best in all weset out to do creating value for our customers,our team members and our communities,” hesaid.

“Our company leadership and thededication of our employees ensure that the superior quality of theproducts and services to our customers is recognized as second tonone. We are continuously seeking to improve what is good throughutilizing the quality of our people, processes and technologicalinnovations.”

Kazi Farms - Bangladesh

N E W S F R O M A R O U N D T H E W O R L D

Cobb-Vantress, Inc. is constructing a new feed mill in Albany insouth central Kentucky, United States, to supply its expandingoperations in both Kentucky and Tennessee.

The mill, projected to costUS$15mil l ion, is the latestinvestment in this region whereCobb has invested more than$36million over the past threeyears including a new hatcheryat Lafayette, Tennessee, and anew pedigree research anddevelopment complex at DeerLodge, Tennessee. Its location isclose to a major area of cornproduction from where Cobbplans to source most of its grainneeds.

“We are excited to continueour investment in the state ofKentucky and we look forward toproviding job opportunities to thepeople in this area,” said RandyVardeman, vice president ofproduction for Cobb. “The designof the new feed mill will give Cobb complete control over feedformulation and quality. In the end, it’s about providing a quality feedto our growers and company farms.”

The investment in Kentucky is one of many Cobb is making globally.Cobb is redeveloping a research farm at Herveld in the Netherlands,making farm expansions in Brazil and building a new grandparent

farm and hatchery in China.One special feature of the

new feed mill will be a state-of-the-art pathogen control systemaffecting the equipment andprocesses. Use of specializedequipment, designated cleanareas controlled by airflow andother quality measures will helpensure salmonella-free feed.

The construction began inNovember and is scheduled forcompletion in spring of 2014.The mill will employ an estimated16 people including feed deliverydrivers.

The Kentucky EconomicDevelopment Bureau has beeninstrumental in attracting thisinvestment. Denton Childs, ofTyson Foods, worked on tax

incentives with the state, and Greg Jones with the SoutheastKentucky Economic Development Corporation assisted in locatingthe property.

Breaking ground on new Kentucky feed mill

A high-level delegation from Al Watania, a key player in theMiddle East poultry industry, spent three days visiting theheadquarters of Cobb-Vantress and facilities of Tyson Foods inArkansas, USA.

The visitors, led by Al Watania sales vice president Jamal Turad YAlsaadoun and marketing vice president Masaad Fahd Al-Dakheel,were impressed by the investment they saw Cobb making in researchand product development.

“Cobb has shown us the great extent of time and resources thathas been invested to develop such high quality products that makethem a true leader among all their competitors,” said Masaad Al-Dakheel.

Pelayo Casanovas, sales and technical director of Cobb Europe,said he and his colleagues were excited to host the delegation fromAl Watania.

“Meeting the marketing, sales and product developmentleadership from Al Watania was a unique opportunity for Cobb andhelped us understand why Al Watania is the world leader that it istoday,” he stated. “We are confident the relationship between us willcontinue to prosper for many years to come.”

! Al Watania has substantial breeding, production and processingactivities in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and is planning to start a Cobbgrandparent programme next year and to improve and increase itsfurther processing operations.

The visitors from Al Watania pictured with their Cobb hosts at the SiloamSprings headquarters of Cobb-Vantress.

Construction work in progress for the new feed mill.

Saudis impressed by Cobb investment

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N E W S F R O M A R O U N D T H E W O R L D

Celebrating the growing success of the breed at CobbGermany.

The progress in genetic potential of the Cobb500 is paying dividends for broilerproducers all over Europe, according to James Truscott, director of CobbGermany which distributes the breed across 21 countries of central and easternEurope.

“This growing success is based on the increasingly high reproductive potentialcombined with competitive broiler performance and the highest meat yield,” he toldmore than 40 participants from these countries at the annual Cobb Germanyconference ahead of the Wimex Group Christmas party at Dessau in easternGermany.

This had led to significant gains in market share, he said, not only within Europebut in countries all over the globe with major broiler producers switching to thebreed, as recently seen in Egypt and Mexico.

Delegates heard about the latest technical developments including use of LEDtechnology in the lightning program, as well as the situation in different Europeanmarkets.

Cobb Germany reviewsmarket gains across Europe

Hybrid Poultry in Zambia won fivetop awards at the grandparentseminar for Cobb franchisedistributors in Abu Dhabi, UnitedArab Emirates, organized by CobbEurope for the Europe, MiddleEast and Africa region.

Richard Keeley (near right),Hybrid Poultry managing director,received the top company awardfrom Jerry Moye, Cobb president,while Aaron Banda (far right),production controller, won fourawards – based on top female lineand male line performance in 2013and top GP female and male linesfor the last four years.

He received the awards fromStan Reid (pictured), Cobb vice president, and Roy Mutimer, generalmanager for Cobb Europe.

Philippe Gouault, Cobb Europe GP specialist, stated: “The dedication

and enthusiasm of the staff and management has paid dividends inobtaining this status which proudly recognizes Hybrid Poultry andZambia in achieving outstanding performance on a global basis.”

Top GP awards for Hybrid Poultry in Zambia

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cobb-vantress.com

N E W S F R O M A R O U N D T H E W O R L D

Forty CPF employees in poultry production from 13 countriesattended a 12-day intensive poultry management course organizedby CPF Thailand and Cobb Asia at its newly opened Sikhiu learningcenter.

Specialists from the Cobb World TechnicalSuppor t Team covered all aspects ofproduction including parent rearing, breedermanagement, broiler management, hatcherymanagement, environment control, nutrition andprocessing.

Even though most of attendees hold seniorpositions managing parent stock and broilerfarms, they all advanced their knowledge ofCobb genetic improvements which continue toincrease performance potential in all areas ofproduction.

“The event showed us the great extent of timeand resources invested in developing suchhigh quality products and, more importantly,in Cobb technical expertise in production

management in hot and cold climates,” said JirapathKitithanapat, course director.

“This was a great opportunity for our attendees tolearn from the global leader in broiler breeding. We have expandedour business extensively throughout the world and each country hasits own way of operating. Inevitably we face individual problems fromfarm to farm, and Cobb showed us many examples of how they had

overcome such issues.” Duncan Granshaw, Cobb genera l

manager, added: “We were honored to beasked to lead this course and highly valuethe friendship we’ve developed with CPFover the past few years. It is evident fromtheir investment in this learning center thatthey are committed to getting the mostadvantage from the genetics that Cobbprovides.”! Earlier last month Adirek Sripratak, presidentand chief executive officer of ChareonPokapan, officially opened the Sikhiu learningcentre. He also visited the course andpresented a plaque commemorating the closecooperation between Cobb and CPF.

Strengthens teamin Asian regionSandy Irawan, who has worked for a long-time Cobb distributor in Indonesia for overten years, has joinedthe Cobb Asia teamwith responsibilitiesfor sales in Indonesia,Malaysia, Philippinesand Brunei.

He has been generalmanager for GalurPrima Cobbindo wherehe has headed theirnew poultry processingdivision as well asmanaging the saleof four million broilerchicks and one million parent stock a yearand overseeing production of GP and parentstock.

“I am really excited to have Sandy joiningour team. His considerable experience as amanager with our Cobb distributor will beextremely valuable to both us and ourcustomers,” said Mohammed Ismail, directorof sales – Cobb Asia.

One of the British PoultryCouncil’s distinguished serviceawards was presented to SteveTweed at its annual awardsceremony at the House ofCommons in London.

The award was given to SteveTweed (left) by Food and FarmingMinister George Eustice for hispivotal role within the poultry industryand at Cobb for over 20 years. Stevehas provided technical hatcherysupport and expertise in all areas ofmodern incubation practices andhas been dedicated to traininghatchery managers and staff.

John Reed, BPC chairman, stated:“Steve Tweed joined the poultry industry in 1966 and has been with Cobb for over20 years. He has travelled the world providing technical hatchery support and expertisein all areas of incubation, playing a pivotal role within both the UK and the global poultryindustry with the development of modern incubation practices.

“Throughout his career, his enthusiasm and drive helped find new and innovatedmanagement practices to improve hatchery operation. He was also able to makecomplicated hatchery ventilation principals understandable at the operation level in thehatchery. His dedication and patience in training hatchery managers and staff areoutstanding, and Steve is known for never saying no to a customer request regardless ofwhere in the world that need was.”

First poultry course in Thailand

British industry award for Steve Tweed

Adirek Sripratak, CPF president and CEO,presenting a plaque to Duncan Granshaw,general manager, Cobb Asia (Thailand).

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