The Janzen family in Germany is the first winner of the 2016 Cobb Champion Awards, introduced last year to recognise annual 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, won the award in the broiler category, achieving an average weight of 2.718 kg (6.00 lb) 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.
Janzen, who has been growing broilers for more than 10 years, stated “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, commented: “We see a clear link to our breeding programme at Herveld in the Netherlands. These birds, bred in a European environment, deliver precisely what we believe our market needs.”
Patrick van Trijp, Cobb senior accounts manager, added: “In his eight houses of 40,000 each, Bernd Janzen creates an excellent environment that allows the Cobb broiler to perform to its potential.”
“Having good technical performance is one thing, but at the end of the day it is the financial result that makes us choose the Cobb broiler from the hatchery company Probroed and Sloot,” stated Ulrich Strätker, an adviser to the farm.
On behalf of Cobb Europe and its distributor Cobb Germany, the award was presented to the Janzen family by Patrick van Trijp and Hendrik Ahlers, with a trophy and plaque also going to Probroed and Sloot.