Ross 140 Club membership awarded to highest-performing Aviagen LLC parent stock customers.

Ross 140 Club’s elite membership of star performers

Aviagen LLC, the company’s Russian business unit, established the Ross 140 Club in 2013 to recognize and encourage customers who achieve top performance with Ross parent stock (PS) flocks.

Due to excellent flock management practices, as well as continuous improvement in the Ross product line, the performance numbers have been increasing year on year, with steadily more Gold status winners. A status of Gold is awarded to customers who reach more than 145 chicks per hen housed (HH) in one flock, and Platinum to those who exceed 140 chicks per HH in five flocks.

As of this year, 9 of Aviagen LLC’s 60 customers have been added to this elite group of star performers. This year’s three Ross 140 Gold winners include GAP Resource (Yuzhny) at 150.20 chicks per HH, Miratorg at 146.45 chicks per HH and Permskaya Farms at 145.83 chicks per HH. Other additions to the club this year were Kamenskaya Farm (Platinum level) and Lisko Broiler.

So far, the highest-scoring Ross 140 Club member is Octyabrskaya Farm, who reached an impressive 157.23 chicks per HH in 2016 -- the highest performance ever achieved by an Aviagen LLC customer.

Week of information-gathering and relationship-building

The week was organized with the goal of cultivating a strong alliance between Aviagen and its customers, as well as to share with them meaningful information to contribute to their success. Together the group toured Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, the Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh Castle and a host of other iconic landmarks.

Besides the site-seeing tours throughout London and Edinburgh, dinners and other activities, the group participated in three informative presentations:

• A U.K. market update by Aviagen Regional Commercial and Technical manager Alan Thomson enabled the group to analyze comparative performance data of other regions.
• An Aviagen Research and Development overview by Magnus Swalander, general manager of Aviagen Ltd., offered an insight into Aviagen’s R&D plans for Ross.
• A presentation on biosecurity and quality control by Aviagen Veterinarian Akos Klausz covered the great extent to which Aviagen protects its flocks through strict biosecurity and quality control programs. The company shares its biosecurity practices and know-how with customers to help them keep harmful pathogens away from their flocks.
• The informative sessions concluded with a windshield farm tour, which gave the visitors a glimpse of an Aviagen farm.

Positive outcome of visit

According to feedback from both Ross 140 Club members and Aviagen, the U.K. visit resulted in shared knowledge and relationship-building benefits for everyone.

Marcel Janssen, Aviagen technical director Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), said, “Our 140 Club winners are a strong testament to the performance heights that can be achieved with Ross breeding stock. We value our time with these customers in the U.K., and also heed their input, which we regularly use as a basis for critical R&D and strategic decisions. I view the 140 Club as a large ship of friends, which continues to grow in passengers and success each year.”

“We are honored to be numbered among the members of the Ross 140 Club and enjoy the unique benefits provided to members. We will apply the knowledge we’ve gleaned from this visit toward the development of our own flock management strategies. I’d like to thank Aviagen for a well-organized visit,” said Alexander Konovalov, director of Kamenskaya Farm. “One thing is for sure: Ross is a strong breed with an upward development path and we are happy to be part of the Ross family.”

Eduard Taktarov, Aviagen LLC sales director, says he received positive feedback from the customers after the visit with the U.K. team. “Members of the Ross 140 Club are proud of their results, and even try to compete with one another,” he explains. “Our visit with the U.K. team was successful in strengthening our relationship with these valued customers. While this was the first such visit, we plan to make it a regular event.”

About Aviagen
Since 1923, Aviagen® has established itself as the world's leading poultry breeding company, developing pedigree lines for the production of commercial broiler chickens under the Arbor Acres®, Indian River®, and Ross® brand names. The Rowan Range® and Specialty Males® are specialty breeding stock from Aviagen that offer greater flexibility for customers to meet specific or niche market requirements. The company is based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA with a number of wholly-owned operations across the United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Latin America, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S., and joint ventures in Asia. Aviagen employs more than 3,900 people and has a distribution network serving customers in over 100 countries.

For further information, please visit www.aviagen.com.