Successful poultry production depends on science and skill, knowledge and experience, as well as a good deal of hard work and care - plus you need to have a varied and effective range of support tools at your disposal to ensure that you’re always getting excellent results and top returns from your flocks.

Aviagen^® is in the business of making sure that the company’s customers constantly achieve optimum productivity from their Aviagen chicks; the Global Technical Transfer Team (GTTT) develops and delivers an impressively wide-ranging portfolio of value-added, best-practice tools. These are designed to help poultry producers get the best from their flocks on both a daily and long-term basis.

Helping producers maximise genetic potential

Aviagen’s GTTT was set up several years ago with the specific remit of providing a wide range of management support to customers and customer support teams worldwide to help maximise flock productivity. The GTTT shares and disseminates scientific knowledge and in-house expertise. Working closely with Aviagen’s global customer service teams, the GTTT aims to ensure that the support delivered is current, relevant and indispensable, responding to day-to-day and long-term requirements that customers experience in the field.

Providing physical and online tools “Naturally, we supply customers with physical tools such as feed sieves, water flow meters, shank length measurers and other useful items,” says Global Head of Technical Transfer, Nick French. “However, our principal offerings are literature, in all its different formats, as well as advice, and an ever-widening choice of online tools. Together, these are designed to help farmers apply best practice management to help their flocks attain and, wherever possible, exceed, targets in a sustainable way.”

Supporting all levels of the production chain

Management tools support all levels and aspects of the production chain, and while they have been developed in response to specific customer demands, the tools are also the result of the GTTT’s dedication to anticipating client needs; in fact, the team prides itself on its innovative, helpful and pragmatic approach to supporting producers in every aspect of flock management and production. Specifically, management tools include:

• Management Handbooks -- comprehensive best-practice management publications covering broiler and breeder production
• Performance Objectives – documents detailing expected performance of breeder and broilers based on genetic potential, and assuming good nutrition, proper management plus correct environment
• Nutrition Specifications – recommended nutrition specifications to optimise bird performance
• Management advice articles – advanced scientific papers focused on delivering useful, practical messages
• How Tos – procedural documents for key management practices (broilers, breeders, veterinary, hatchery, nutrition, ventilation and processing)
• Best Practice series – practical and informative articles detailing best-practice procedures
• Posters -- graphics-based, minimal-text posters
• Videos – practical guidelines on key management tasks
• Physical and online tools – support for daily management tasks and decisions

Online tools cover topics such as finding solutions to specific problems, generating productivity improvements and planning – and when you visit the Resource Centre you’ll also come across items such as easy-to-use spreadsheets to help producers plan the correct house set-up requirements for their breeder or broiler operations.

Uniplus – helping with flock management decisions

In addition to housing and equipment, Resource Centre tools include Uniplus – a unique Excel spreadsheet that helps broiler managers with flock management decisions by predicting broiler flock weight distribution for single-sex or mixed-sex birds from either sample weights or average weight (together with coefficient of variation); this is also a useful tool for predicting processing distribution weights.

“Our online tools are just one of many types of support materials that we produce,” says Aviagen Global Technical Transfer Manager, Emma Longley. “Providing user-friendly information and advice, as well as addressing practical problem-solving, we see our online portfolio as an important addition to producers’ discussions and dialogues with Aviagen’s customer service personnel.”

A user-friendly, problem-solving tool

For a friendly and interactive question-and-answer-style problem-solving tool, click here and you’ll find a handy Checklist for Investigating Broiler Performance Problems, fully downloadable and in pdf format for computers or mobile devices, and covering subjects as varied as: Feed; Chick Start, Feeders and Drinkers; Ventilation and Temperature; plus Lighting and Health. This interactive pdf provides information in the form of a checklist that farm managers can work through to identify broiler performance issues, as well as identify potential solutions to commonly seen concerns in a broiler flock. In a similar way, the Aviagen Fertility Problem Solving Interactive pdf offers a quick reference guide to help identify the causes of infertility that may be experienced within a breeder flock, providing potential solutions and links to key literature.

Responding to what customers want

“We’re always in dialogue with our customers to find out what they want,” says Nick French, Global Head of Technical Transfer, “so in addition to what’s already up on our website, we’re currently working on a series of online grading tools designed to help producers of Parent Stock. These tools will be available very soon, and will help farm managers through every step of the grading process.” The online spreadsheet tool has been designed to assist farm managers with accurately grading their flocks, while the problem-solving interactive pdf provides detailed information on the grading process, pointing out potential pitfalls and solutions to commonly occurring issues during the grading process.

As for the future, the GTTT will continue to develop yet more and varied traditional and online tools, which are targeted at making customers’ jobs easier, while also aimed at delivering even better results. “Our tools are simply an extension of Aviagen’s commitment to personal customer support,” says Nick French, “and if we can add to producers’ bottom-line performance, productivity and profit, while ensuring optimal bird welfare and health, then we know we’re adding value to their business!”