Iradia, Cobb Germany's distributor for the West Balkans, organised the event to mark the greatly expanded Cobb500 market share in the region – Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia – during 2009.

After Iradia's general manager, Jasmina Atlic, had welcomed customers and friends, Cobb Germany director, James Truscott, spoke about the growing worldwide success of the Cobb500. He stressed that all producers should focus on the cost of producing chicken meat – and not necessarily achieving world record results – to achieve the best return.

Professor Hrvoje Mazija, from the Croatian veterinary faculty, presented new possibilities in vaccination procedures and Dr Vladimir Savic from the Croatian centre for poultry production spoke about the continuing threat from mycoplasma and E. coli.

Breeder manager from Bosnia, Dr Dario Bogdanovic, summarised results from the field and highlighted the Cobb500 performance in achieving average hatchability of 87.7 per cent to 60 weeks of age.

Cobb technical service manager for Bosnia, Dr Ermin Grbic, explained the differences between 'in season' and 'out of season' flocks, concentrating on ensuring a pleasant and productive environment for the breeders. Cobb Germany's expert from Czech Republic, Lubor Skalka, presented the role ventilation and environment management plays in maintaining good health status and cost-effective broiler performance.

Cobb technical service manager for Serbia, Dr Sinisa Kljajic, finished the official part of the meeting emphasising the benefits of lighting programmes and low nutrient density feed for Cobb broilers.

The symposium concluded with a lunch where attendees could share their experiences and expressed support for its continuation as an effective way of communicating performance data and successful management techniques across the industry.

Delegates enjoying the sea air at Opatija, during the first Croatian Cobb seminar