With the purchase on November 20 1916 of Old Pickard Farm at Concord, 30 kilometres from Boston, he was able to fulfil his ambition to become a poultry breeder and develop chickens specifically for their meat – the modern broiler – outperforming traditional dual-purpose breeds.

Cobb remained a family business for almost 60 years until its purchase by the pharmaceutical company Upjohn and subsequently Tyson Foods.

The breed came to Europe in the 1960s and it was the breeding programme set in the UK that developed the original Cobb500, bred for its high meat yield and conformation. The breed went to the USA in the 1980s and with increasing investment in research, the Cobb500 is today the world’s most popular broiler breeder.

The acquisition by Tyson Foods brought the breed together with the Vantress line and today’s company - Cobb-Vantress, Inc. – was born.

Cobb has continued to expand its research programme and now has six pedigree farms in the US together with the research complex at Herveld in the Netherlands which it bought with the Hybro breed and has doubled in capacity. Over the last 20 years the acquisition also of the Avian, Kabir and Heritage breeds has widened the gene pool.

The Cobb Europe team will be joined by their distributors across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, welcoming customers and other visitors to their stand (02 –A46) to join in the celebration of 100 years of Cobb.