North American poultry producers working in the big bird debone market have a more efficient, easier-to-manage male coming online this summer: the Cobb Vantage™ male. Cobb-Vantress, Inc. introduced the new product — the company’s first new male since 2017 — at the 2020 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) today in Atlanta.

“Cobb developed the Vantage male to be an outstanding performer in the big bird market,” said Dr Mark Cooper, managing director of global genetics at Cobb. “We’ve taken into consideration ease of management and coupled that with market-leading growth rates and outstanding feed conversion ratios while keeping meat quality top of mind with this new release.”

The Vantage is a package-only male primarily designed to cross with the Cobb700™ female. Field results have consistently shown decreased feed conversion and increased body weight gains for birds over 8.5 pounds. The stature of the broiler will be taller and deliver more robust legs.

“We understand our customers rely on Cobb to provide superior, industry-leading genetics,” said Dr Aldo Rossi, vice president of research and development at Cobb. “We’ve seen the Vantage male provide significant advantages in feed conversion, growth rate and livability at heavier weights. On top of that, we saw excellent results in breast yield and evisceration yield.”

The Vantage male is easy to manage and has demonstrated hatch improvements. The Vantage matures faster than the CobbMV™ Male and exhibits a larger comb.

With similar meat quality performance, the Vantage delivers superior meat quality over the competition. The fillet dimensions of the Vantage crossed with the Cobb700 female lend themselves to prime cuts and less trim.

“Our commitment to meat quality really shines through with the introduction of the Vantage male,” adds Dr Rossi. “We’re committed to starting at the beginning of the process and delivering better uniformity, less trim and more valuable yield. Couple that with the advantages the Vantage brings to the table and you have premium meat quality and texture that ultimately can help impact the bottom line.”

Cobb’s commitment to meat quality doesn’t stop with superior genetics. Cobb offers customers a 360-degree evaluation - looking at their operation from hatchery to processing - to help make meat quality and texture work for an operation’s bottom line.

Find out more about those evaluations