For the second year running the Cobb Europe Flock of the Year Award has been won by a UK flock — this time Corbett Farms which produces hatching eggs for Sun Valley.
The flock of 27,000 Cobb 500 parents at Kinnersley, near Hereford, achieved 141.5 chicks/breeder to 60 weeks of age. This is within two chicks of a similar result by the award winning flock from Grampian Country Food Group in 2005.
Jonathan Cade, sales director of Cobb Europe, said there had been stiff competition from a number of other flocks among more than 25 million parents placed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
"Corbett Farms are consistently among the best performing flocks and this success is a tribute to their standard of management," he said.
He presented the award, which included crystal decanters and glasses, to the rearing farm manager Darren Clarke, breeder farm manager Adrian Nicholas and Sun Valley hatchery manager Phil Harris.
The presentation was attended by Richard Corbett whose grandfather Lt Col Uvedale Corbett founded Sun Valley as a chicken producer and processor in the early years of the UK broiler industry in 1960. The company became one of the leading UK processors and was bought by Cargill in 1980.
Today Corbett Farms have 150,000 parent stock on seven production farms and supply PD Hook as well as Sun Valley with hatching eggs.
The winning flock reared at Budeley achieved a high degree of uniformity reflected in a coefficient of variation of 8.5. The birds were moved at 18 weeks of age to the production farm at Kinnersley where Mr Nicholas has a policy of aiming for early eggs without detriment to the birds' subsequent performance. The flock peaked at 84.5 per cent at week 30 and remained above 80 per cent for five weeks. Total eggs per hen housed were 175.6, hatching eggs 167.0 and hatchability 84.7 per cent. Mortality was low at just 2.6 per cent to 60 weeks.
Mr Nicholas describes the Cobb flock as the best he has worked with "The whole flock was the easiest I've managed in 12 years with chickens — very quiet and a pleasure to work with," he says. "The cockerels had a good colour which tends to mean they are sexually active , but it was noticeable how they didn't treat the pullets roughly."
His experience — like that of his senior colleagues — helps in achieving the consistent results for which Corbett Farms have built a reputation over many years.
