Aviagen production management school takes flight

The first module of Aviagen’s new Production Management School for customers based in Europe, Turkey, the Middle East and Africa has now been completed and received high praise from attendees.

The new School was created following huge demand for places at Aviagen’s well established Schools in the US, China and Brazil.

The week-long module, held at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the end of August, focused on breeder management and included a series of lectures, practical workshops and demonstrations presented by a mix of Aviagen specialists and external experts. Separate broiler and hatchery/incubation modules will be held at different venues across Europe over the coming months.

Nick Spenceley, Course Director, who designed and developed the School programme, explained: “The focus of the School is very much on the ‘why’ as opposed to the ‘how’ and ‘what’. Those attending our various modules will already have excellent practical knowledge and what we aim to do is focus on the importance of specific tasks and the dynamics between the various specialist technical areas. An understanding of the industry business drivers and key process indicators ensures attention is placed on specific areas achieving the best biological and economic return.”

“We were delighted to welcome students from 17 different countries to our Breeder Module and they all made new friends and took away an increased understanding of the things they can do to improve breeding performance.”

Barrie Stewart from Faccenda, UK, one of the attendees, commented: “A lot of the information we usually get is through our local experts via email so coming into a classroom situation like this is a definite positive. We were able to speak to many of our colleagues on the ground to find out what is happening in their countries.”

A wide range of topics were discussed, including ventilation, nutrition, health and general management practices. Khaled Nofal from ACOLID, Jordan, commented: “I learnt a lot about raw materials and restrictions and how we can use them. I will start to use mathematics and calculations to analyse the feed – the quality and quantity and the materials used – everything I learnt at the school will be used in my daily job.”

Nina Yngwe, Rearing and Planning Manager, Lantmännen SweHatch, Sweden, was named top student, scoring 88%. Nina was presented with a traditional Scottish Quaich (a friendship cup) in recognition of her achievement. Nina commented: “It’s a great feeling and an honour to come first in the Class of 2012. I think all the students did a great job so that’s a big compliment for the teachers. I really enjoyed the School as you see how everything is so different in all of the countries and also the variety of how to do things – all this has been of great value as well. “

Nick Spenceley added “Testing after each paper allowed us to check on how well we had developed the course and put the technical messages across. Of course it also focused delegates’ mind knowing there was a test and added the spice of competition. Overall scoring was high with over ¾ of the group achieving over 75% which is a great result.”

Graeme Dear, Managing Director of Aviagen Ltd, added: “We have been thrilled by the response to the new School and are glad that so many attendees at our first course found it to be beneficial. We are lucky to have had expert speakers both from Aviagen and also externally available to us, such as David Gibson, Director of Agriculture at Moy Park, who was able to pass on his extensive knowledge and experience.

“Importantly, I believe we learned a lot too. This was a great forum for people to feed back their queries and experiences which will in turn allow us to provide an even better service to our customers.”

For more information and application forms for the upcoming modules in Turkey (broiler) and the Netherlands (incubation/hatchery), please contact your local Aviagen representative or school@aviagen.com.

EMEA School – Fast Facts:

Week long course held at Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University
Eight key subject areas including; economics and trade, anatomy of a broiler breeder, critical age management, building design and ventilation, egg quality, health and welfare management, production planning and nutrition
31 students
17 different countries represented
26 companies
21 speakers
Over 50 teaching hours