By Tom Woolman, customer service manager, Annyalla Chicks
Earlier in June I attended the Cobb charity shoot in Suffolk. I managed to catch up with plenty of people from East Anglia who I don’t see that often and I won a prize in the raffle, which always puts a smile on Mrs Woolman’s face. My shooting was terrible, worse than the two people in my team who had no previous experience, but it was still good fun. It seems clay shooting has replaced golf as the sport of choice for poultry gatherings.
Cobb were raising money for was the Country Trust, a charity which gets children from deprived inner city areas out on to farms. If anyone has a farm within an hour of a city centre then consider getting in touch with them and they can facilitate visits. They do all the planning, risk assessments and organisation. The event is a credit to Cobb and a good reminder that they still maintain a profile in the UK.
I was also fortunate enough to go to an Aviagen technical event held in conjunction with Chesterfield Poultry. Harrison Davies was presenting and covered topics included brooding and ventilation. The subject of evaporative cooling provided one particularly contentious point of discussion, as it always seems to at this time of the year. There was a good turnout of farmers and plenty of chat. Thanks to both businesses for putting it on.
Our new Setcare machines in Butterwick Hatchery have now been commissioned. These allow us to extend the incubation period from 21 to 24 days, utilising an extended preheat which we hope will improve hatch uniformity and lower stress on the embryo. They are a lovely black colour with glass doors so you can see the eggs turning without opening the machines. When I got involved in poultry I was told the industry had a problem because it isn’t sexy enough to attract new entrants. These new machines may help to reverse that trend and make incubation sexy again.
Finally, my eldest daughter has turned vegetarian. I thought it might take a bit longer but she feels she has gathered enough information to make a decision on her diet. In some ways I’ve felt strangely proud of her making her own decision and (so far) sticking to it. Just as long as she isn’t laying down in front of the livestock trailer come September when I go to send the lambs away, as I might lose my sense of humour then.