What I Learned at the 2019 IPPE

The Auburn University Poultry Science Club arrived Tuesday, February 12th to Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia World Congress Center for the International Production and Processing Expo. At this convention there were over 1,200 companies and exhibitors. During the convention college students can interview and network with any company on the conference floor. Before going to Atlanta my class for Advanced Production was broken into groups of four members and tasked with finding out information about different aspects of an integrated poultry company. My task for my group was finding out about the economics of broiler breeders and hatchery management. The other members of my group were tasked with finding out the economics of broilers, economics of primary processing, and the economics of further processing, all within an integrated poultry company.

This past summer I worked in Carrollton, Georgia with Pilgrims. My main focus for the summer was going around with the breeder service technicians to find a way to help maintain egg production with the breeders, after I spent time there I shifted my focus to the hatchery. At the hatchery our hatchability percentage was low. I assisted the hatchery manager in looking for ways to first slow down the percentage from dropping, then once it was stable to bring the percentage back up. Knowing this information helped me out significantly during my research at IPPE. At the expo I asked Cobb-Vantress about my topic for the group. They told me that everything runs together, while each area may seem separate and almost “compete” against one another at the end of the day they all report to the same people and need to work together as one to make the company as a whole a better place.

The economics of the broiler breeders and hatchery are very important as it relates to the other aspects of an integrated poultry company. Without the broiler breeder side of the live production there would be no eggs to fill the hatchery, no eggs to hatch means no broilers. Without broilers there is no meat to process or to further process. Having proper broiler breeder management is key to having a successful hatch and in turn helps having stronger and more healthy broilers for grow-out. Having poor breeder management leads to poor and less eggs which will have a poor effect on your broilers. The main costs of the broiler breeder and hatchery side of the company are: breeder chicks, vaccinations, feed, lab testing, payment to growers after grow-outs, labor, transportation and logistics, pullet service techs, breeder service techs, egg and chick buses, hatchers, incubators, hatchery line equipment, hatchery crew, hatch bonuses for percent hatchability, and the Embrex machines.

Every step in an integrated poultry company has a substantial impact on each step following the first. If you do not think everything is connected in some way, shape, form, or fashion you are sorely mistaken. Each aspect has its different costs and applications but they all are related by the company as a whole wanting to turn profit.