Egyptian Poultry Customers Benefit from U.S. Soy’s Technical Assistance

USSEC recently worked with U.S. Soy poultry customers in Egypt, providing technical support.
Dr. Gary Butcher, USSEC consultant and professor of Poultry Disease Control at the University of Florida, traveled to a Dakahlia poultry integration broiler farm located an hour and a half outside Cairo on December 8. Dakahlia Group is a substantial sized poultry group with 1.8 million broiler breeders. Mousa Wakileh, USSEC regional consultant – Middle East North Africa (MENA), coordinated the site visit with Dakahlia’s live production manager, Jim Scouler. The farm was constructed one year ago and is modern and fully automated.  The incidence of disease in Egypt’s poultry industry is very high, but this modern and remotely located farm is achieving performance above industry standards.  Four broiler houses were inspected and the birds were healthy with good, uniform body weights.  Management of the houses is excellent and these positive results are due to implementation of comprehensive biosecurity efforts, good management practices, and effective vaccination programming.  Results such as these will facilitate growth of the poultry industry in Egypt and increase use of U.S. soybeans, Dr. Butcher reported.
On December 9, Dr. Butcher next traveled to Cairo Poultry Company to meet with their team of veterinarians, nutritionists, and technicians. Mr. Wakileh also coordinated this technical visit. The session involved questions related to diseases and nutrition for both Cairo Poultry Company and for the country’s poultry industry. With such a high disease challenge level in Egypt, many vaccines and other products are used to control losses. This meeting provided an excellent opportunity to discuss various health and feed options, respond to questions on interpreting laboratory-generated data, and implement health programs. Much of the discussion involved both nutrition and disease and it was valuable to have USSEC consultant and professor of Poultry Nutrition at the University of Arkansas Dr. Craig Coon along to provide his professional opinion on solving these very complex issues.  Cairo Poultry Company is the largest poultry integrator in Egypt and improving performance will increase demand for high quality U.S. soybeans and soybean products.