USSEC recently conducted its First Poultry Production Training Program in Egypt.
USSEC consultants Dr. Gary Butcher and Dr. Craig Coon traveled to Cairo to participate in the training program, which was held in cooperation with the Egyptian Poultry Association at the Faculty of Agriculture – Cairo University from Friday, November 1 through Thursday, November 7. Approximately 45 participants enrolled in this initial program from the poultry industries of Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria.
During the program, professors from the Faculty of Agriculture at Cairo University along with Drs. Butcher and Coon presented papers on: Defining Chick Quality; Safe Food from Healthy Animals: The Role of Antibiotics in Food Animal Production; Protecting Poultry from Infectious Diseases; Nutritional Strategies for Efficient and Sustainable Poultry Meat; Economic Value of U.S. Soybean Meal compared to Soybean Meal from Other Origins; Ideal Amino Acid Requirements for Broilers, Layers, and Broiler Breeders; Calcium and Phosphorus Nutrition for Poultry; and Maximum Energy Utilization for Poultry.
One of the key objectives for this training program was to teach participants about the importance of utilizing quality ingredients that provide consistent digestible nutrients with less variation such as U.S. soybean meal and full fat soy which will decrease production costs because companies can formulate complete feeds cheaper and more accurately with smaller margins of safety and gain performance from increased digestible amino acids for meat and egg production.
During the week, Dr. Butcher also traveled to poultry companies in Cairo for a meeting with their technical team to discuss the importance of maintaining a good biosecurity program, what is meant by the term “antibiotic free,” and to emphasize the importance of chick quality.