USSEC organized one-on-one visits focusing on poultry nutrition and diseases in Tunisia from December 2 to 5.
USSEC consultants Dr. Craig Coon, professor of Poultry Nutrition at the University of Arkansas, and Dr. Gary Butcher, professor of Poultry Disease Control at the University of Florida, escorted by Dr. Riadh Karma, USSEC Country Representative – Tunisia, visited two farms and a feed mill.
The first farm visit on December 2 was to the SOTAVI Layer Type Breeders farm located in Mraissa. USSEC consultants met with farm technicians and veterinarians and discussed nutrition, management, and disease issues in order to improve their performance and their disease status.
The second day, the team visited NUTRICAP, a feed mill and Taissir broiler farm. Dr. Butcher performed exams and autopsies on sick and dead birds and spoke about improving disease control and diagnosis at the companies. A technical meeting with the nutritionist and the veterinarians of the integrated group was organized to summarize the visits and to provide recommendations. Dr. Coon discussed with the nutritionist how they could improve their diets at the least cost.

Dr Butcher had also a chance to visit the IRVT Tunis Veterinarian Institute, which was a great opportunity for him to discover the level of very advanced capabilities in diagnostics, disease control, and research at this famous old institution.
In partnership with GIPAC, the poultry farmers group, the USSEC team organized a two-session workshop. The first, for nutritionists, was given by Dr. Coon, and the second was provided by Dr. Butcher, successively targeted to nutritionists and to poultry veterinarians. The workshops were interactive with interesting presentations and discussions.

In addition to technical aspects, Dr. Coon emphasized during the nutrition session how to improve feed quality, plus the high value of U.S. origin soybeans and U.S. Soy’s sustained quality. Customers and participants were very satisfied to have both specialists at the same event.