USSEC recently conducted the Regional Animal Production Course (RAPCO) for poultry production at the Kansas State University.  The course program emphasized poultry nutrition and management areas to produce more meat and eggs, achieve better broiler breeders performance, as well as the use of soybean products in broiler, laying hen and breeders feeding programs.
USSEC consultant Carlos Campabadal conducted the course, which was attended by 30 poultry producers and technicians from top Latin American poultry operations in 11 Latin American countries.  The teaching staff for the RAPCO course consisted of leading experts from various U.S. universities and the private industry.  Mr. Campabadal presented a lecture, “The Negative Effect of Using Low Quality Soybean Meal in Poultry Diets and the Differences of Soybean Meal Nutrient Content by Different Origins” and he answered participants’ questions related to future prices of soybean meal and soybeans, issues that they have encountered with different batches of soybean meal of different origin, and the contamination of soybean meal with Salmonella.
The group also visited Kansas State University’s O.H. Kruse Feed Technology Center, where the university’s feed mill is located and performed lab work to measure eggshell quality.  The discussions during this course were very interactive among the participants, resulting in an excellent opportunity to share experiences and increase everyone´s knowledge.  The objective of supporting a better production standard for Latin American poultry producers in order to increase the consumption of U.S. soybean products in the region was achieved.