Ceva symposium: Hatchery innovation will drive productivity gains

The Ceva New Technology Vaccine Symposium concluded with practical information directly from producers who presented benefits and trial overviews of the product in their own facilities. About 200 people attended the symposium, held April 9–11 in Miami, Fla.
Presenters represented a large part of the global market from the U.S., Mexico, Malaysia and Brazil. Conclusions from the symposium included: improved feed conversions, standard weight increases, lower mortality rates, better financial results, fewer technical visits, improved biosecurity, less use of antibiotics, aiming at hatchery vaccination only and with a final conclusion that lowest price is not the focus, but bottom-line value needs to be the focus through measurable attribution of change.
The April event marked the second time Ceva hosted a scientific symposium. The first, held in 2011, introduced "the science behind the innovation," and the level of participation showed the real shift toward the adoption of new technology vaccine strategies.
"The number of day-old chick broilers vaccinated in hatchery with new technology vaccines has dramatically increased in the past five years," said Ceva. "Today, almost half of the broilers produced in the world each year are vaccinated in the hatchery, with these new technology products against Gumboro, Newcastle or Laryngotracheitis. We expect and will encourage this figure to grow to 70 to 75 percent by 2015."