On the occasion of the anniversary conference held from 25 to 27 September 2012, the German capital Berlin provided a very special location for more than 250 participants from 34 countries.


Besides a diverse entertainment programme, the Franchise Distributor Meeting focused on the presentation of new products, economic aspects of agriculture as well as animal health associated with technical service. The event was opened with the welcoming speech of Hinrich Leerhoff, Managing Director of LOHMANN TIERZUCHT.

Subsequently, Prof. Dr. Harald von Witzke from Humboldt Universität Berlin informed about “Increasing agricultural prices – Challenges for global nutrition and climate protection”. In his presentation, he described how the development of raw materials prices is related to the continuously growing world population and thus, a steadily increasing food requirement.

Dr. Matthias Schmutz, geneticist of LOHMANN TIERZUCHT, introduced new breeding products of LTZ in his speech. In order to fulfil the demands of the world market for an improved exploitation of feed resources, specific CONVERTER lines for white and brown-coloured eggs with a particularly good feed conversion, have been developed and presented for the first time at the Franchise Distributor Meeting in Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Preisinger, Chief Geneticist and Managing Director of LTZ, introduced another new breed. His presentation “Dualpurpose chicken for broiler farms and egg producers” addressed the current topic of how to use male day-old chicks of laying hybrids. In this context, LTZ has developed a line combination called “LOHMANN DUAL” of which the male birds can be fattened and the females can lay eggs.

The topics on the second day covered issues related to animal health and was opened by Keiron Forbes, Agri-research (Ireland) Ltd.,

with his lecture “Faster Horses“. He reported on experiences in the discussion with poultry farmers regarding feed costs, animal health and production efficiency of laying hens. Conditions which have to be provided by feeding in order to meet future expectations in terms of performance and efficiency were also discussed

In the next presentation “Managing layers successfully in the United States”, Chris Pierce, Heritage PMS Inc., USA, explained, from his point of view, the key aspects of successful egg production. In his lecture “Marek’s Disease – still an issue or problem solved?”, Prof. Dr. Klaus Osterrieder, Freie Universität Berlin, referred to the current situation and current issues regarding further research on the Marek virus as well as the application and development of new vaccine viruses.

Dr. Matthias Voss, Veterinarian and Head of the Veterinary Laboratory of LTZ, gave a general overview of future trends in poultry vaccination. He pointed out that there are three essential directions in the development of vaccines: recombinant vector vaccines, new live vaccines and the development of new dosage forms.

Then, Prof. Dr. Henner Simianer, GeorgAugust-Universität Göttingen, discussed in his presentation “Synbreed: Genomic selection and breeding planning“ the potential of genomic selection in layer breeding and introduced the project “Synbreed” to the audience. After the lunch break, all participants went on a three-hour guided tour of the German capital including the important sights. The programme of the day concluded with a festive dinner in the historic waterworks.

On the third day, the attendees started with a company tour of the franchise hatchery Spreenhagener Vermehrungsbetrieb für Legehennen located in the south of Berlin in Bestensee. This was followed up by a visit to the rearing area and laying units as well as the modern packing station.

The entire team at LOHMANN TIERZUCHT is already looking forward to the 51st Franchise Distributor Meeting, which will take place in Salzburg, Austria, from 30th September to 2nd October 2013.

Stella Schnor