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A Poultry CRC project being conducted at the University of New England (UNE) aims to make it easier for Australian poultry producers to reuse litter. The potential benefits include lower costs of production and a smaller ecological footprint for the industry. According to the Project Leader, UNE’s Steve Walkden-Brown, some producers don’t reuse litter in Australia is because they’re

Poultry experts at the recent World’s Poultry Congress (WPC) in Brisbane believe a combination of compounds will be required to effectively replace in-feed antibiotics, and a current Poultry CRC research project is lending support to that theory. CRC researchers at the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) are pursuing the CRC’s objective of reducing reliance on

Welcome to another edition of eChook. Since my last update, there has been no further news about when the guidelines for Round 11 CRCs will be released. However, the Poultry CRC has received 21 expressions of interests from various partners representing over 95% of the Australian poultry industry. This shows an overwhelming support by the industry in which

The two core poultry units offered at the University of New England (UNE), PLTY 300/500 and PLTY 301/501, will be going completely online from the second semester of 2008. The two units were created with funding from the Poultry CRC in 2005 and are very popular with the local industry as well as poultry producers overseas. Enrolment into the units had, however, been low

Vale Jack Houweling Mr. Jack Houweling, General Manager of Darwalla Milling and member of the Poultry CRC Education Committee, passed away earlier this month. Jack will be sadly missed by all his friends and colleagues in the poultry industry. I have known Jack for approximately 20 years and his consistent interest in, and support for,

The Poultry CRC, in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F), will be conducting extension activities to help free range poultry producers optimise the liveability of free range layers. The activities are part of a strategy of transferring to industry research results from a project looking at mortality in free range layer

Welcome to another edition of eChook. The long-awaited National Innovation Review (The Cutler Report) was released on 13 September by Minister Kim Carr. The Cutler Report, entitled Venturous Australia, examines the Australian innovation system and recommends some major, but not necessarily fundamental, changes to the way Australia does R&D. From the perspectives of CRCs, the Cutler Report recommends the

The Australian poultry industries have taken a number of pro-active steps to improve bird welfare, not only because healthy, stress-free birds are more productive but also because farmers are concerned for the welfare of their flocks. One such step was to provide financial and in-kind support to the Australian Poultry CRC’s welfare program. The results of

Murrumbidgee College Poultry Training Manuals The Poultry CRC has undertaken the task of revising the Murrumbidgee College Poultry Training manuals. The integration of Dr. Tom Grimes’ review comments into the Commercial Layer Management Health and Welfare and the Commercial Meat Chicken Management Health and Welfare training manuals has now been completed and the revised files

Welcome to another edition of eChook. Professor Mary O’Kane’s Review of the CRC Program, Collaborating to a purpose (PDF 1.1MB), released on 5 August, is now open for comments. It is a thorough and, by and large, a positive review. A few key questions are left unanswered. For example: There is no mention of the high transaction cost for

A Poultry CRC researcher based at the Australian Centre for Poultry Immunogenomics is using emerging biotechnologies to detect avian influenza across a range of bird species. Viral diseases such as avian influenza infect the cells of a bird and, using the machinery of the cell, create multiple copies of the virus which are set free as the

WPC2008 The main activity this past month has been the World’s Poultry Congress, for which I was the Coordinator of the Youth Program, including the post-congress tour. Fifty-eight young people from 30 different countries participated in the Youth Program, including two of our Poultry CRC Postgraduate Students, Barbara Konsak and Adam Sacranie. The Youth Program

Welcome to another edition of eChook. It’s been a big month. Many of you may have heard that the Poultry CRC won the WPSA Industry/Organisation Award at the World’s Poultry Congress in Brisbane in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the development of the poultry industry. This is a great honour for all of us involved in the