A highly experienced Indian poultry specialist, Sharma Praveen Kumar, has been appointed manager of the Tom Barron hatchery at Catforth, near Preston.
The appointment comes at a time when the hatchery is undergoing a major investment programme to expand production of ISABROWN, ISA Warren and Shaver chicks.
Mr Kumar qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Bombay Veterinary College and has specialised in poultry breeding for the last 30 years. He developed his own broiler breeder business supplying hatching eggs, and was also production manager for Tirumala Hatcheries at Andhra Pradesh handling both broiler and layer chicks before moving to the UK last year.
His wife Anita, who also qualified as a veterinary surgeon, has joined him at Tom Barron involved with aspects of quality control.
The hatchery investment will improve the flow of eggs and chicks, expand capacity through installation of further setters and hatchers, and enhance standards of biosecurity including a new air filtration system. The extra capacity is needed to replace existing hatching at Eye, Peterborough, and to provide for increasing sales with orders this year up by more than 25 per cent on 2006.
