Hubbard, one of the major international broiler breeding companies in the world, has announced that the ‘Hubbard JA257’ has been accredited by the Dutch Animal Welfare Association (Dierenbescherming) for use in their Better Life certification scheme
Hubbard JA257 is a new Hubbard Premium breed made up of the recently introduced Hubbard M22 male mated with the well-known Hubbard JA57 female.
After a comprehensive welfare outcome evaluation by Wageningen University & Research, the Hubbard JA257 has been added by the Dutch Animal Welfare Association to the list of approved breeds for broilers alongside the Hubbard JA757 and Hubbard JA957.
Paul van Boekholt of Hubbard added, “Already about 18 years ago we were actively working together with the Dierenbescherming and some other business partners to develop and introduce new concepts for the Dutch market focussing on excellent welfare traits.”
“This finally resulted in the introduction of the ‘Better Life 3-star system’ for broilers in 2007 for which the Hubbard JA757 and Hubbard JA957 have been the benchmark ever since. The Hubbard JA257 is a welcome addition to these originally accredited Hubbard breeds. In fact it has equally as good as or even better animal welfare traits, behaviour and performance with a plus on breast meat production. So, we are satisfied that the Hubbard JA257 can now also be used for extensive indoor, free-range or organic production,” Boekholt noted.
“Also the ‘Dierenbescherming’ is very pleased to recognise a new breed for use within the ‘Beter Leven keurmerk.’ In addition to the Hubbard JA957 and JA757, another slower growing variety has now been approved as a result of years of cooperation between the Dierenbescherming and Hubbard. Based on welfare indicators measured by Wageningen University, we concluded that the Hubbard JA257 meets the criteria as set in the ‘Beter Leven keurmerk’ scheme for meat chickens,” confirmed Marijke de Jong-Timmerman, programme manager of ‘Beter Leven keurmerk.’
The Hubbard M22 is a new breeder male in response to markets where the percentage of breast meat is the important factor in the choice of breeders. As a result of customer demand, Hubbard decided to develop a male line allowing customers to improve carcass confirmation for the live/whole bird markets and breast meat yield for the debone markets without losing the positive animal welfare traits the Hubbard products are renowned for.
