Predicting Poultry 

H&N International welcomes Dr. Mikhail Malyshev, Veterinarian for Russia and CIS 

Dr. Mikhail Malishev joined H&N International in May 2025 as Veterinary and Specialist for Avian Pathology for the Russia and CIS. Born in 1971 in Yenakiyevo, former Soviet Union, he grew up in a rural part of town where his family kept some chicken in their backyard. Almost every free minute was spent with the animals, studying their behaviour in earnest fascination. So much so that his father often tried to shift his son’s interest also to other areas like repairing equipment. Mikhail recalls that he always liked animals, so pursuing a veterinarian career was a logic step after finishing school and starting to study. 

The young Veterinary Medical Assistant of 1990 graduated a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the National Agricultural University, Kiev, in 1996. Then, between 1996 and 1998 Dr. Malyshev worked in various assignments with a focus on cattle and pigs.  

He was Head of Veterinary Service on a collective farm, served as Military Veterinarian for farm animals but also for the dogs of the National Guard, before he started a private practice as veterinarian for various farms – all still focused on cattle and pigs. But then another role as veterinarian pharmacy consultant was about to change the footmarks on Dr. Malyshev’s career path from the cloven-hoofed to claws.  

Despite his still young age Dr. Malyshev’s solid experience and convincing consultation left a deep and lasting impression on an older pharmacy consultant, who offered him a contact that resulted in a new position as Head of Veterinary Service at the big breeding farm Landgut Broiler in 1998. 

Back to the Future 

Back to poultry, yet everything seemed new. Despite needing to learn the many novelties and differences of dealing with chicken, here Dr. Malishev’s early childhood observations paid off immensely, because he knew how to “read” the signs and understand the species quite well: “It’s impossible to work with one individual chicken as with other animals”, he says. And believe it or not: “chicken behavior is far easier to predict then, for example, human behavior!”  

His career had gotten wings and the next 20 years Dr. Malyshev worked as Head of Avian Department for various leading poultry companies like Provet in 2003, Merial in 2009, then again with a focus on vaccines and Avian Pathology for Boehringer Ingelheim in 2017, and last but not least as Poultry Expert for PPR Sverdlovskiy until he received the call of H&N International in 2025. Before, in Merial, he had started out as one-man-team and successively managed to build a department consisting of 17 specialists in four areas covering vaccination, veterinary topics, marketing and sales. Sharing his expert knowledge and offering farmers education about anything poultry was part of the role but also required more and more time spent with people than with chickens. Yet Dr. Malyshev always enjoyed the fieldwork and made sure to never lose touch with the birds. 

With such a strong destiny around chicken, what does he do in his spare time? Dr. Malyshev has four children, three of them already grown up, and two grandchildren. Whenever his lively family that also includes five cats leaves him time, he enjoys theatre, visiting exhibitions, walking in parks, good cuisine, and he always loves a good cup of tea.