Richard Leach, sales manager at Keepers Choice, looks at why feeding over the winter is more important than ever…
For what was thought by many to be the first ‘normal’ build up to a season since covid, the recent outbreak of bird flu certainly gave a reality check to the challenges faced within our sector. Some shoots got their full allocation of poults, however most customers that I speak to have considerably fewer birds than they would like.
Due to this well documented issue, it is more important than ever that the birds actually on the ground have access to the correct ration and volume of food they need.
Minimising mortality is a given whatever the season, but with substantially fewer birds available there should be scope to reduce mortality further, and those birds which are available – albeit depleted in number – need to be fit and fly well to give the guns challenging sport. Upholding high nutritional standards will be key to achieving this. If the feeding regime falls short, it will give rise to genuine welfare issues.
What should be fed and when?
Generally, we advise customers that eight tonnes of feed for every 1,000 birds released is about right – with this made up of roughly two tonnes of grower’s pellets and six tonnes of wheat.
In a regular year, this sum is usually right, but this isn’t a regular year with many gamekeepers’ poults being delivered in sporadic waves (some as late as September) which is highly unusual. This creates the problem of some birds requiring a different plane of nutrition to other birds, and it really is essential that each batch of birds receives a diet which reflects their stage of growth.
The main piece of advice is not to move the new arrivals over to wheat too early. If this happens, the younger poults won’t build the muscle mass and fat required to give them the best chance for the coming winter.
How to Feed?
Again, this usually comes down to individual choice. But with wheat and feed costs so much higher, and the financial and logistic issue of less birds, it is a decision that needs to be considered to a greater degree.
This thought is aimed a little more at those who would normally put a spinner on their quad as their method of feeding. The benefits are clear: who doesn’t enjoy a flock of hungry pheasants charging toward the quad? But, at what cost? The potential level of wastage when feeding this way should be enough to make most reconsider for at least a moment.
Hopper feeding will significantly reduce the amount of feed and wheat that is wasted, particularly pertinent at a time when wheat prices are phenomenally high. It is also less labour intensive, which may also help cut costs, or at least time. And, although it reduces the ability to manipulate the birds to certain parts of the shoot at certain times of the day, the cost benefit speaks for itself. Less feed should also be lost to wild birds and scavengers when hopper feeding.
Industry Resilience
There aren’t many industries that could survive another genuine crisis so soon after the pandemic. And that should be testament to each, and everybody involved in ours.
So far this season, the feedback is good and most of us who shoot are very grateful just to be getting out into he field. Of course, the bags are smaller. But is this really a problem? We’ve come from a place of potentially no shooting, to days of great enjoyment. And less birds mean that each and every one is valued to the full extent – as they should be.
Remember – it is a legal requirement that you register your game birds, find out more at gov.uk
Richard Leach bio - Richard Leach is responsible for national sales and marketing at Keepers Choice. He can be contacted on 07831 545035 or richardl@duffields.co.uk