Scottish Sporting Club flies high with focus on partridge feed, welfare and local community
A Scottish Sporting Club is flying high after trialling a new feed regime to meet the challenges of sporting days in a high altitude and often cold Highland climate.
Operating on part of an estate near Inverness, the Shoot Manager has spent the last five years carefully developing a high stakes Highland sporting destination.
The Club started the operation from scratch in 2021 with a vision to maximise every aspect of the ground with marginal gains to create something really special for the members and their guests. A key aspect of this was a proactive welfare and habitat plan for healthy birds that fly well and can confidently meet the members’ full calendar for the prestigious sporting they have built and last season they trialled a tailored feed plan for partridge with Spratts Game Foods.
“In the Highlands the terrain and climate can be challenging for partridge,” explains the Shoot Manager, who worked previously on Glenlivet estate, also at high altitude. “It is often colder and wetter than other parts of the country, and on the heather moor they don’t have the same cover as a lowland shoot. I was keen to explore what we could do to give the partridge every assistance to thrive in this extreme environment.”
Over the past season, the Shoot Manager has been working with Louise Fotheringham at Spratt’s Game Foods at Drumlitihie in Aberdeenshire and Ralph Bishop, a poultry expert who leads on innovation at Premier Nutrition, to look in detail at the different aspects that impact the birds’ success and how these could be maximised through nutrition.
“The birds come from Galloway Game at approximately 14-16 weeks. They also have a proactive rather than reactive approach to producing the best game birds and the birds arrive in the best condition and health. We wanted to maximise on that and we worked closely with Louise and Ralph to see how we could help sustain and improve their condition and fitness.”
This is the first trial of its kind and is timely as Louise and Ralph have seen a growing demand for tailoring quality nutrition for partridge to suit different environments.
“Precise nutrition makes all the difference to getting the best returns,” says Louise. “We looked at the variables that the estate is contending with to tailor the feed, introducing a high-density grower with quality raw ingredients and changing the time periods of feeding, critical factors that impact healthy growth and condition.”
The trial started with one pen, but after two weeks of driving the birds, the Shoot Manager was already seeing the difference and moved 100% of the partridge to Spratt’s high-density grower.
“It soon became clear that the tailored feed was making a difference,” says the Shoot Manager. “The birds were flying well, they handled terrain better when being driven, committing to big heights to cross over deep valleys. In the larder they were also in fantastic condition. The muscle density was good. As well as cooking for guests, we give a lot of our game to local communities and I was really proud of how they looked.”
Any investment in feed has been paid back in a better return percentage and fitter, healthier birds, says the Shoot Manager, and he also says he’s learned a lot from the trial, especially about understanding the detail of the feed labels.
“I’ve had experience in the past when the feed was not reaching the mark, and working with Louise and looking closely at the balance and quality of the ingredients has given me an insight into what was potentially missing and what may have influenced the condition and development of birds.”
Ralph, Louise and the Club all worked closely throughout, monitoring and making decisions together, seeing what’s right for the birds and adjusting to what the estate is seeing and telling us, explains Louise.
“With our own on-site mill and a close working relationship with Ralph, we are able to respond quickly to feedback and the research results. It’s this tailored approach which can make all the difference to performance, reputation and profit margins for a sporting estate.”
It’s also invaluable to take the research out of the lab into the field, adds Ralph:
“Trials are vital as they prove what’s working - it’s the appliance of science at scale. This type of field-based work is excellent for game birds as less academic study has been done, and it allows shoot managers to see what really works for their business.”
Following extensive research with game shoots and veterinary specialists in recent years, Spratt’s now includes probiotics in all of its feeds as standard. The earlier a probiotic is introduced, and ideally from day-old, the better as it helps the birds to build a robust gut microbiome. This means they absorb more nutrition from feed and build up a stronger immune system and consequently a drop in antibiotic usage.
Reflecting on the year as the season closes, the Shoot Manager says the trial has given him confidence:
“It has been really rewarding to see the impact of the feed on the stock. It gives me the confidence to create new drives and to make changes and improve the operation in the direction we’d like it to reach. We will be working with Spratt’s again this year with the new diet from the start. We also really appreciate that we know we are getting a batch of feed made fresh, and that Spratt’s is reliable when it comes to delivery and sound advice.”
As well as the sporting days, the Club is host to some of the country’s best Gun Dog Club trials and training days. The Club has a strong community ethos, supporting local produce, employment – with many locals taking holiday from work to come and beat or pick up – and suppliers for the full range of work across the operation It partners with local chefs and hotels to offer exclusive tailormade packages for members and their guests on all sporting pursuits the Highland offers. The ground is the guests’ for the day or a few days to enjoy its picturesque setting, great sport and excellent food based entirely on the game from the operation, and well looked after by the Shoot Manager and the team he has built around him.