More about Pheasants
Discussion
Following on from our thread the other week, myself and Ted 
were sat in the pub last night when the topic of Pheasants came up and the abundance of them that seem to me running around now days looking very fat and healthy, not a mangy, old, scrawny one to be seen. What was concerning was to hear that on most managed estates where the birds are fed and maintained by gamekeepers in order to be blagged on organised shoots the feeding suplements, antibiotics and steroids added to the feed is done so in massive amounts. This ensures nice big fat healthy birds on the table and happy punters. These feed additives are then stopped 28 days prior to the shoot in order to clear through the birds systems of all the dubious "vetenery use only" drugs prior to entering the food chain. What this means is that "cheap birds" offered from the backs of vans (easy mungo) or under the counter in the local pub may well be so dosed up with hormone and growth supplements that you grow tits and your wife a moustache 
now I know for some of us this may be little change but it's certainly concerning......Any comment from our resident Gamekeeper turned Poacher
were sat in the pub last night when the topic of Pheasants came up and the abundance of them that seem to me running around now days looking very fat and healthy, not a mangy, old, scrawny one to be seen. What was concerning was to hear that on most managed estates where the birds are fed and maintained by gamekeepers in order to be blagged on organised shoots the feeding suplements, antibiotics and steroids added to the feed is done so in massive amounts. This ensures nice big fat healthy birds on the table and happy punters. These feed additives are then stopped 28 days prior to the shoot in order to clear through the birds systems of all the dubious "vetenery use only" drugs prior to entering the food chain. What this means is that "cheap birds" offered from the backs of vans (easy mungo) or under the counter in the local pub may well be so dosed up with hormone and growth supplements that you grow tits and your wife a moustache now I know for some of us this may be little change but it's certainly concerning......Any comment from our resident Gamekeeper turned Poacher This has only been highlighted in recent years by the EC who have constantly interferred with the way things have been traditionally done for mny years without chaps growing tits and birds growing Taches.
The additives in the foods are put into specialist pellets whichare fed to the birds when they are young and completely captive. The substance causing concern is called Emtril and is an antibiotic to combat disease such as Coxcidiousis (spelling maybe wrong) and other stomach related disease which has a high mortality on young pheasants.
Mass reared game is susceptible to the transfer of quite a few diseases that kill them such as 'Gape worm' which is treated with a worming chemical ( I used to use cattle wormer that does the same job and is a third of the price of pheasant medicine)
Growers pellets which contain this substance are very expensive to buy and are required in large quantities, especially if the shoot is a large one (over 5000 birds reared)
Keepers and shoot managers have a vested interest in getting the game onto natural food such as wheat and kibbled maize as soon as they can to save costs.
Wheat is about £60 a ton as in comparison with £180+ per ton for pellets.
Most game is released to the woods in late July and early August. From the second or third week into the release pens which have no roofs on them, they are introduced slowly to wheat and weaned off the pellets.
They also start to take on a natural diet which they forrage for when they start to fly over the tops of the release pens.
Pheasants cannot be shot prior to 1st October when they come into season. They are generally not shot until the end of October or 1st week into November. They will have been off the cover and growers pellets for many weeks by that stage.
Once the birds start to leave the areas where they are highly concentrated without the means to get away from each other, the risk of disease is dramatically reduced.
I have been eating game regularly for over 30 years. do not have and am not growing tits. I will continue to do so.
It is another EU medalling policy which has been blown up out of all proportion by the media.
Several years ago the EU decided that it was illegal to sell shot birds unless they had been examined by a vet to ensure they were fit for sale and human consumption. They bought out regulations that enforced this procedure but did not realise there are not enough vets to go around and the shot game would be wasted. There are many hundreds maybe thousands of shoots within the UK that regularly shoot in excess of 300 birds per day and many of them on the same days.
It was simply not possible to achieve the process of examination by a vet and would substantially increase the costs involved for those that finance the rearing of the birds.
The average cost for a team of shooters (between 8 and 10 guns)works out at around £18 to £25 plus VAT per bird shot depending on where you want to buy your shooting. The resale of each bird is currently about 20p. A 300 bird day on a top shoot in Devon or Somerset
or in the Yorkshire Dales could costupwards of £9000 for the day.
I will continue to eat game as it is a lot more flavourful than chicken and probably an awful lot less full of additives pumped into the bodies of mass reared chickens that never have the freedom to walk or fly anywhere!
>> Edited by madcop on Friday 6th December 09:21
The additives in the foods are put into specialist pellets whichare fed to the birds when they are young and completely captive. The substance causing concern is called Emtril and is an antibiotic to combat disease such as Coxcidiousis (spelling maybe wrong) and other stomach related disease which has a high mortality on young pheasants.
Mass reared game is susceptible to the transfer of quite a few diseases that kill them such as 'Gape worm' which is treated with a worming chemical ( I used to use cattle wormer that does the same job and is a third of the price of pheasant medicine)
Growers pellets which contain this substance are very expensive to buy and are required in large quantities, especially if the shoot is a large one (over 5000 birds reared)
Keepers and shoot managers have a vested interest in getting the game onto natural food such as wheat and kibbled maize as soon as they can to save costs.
Wheat is about £60 a ton as in comparison with £180+ per ton for pellets.
Most game is released to the woods in late July and early August. From the second or third week into the release pens which have no roofs on them, they are introduced slowly to wheat and weaned off the pellets.
They also start to take on a natural diet which they forrage for when they start to fly over the tops of the release pens.
Pheasants cannot be shot prior to 1st October when they come into season. They are generally not shot until the end of October or 1st week into November. They will have been off the cover and growers pellets for many weeks by that stage.
Once the birds start to leave the areas where they are highly concentrated without the means to get away from each other, the risk of disease is dramatically reduced.
I have been eating game regularly for over 30 years. do not have and am not growing tits. I will continue to do so.
It is another EU medalling policy which has been blown up out of all proportion by the media.
Several years ago the EU decided that it was illegal to sell shot birds unless they had been examined by a vet to ensure they were fit for sale and human consumption. They bought out regulations that enforced this procedure but did not realise there are not enough vets to go around and the shot game would be wasted. There are many hundreds maybe thousands of shoots within the UK that regularly shoot in excess of 300 birds per day and many of them on the same days.
It was simply not possible to achieve the process of examination by a vet and would substantially increase the costs involved for those that finance the rearing of the birds.
The average cost for a team of shooters (between 8 and 10 guns)works out at around £18 to £25 plus VAT per bird shot depending on where you want to buy your shooting. The resale of each bird is currently about 20p. A 300 bird day on a top shoot in Devon or Somerset
or in the Yorkshire Dales could costupwards of £9000 for the day.
I will continue to eat game as it is a lot more flavourful than chicken and probably an awful lot less full of additives pumped into the bodies of mass reared chickens that never have the freedom to walk or fly anywhere!
>> Edited by madcop on Friday 6th December 09:21
Love game myself. Both home cooked and out. For any who are interested "Rules" restaurant nr Covent Garden does superb game.
www.rules.co.uk
www.rules.co.uk
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff