Costing for DIY pheasant shoot

[david1976 0]

Hello,

 

I am wondering if someone can help me with a rough costing guide for pheasants.

 

I have been offered 450 acres of arable land for shooting pheasants on. The price I get the land for (still to be agreed) will include two new pheasant pens, feeders, watering etc as well as a few acres of cover crop.

 

This means that my basic expenses are going to be the cost of the birds and their feed and then any extras after that such as medicine I may need.

 

Not sure how many I will put down but was wondering is there a rough kind of cost say to buy and feed 1000 birds?

 

Cheers

 

David

[salukiwhippet 6]

Far too many variables to be accurate, but very roughly -

 

£3-£3.50 per poult

 

3 tonne of pellet per thousand, at about £300 ton (ish, not bought any for a few years)

 

Feed wheat - we put feed about 13-16 ton a year, at £60 (tailings) to £120 (decent wheat) a ton.

 

Also other costs to consider, - pen repairs, diesel, meds, spares for drinkers etc.

 

James

[hily 379]

POULTS £3.00--£3.95

GROWERS PELLETS 1 BAG PER 10 POULTS @£6.50 A BAG

WHEAT 1 TON PER HUNDRED FROM £75 to £120 per ton

PERSCRIPTION FOR MEDICATED FEED ask a vet

AS WITH ALL GOODS THE COST CAN GO UP OR DOWN BUT THE PRICES SHOWN ARE APPROX WHAT WE HAVE PAID IN THE PAST We found that wheat prices are not known untill the harvest so if you don't have a small stock in store frome last year you have to pay the gowing rate so my advice is don't buy more birds than you can feed.good luck with the shoot.

[david1976 0]

Thanks folks, am wanting to keep it a small type shoot with 1000 maybe 2000 birds on it so that gives me an idea of rough costings. There are numerous estate shoots around so I am imagining that wild pheasant numbers should be pretty good as well, I certainly see a few.

[upperlane2 4]

Thanks folks, am wanting to keep it a small type shoot with 1000 maybe 2000 birds on it so that gives me an idea of rough costings. There are numerous estate shoots around so I am imagining that wild pheasant numbers should be pretty good as well, I certainly see a few.

if i was u i would buy 300 for the first year spend ur money on feeders and pull in ur neighbours birds how many people are in ur club/ syndicate

[david1976 0]

Thanks folks, am wanting to keep it a small type shoot with 1000 maybe 2000 birds on it so that gives me an idea of rough costings. There are numerous estate shoots around so I am imagining that wild pheasant numbers should be pretty good as well, I certainly see a few.

if i was u i would buy 300 for the first year spend ur money on feeders and pull in ur neighbours birds how many people are in ur club/ syndicate

 

I have not set it up yet I have just been offered the land. I was trying to cost up so I could see how many people I would need to cover costs. Feeders are included with the pens and water troughs and drinkers so poults and feed are my main costs along with the rent of the land.

[Lab 10,979]

"Pull in your neighbours birds" :wallbash:, never mind that mate its completely daft! The last thing you want to do is fall out with neighbouring shoots, you never know you might need to dog birds back in from near there ground so a good relationship with others is paramount.

 

Basically the others have covered the costs pretty well and you wont go far wrong with there advice

[waidmann 105]

the prices are pretty much what we paid last year too.

the advice to keep good with the neighbors os also spot on,a good relationship will pay dividends a bad one can be a real pain in the arse,bear in mind the shoot will if planned and worked at be running for years to come

 

i don't know how much of this "keeping lark" you have done but i would suggest that in the weeks and months running up to buying poults etc you and a couple of guns spend you time hammering the predators around the pens if this land has not been keepered for a while(corvids,squirrels.man made earths are good if a couple of guns keep terriers and traps need to be bought and set up.

 

the summer is a good time to better cover(let light in where needed) and plan where to put crop cover for potential drives etc.

if you have someone who has shot over this land before it may pay to get him on board as he should know holding places and have some idea of flights.

 

i wish you all the best,

waidmann

[Redleg22 2]

As long as you are working on a DIY basis and don't have any labour costs, you should be able to run the shoot on the basis of approximately £17 per bird shot. (That includes rent, poults, depreciation, feeding and unavoidable incidentals)

 

If you can achieve a 40% return rate on poults released, then the "conventional wisdom" would be that a DIY shoot releasing 2000 poults should cost about £13,600 per annum in total. (Which works out quite nicely if you have 10 guns paying £1400 each and shooting 8 days averaging 100 birds per day.

 

The nigger in that particular woodpile, of course, is that it assumes that you are putting down the optimum number of birds for the land in question. 2000 birds on 450 acres of arable sounds a bit more than you would expect the ground to sustain. It might work better with only 1000 poults although you are then down to 8 x 50-bird days at a cost of £700 per gun. Still good value and maybe a better target for the first year at least.

 

Good luck with it.