Nominee Summary
Louise came into the game industry in 2021 after spending her previous five years as a trainee accountant at Johnston Carmichael. Louise, being a young female in a male dominant industry showed great commitment, determination and willingness to learn and provide a fantastic feed and service. Louise saw that the company, required drive, in moving forward with the current times. Louise studied and passed her SQP award to be able to prescribe wormer in the feed, she became part of the Rural Leaders programme to build connections and gain further knowledge of the industry.
Nominee – Qualities
Louise has studied her SQP, always learning and educating her customers. She could see the pressure the industry was under for use of anti-biotics, so looked into the use of probiotics in feed and help trials along side vets and game farmers. she then noticed the need for different feeds for different environments and worked with her nutritionist to develop these diets. Louise is a member of shooting clubs, this has helped her gain experience, meet new people but also allowed her to bring new people into the sector too. Being a member of the Rural leaders programme in 2023/24 has made new connections and widen the name/industry. Louise has been fantastic on social media in spreading awareness and educating. She created a document to send to customers explaining the importance of feed labels and what is required/important. A brilliant, educational tool that many of us keepers hadn't looked at before. Louise held an open evening/mill tour for customers which was well attended and was a great way to promote what she does and how it all comes together, from the raw materials, manufacturing and delivery. Louise has been involved in not only selling the feed but she has been out on many shoot days, beating and picking up as well as helping on hatches on game farms. A true hands on approach and willingness to learn to full cycle of game feed.
Nominee - Sectoral Impact
Louise developed a new feed for "raised box layers" which seen customers in 2025 have less pro-lapses during the breeding season. Louise introduced a probiotic in feed after a successful trial which saw many customers reduce the use of antibiotics on the estates. Louise created the know your feed label document, which was shared by post and social media which was a great tool to understand the feed and what is used and how this benefits the birds, leading on to many a cost saving by the shoot owners. Louise has been great at marketing the business, she has made create use of social media but also had many press releases over the past 2-3 years which have been spoken about across Scotland and the wider UK. With Louise coming from young farmers, working with many farmers in her previous role and having family connections in the rural sector, she really has shown a great understand and appreciation for the rural industry, it's importance and benefits.
Nominee - Going the extra mile
Louise went the extra mile to study and pass her SQP via AMTRA in 2023, this meant she could prescribe wormer in game feed, a service Spratts provide FOC. Many customers, including myself have benefited from Louise doing, late night or weekend deliveries to ensure customers are never without feed. Louise is currently working on a project with a marketing company for filming, this will show each stage of game birds, from the lay to hatching, bird delivery, release and a shoot day. Louise feels this is important to show the wider community just how much time, effort and cost goes into game shooting, as well as the amount of jobs this creates and money that is brought to the local economy. Louise also sat a mental health first aid course, this was important to her as she knew how difficult rural living could be, the stress and difficulties each person faced and how some days she may be the only one they speak too, this shows how compassionate Louise is and how each customer is more than just a feed sale to her. Louise had her own fold of highland cattle which she would show over summer, this was a huge part of rural life for her, but this really made her realise how rural living has its difficulties
