South Scotland Game Exchange, established in 2019, is essentially a cooperative of 7 core shoots and is a non-profit venture to get more feathered game on the table. It is run by Olly Routledge of Moffat Water Game Limited and operates a new purpose-built chiller in a central location of Dumfries & Galloway. The chiller is run off a hydro-electric scheme in the vicinity. SSGE is cost-neutral - they buy the game boxes from the game dealer and sell to the shoots adding a small margin to cover the operation of the chiller.
Poor game sales are the biggest threat to shooting, and for many shoots it has become financially and logistically problematic to deliver shot game to game processors. This increases the risk of game not entering the food chain. If you are running a large commercial shoot, then it may be cost effective to have the facilities to care for the game and the ability for the game dealer to come and collect it, but if you are a small shoot, much more in the traditional mould, then the increasing demands of game processing and food hygiene (as the core of shooting is the provision of food) have made it increasingly difficult in recent years for small shoots to get their game to a game dealer in a realistic way. By acting as a co-operative, with a number of smaller shoots coming together, it has allowed the pooling of resources to make this viable, as well as dramatically increasing the game that is consumed and taken home on a sustainable basis. SSGE processes 7-10k birds per season. These go to a game dealer and around 40% are bought back as over-ready game boxes. Shoots signed up to SSGE collect processed game boxes (a mixture of breasted pheasants and/or partridges together with pheasant sausages) from the central game store before their shoot and return their shot game to the same location afterwards. SSGE improves the sustainability of small shoots - these are a benefit to the community in providing employment, ensuring good land management, and allowing the continuation of traditional rural sporting activities. SSGE ensures that all food hygiene standards are complied with. A major benefit is the avoidance of food waste and ensuring that the maximum percentage of shot game reaches the table.