It is important to strim the grass beneath all electric fences as part of your regular maintenance routine.

We've been using battery powered electric fence energisers on our partridge pen because it's so far away from a mains power source that a lead out cable just isn't a reasonable option. Battery powered electric fence energisers are great, but you do need to be careful to avoid wasting power. A battery can go flat very quickly if it isn't correctly insulated, and any short circuits or drains can reduce the power in no time at all.

Our partridge pen is a temporary affair made out of pre-assembled panels, and the electric fence has been built out of Pigtail Outriggers. These insulators are designed to hold a current without wasting anything, but with grass and rushes growing up through the polywire, the electric circuit is vulnerable to leaks and wastage. If a single blade of grass touches the polywire, the electric current will be diverted and valuable power will be drained away.

For temporary electric fences, it's a good idea to swipe all grass from underneath the line of the wire before setting up the fence, and we also recommend that you swipe periodically under longer term fences to keep on top of fresh growth. It may seem like a lot of hastle for the sake of a few blades of grass, but the extension in battery life more than repays the effort.

Welcome to the new Solway Feeders blog.

This blog will follow the daily running of our small business in rural Scotland as we design and test game and poultry products and discuss issues which relate to you and your birds.

We hope that our customers and visitors will find something of interest on these pages as they expand and develop over the next few months, particularly since we plan to cover everything from racing pigeons to turkeys.

Based in south west Scotland, Solway Feeders has been selling game and poultry rearing products for the past twenty years. During that time, we have been designing and manufacturing some of the most popular and innovative products on the market.

We pride ourselves on having tested and approved every product we sell, and we are always pleased to pass on our findings to our many customers across the world.

Our sales team is always on hand to help or provide advice, and Jane, Nick, Paul, Kaye and Nicola man the telephones during working hours. In the factory and warehouse, Colin, Stuart, Bogdon, Raf and Danny work hard to build, assemble and pack products which are sent to our customers from Iceland to New Zealand.

If you have any experience with keeping poultry or rearing game birds, you will know that there are a thousand different ways of doing things, and while we hope to be able to provide useful advice for first timers or novices, we would always appreciate feedback on our ideas and products from all of our readers, customers and visitors.

The Solway Feeders team: (From left) Danny, Colin, Raf, Bogdon and Nick. (Seated) Nicola, Paul, Kaye and Jane.