When I took the first steps in my gamekeeping career way back in the 1960s, there is no doubt it was a much simpler life. No internet, no social media, no shoot sabs, a plentiful game market with decent prices — the list goes on. There were also very few diseases in gamebirds: the old irritations of coccidiosis, gapeworm and blackhead — and that was about it.
The troubles, though, had already begun, as intensification was under way. With it came many of the problems that the poultry industry had produced