BOCM PAULS has been manufacturing Marsdens Feeds since 1986.

However, the Marsdens brand has actually been in existence (in one form or another) for over a century.

Duncan Marsden has been carrying a gun since the age of six, starting with a garden gun and progressing on to a twelve-bore at the age of seventeen. As a schoolboy he travelled miles on his bike in the pursuit of rabbits and would regularly visit the Solway Firth and Hesketh Bank to observe the variety of wildfowl. When Duncan’s grandfather purchased the mill at Midge Hall, Leyland, Lancashire, in 1907, it was producing porridge oats. After Duncan’s father joined the company in 1931, the name was changed to T. Marsden & Son and they began trading as Animal Feed Merchants.

Following the death of his father, Duncan took over the company in 1954. The late 1950s saw Duncan producing pheasant feed for his own use, mainly in response to the problems he encountered with the pheasant food that breeders used at the time - a wet food which quickly became mouldy and diseased. Duncan’s new dry food remained fresh and produced mature healthy and challenging birds. News of the dry food soon stimulated a wider interest and he began to sell small quantities throughout the North West - Lord Sefton being one of his first customers. Sales quickly grew as the product developed and diversification into other game feeds followed.

The Marsdens brand name became recognised within the game industry and demand expanded in England, Scotland and Wales. Duncan Marsden sold the company in 1986 to BOCM Silcock Ltd - latterly BOCM PAULS LTD. He has since watched ‘his’ brand go from strength to strength, becoming what it is today - one of the leading game feed brands.