“It’s a management nightmare. I want to feed them well, but at the same time conserve grass.”
The crux of the problem is that he’s at maximum carrying capacity and to complicate matters, there are several mobs. The logical solution would be to consolidate mobs, but that’s difficult with a velvet-trophy, Red hind breeding, and fallow deer mix.
But the deer have coped well, thanks to practical steps taken to manage the mud and minimise soil damage. As many paddocks as possible have been set aside for when grass growth starts and a sacrifice paddock will be resown in the spring.
Dry-as-possible ground under trees is made available for deer to rest after grazing turnip and fodder beet. Also, the 100 fallow does will be kept indoors for the last part of the winter to further reduce paddock pressure.
A 3ha paddock of fodder beet has been the winter mainstay and has stood up well to the mud. Fallows have grazed the middle of the paddock with Red hinds and R2 stags on each side. The mixed-age stags have grazed 2ha of turnips and the R2 hinds grass and balage.
Improved soil health has helped mitigate the muddy conditions, Richard says.
He has taken steps to improve worm, microbial and fungal activity in soils, using a citric-soluble, slow release guano phosphate on paddocks and a home-produced, seaweed-based fertiliser two to three times a year.
He plans to further explore the potential of biological farming principles in deer farming systems.
“I’d like to see if we can evaluate whether or not biological farming is beneficial. It could perhaps alleviate or reduce the amount of nitrate leaching from soils.”
Since moving south from Rotorua 12 years ago, Richard, a vet and chairman of Southland Deer Farmers’ Association, has concentrated on building a trophy-based deer business.
He’s experienced in applied deer breeding technologies from his time spent as a practising vet and has used these skills in building his own herd, using artificial insemination (AI) across his Red hinds.
The most difficult part is deciding on the best six or seven sires to use for antler size and weight. The herd has “bits and pieces” of Ingor, Arawhata, Netherdale and Foveran bloodlines.
The changing requirements of trophy hunters has changed the ideal trophy antler specs, but Richard thinks he’s on the right track.
“It used to be about points and a high score. Now width, length and weight are equally important.”
The 150 fallow deer are also bred for trophy. Timid, nervy and intelligent, they’re not the easiest to farm, especially the bucks, which are unmanageable for nine months of the year.
“It’s only from when they drop their buttons, until they start to strip their antlers that you can handle them.”
‘It used to be about points and a high score. Now width, length and weight are equally important.’
But the does, when confined in a group, are good to handle, which is why they’ve adapted well to indoor wintering.
Richard wants to take the next step to a larger farm, but plotting the next move is proving difficult, with surrounding dairy land $37,000 a hectare.
“I feel we have a good platform genetically, now I want to put it into place on a bigger scale.”
Deer choose to wallow in mud, but is winter crop feeding in a muddy paddock good for their health and welfare?
There are no studies to answer this question, although the intuitive response is that a wet and muddy deer is more prone to cold and therefore likely to choose somewhere warmer or drier.
Professor Peter Wilson, Massey University, says the question needs to be looked at objectively.
“It would be relatively easy to answer, by giving the deer a choice and to observe behaviour, though the design of any trial would need to be appropriate.”
Potentially confounding factors would be if the feed source was where the mud was – raising the question of whether it was the mud or the feed attracting the deer.
Farmers might look on such a study as a threat, but it need not be, he says.
“If it (mud) was shown to not be the deer's preference, it might be simple to accommodate an ‘off mud’ environment for the deer to choose.”
Also, run-off in waterways and retention of soil and fertility otherwise lost would have to be considered.
The recommended best practice for shelter in the Animal Welfare (Deer) Code (2007) states that deer should have access to a “relatively dry and sheltered area on which they may rest, particularly where paddock conditions become very muddy, when crops are grazed or direct-fed during wet weather.”
Triple mix recommended
Rising-two-year Red stags.
Deer farmers are being strongly advised to use three drench families in combination to keep parasites under control. This follows four years of research showing that internal parasite resistance is becoming widespread across the industry.
Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) producer manager Tony Pearse says the use of one drench family – mectins – applied as pour-ons, along with poor application technique, are the cause.
“Replacing a mectin pour-on with an injectable can dramatically improve growth rates, but the best bet – based on recent onfarm trials – is to use a triple mix: a mectin injection, plus a white-clear combination oral drench,” he says.
He knows of farmers who have increased weaner growth rates from 250g a day to 400g a day just by switching to a mectin injectable. Better weaner health and a reduction in losses from Yersinia and Johne’s have also been reported.
Importantly, the triple mix helps stave off the inevitable – the day when parasites develop resistance to all three drench families. This is crucial, because trials suggest that two new drenches on the market, Startect and Zolvix, are ineffective in deer.
Before embarking on the preferred triple mix, Pearse says farmers should consult their veterinarian.
“This is because it involves departing from label directions. Once you go off-label, a default withholding period of 91 days kicks in. With a veterinary prescription this drops to 49 days for Cydectin injection.”
The recommended drench regime is available from deer veterinarians and is posted on the DINZ website, along with detailed internal parasite management advice.
