DEERSelect Manager Sharon McIntyre said genetics for growth and the right feeding programmes on-farm were still the big two for boosting deer productivity, but eye muscle selection added a focus on lean meat yield.

“Part of producing quality venison is also ensuring that the carcases are well-muscled and this is where recording meat yield adds extra value.”

Nine herds were recording ultrasound eye muscle area through DEERSelect, as well as the DPT herds, she said.

The ultrasound process has been used extensively during the three years of the DPT. Just over 1600 progeny from two commercial farms, Haldon Station and Whiterock, and research herds, have had their eye muscle areas measured. 

Ward said: “The project’s been a demonstration ground for showing that ultrasound scanning of deer is workable and a cheaper and easier option that full CT scanning.”

The project is funded through DEEResearch Ltd, a company owned by Deer Industry New Zealand, the NZ Deer Farmers’ Association, and AgResearch.

All ultrasound scanning of the deer in the project has been done by Stockscan, an Otago-based scanning business. Rowan Farmer, of Stockscan, said the same principles used in sheep scanning to achieve an eye muscle measurement applied to deer.

Since 2011, ultrasound technology has been used by deer breeders to “see” inside the animal while it is still alive.

Deer are best scanned as rising yearlings from late September until January, because this is when their winter coats have grown out. The hollow fibre in winter coats is restrictive to ultrasound waves. Two scanning operators are needed and the deer are held in a padded crush.

Stockscan supply the pads to fit on to an existing crush. A small amount of fibre has to be clipped off the animal’s back during the process. Throughput rates are about 35 an hour, about half the speed of sheep scanning.

Farmer said the range in eye muscle width was typically from 80mm to 120mm. For depth it typically ranged 32mm to 55mm. He sees real potential for improvement. 

“I’ve been eye muscle scanning sheep annually for almost 20 years and the variation was large, but over time that has tightened up and the poorer sheep have dropped off the bottom.”

Full body scanning (CT) is more accurate but requires sedation and is about 40 times more expensive. Slaughtering the animal reveals meat yield but means farmers have to sacrifice top breeding stock.

DPT analysis begins

December will see the final round of ultrasound testing of deer progeny involved in the Deer Progeny Test (DPT).

This month will also see the final crop of progeny slaughtered at Alliance Makarewa deer slaughter plant and the meat quality, growth traits and carcase yield traits collected.

Then the results will be uploaded to DEERSelect to help find the best sires and dams for the industry. Deer farmers will have to wait until mid-2015 for the number crunching conclusions.

Jamie Ward, of AgResearch, said the results should be worth the wait.

Expectations are high that deer within this special DPT group will breed offspring that can crack a 64kg carcaseweight at slaughter, with exceptional meat quality and ideal temperament traits. These genetics can then filter through the national deer herd.

The project has taken the lion’s share of funding from DEEResearch for 2013-14 and is also the highest value of the deer research projects funded by AgResearch. All up $450,000 has been earmarked for work in 2013-14 including $95,000 in industry contributions.

Studs have donated semen to the project, equating to thousands of dollars. All commercial hinds were artificially inseminated with semen from top sires.

'Genetic improvement is not fast but is cumulative and permanent, a long-term investment supported by science.'

The deer industry is keenly seeking better returns and chasing productivity gains is part of the puzzle. DEEResearch chairman Collier Isaacs said research was targeted to contribute to the deer industry’s profitability targets, embedded in the Passion2Profit programme.

“Genetic improvement is not fast but is cumulative and permanent, a long-term investment supported by science.”

Irrespective of breeding, feeding was essential to reach the animal’s potential and both of these came together in the DEEResearch and Passion2Profit programme, he said.

The three-year project has gathered a tremendous amount of objective measurement from a selection of commercial and stud deer.

No stone has gone unturned in regards to testing for meat quality and quantity. Over 60 traits have been measured, even those outside meat quality and quantity such as maternal traits, co-product traits, temperament and parasite resistance. 

As well as identifying top genetics within the trial herds, the project has also strengthened knowledge on deer genetics and linkages between groups.

AgResearch Senior Scientist Geoff Asher said the benefits included much better records of maternal traits. The project would follow the keepers (hinds for replacement) until they were rising four, so their reproductive performance could be recorded.

Other benefits were that the data had increased linkages between sires in DEERSelect.

“There are now no unlinked red deer herds on DEERSelect; all 24 herds are linked.”

Wapiti herds also had many linkages now, where previously there were just two, he said. “The benefits will be huge.”

At the deer industry conference Asher acknowledged the contribution of the farmers involved.

“Putting up to 400 hinds on one farm into an AI programme is a big ask in a commercial farming situation.”