Great Southern Deer Farm - From Early Beginnings and what we've learnt
As I think about the past 40 years, I note some of the apparent changes. The first 10 years were obviously very exciting, as we learnt to farm the first new domesticate for 5000 years. This excitement was twofold, as the prices all deer were traded for were 10 times what we receive now. This was, in retrospect, not sustainable, but the tax rules of the time allowed this. These early days were dominated by 'Queen Street' Farmers as investors just for the tax breaks!
This all come to a sudden halt with Roger Dougla's changes to the Tax Laws. Average prices for capital stock Hinds went from $5K to $500, and all of a sudden, we were farming deer for the product prices and not the tax breaks. Luckily, deer are very versatile animals, and we could farm them for venison, velvet, trophy hunting, or sometimes all three.
Learning to farm deer was a whole new game, the first feral deer were highly stress prone and subject to viral diseases unique to them - namely MCF, yersiniosis and TB.
Huge inputs to research have come from Invermay Scientists and also locally Noel Beatson and Paddy Boyd with TB halved, which has now virtually eradicated these problems.
The locally fronted "Deer Master" group came up with many answers in the early 90's. Not surprisingly the better you feed deer the better they preform to avoid the onset of MCF or Yersiniosis.
Deer Master solved disappointing fawning percentages with the recommendation of fawn-proof fences and the relocation of hinds onto a more suitable tussock country environment where the hinds can follow their natural defence system of hiding their fawn.
In high-stocked areas, they pushed their fawns through fences into tree lanes etc, where they became miss-mothered. A lot of these answers seem so logical now, but we were learning together along the way.
Currently, wintering on fodder beet, swedes, etc, put weight on weaners over winter, which put paid to the myth "you couldn't put weight on weaners in the winter".
A magnesium injection for newly weaned fawns works magic for calming them down before shifting them. We have found a grain trolly that soon teaches weaners where gates are located.
Whilst deer farming is capital high for fencing, it requires relatively low labour input, and with returns (venison, velvet & trophy) in a strong position, we as a farming family have no regrets about our choice of farming these superb animals.
Great Southen Deer Farm
