Deer fetching better returns

North Canterbury deer farmer Lyndon Matthews is increasing deer numbers because it pays to do so.

09-03-2009 | Not Specified

Lyndon and Millie Matthews have increased their deer numbers as models show they are getting a better return.

Farmax models carried out on Puketira in North Canterbury have shown deer breeding and finishing is returning 20c/kg DM (on a venison schedule of $7.50/kg) while sheep breeding is generating 14.8c/kg DM (lamb worth $5/kg).

Velvet stags are returning 13.2c/kg DM at a velvet price of $60/kg and 16.8c/kg DM if velvet is worth $80kg net.

For this reason Lyndon and Millie Matthews have reduced sheep numbers and increased deer numbers.

The breeding hinds are put to a terminal sire for the fast-growing weaners upon which their operation is based, but the terminal sire is backed up with a Red stag as an insurance against stag failure.

Deer Improvement genetics have been used for breeding replacements and as these genetics coming into the breeding females, they are now starting to see progress in Red weaner growth rates.

To make room for ewes and lambs, the Matthews need to get the weaner deer finished and ready for sale by the beginning of September.

The couple have their first draft at the beginning of September and draft fortnightly after that until all the weaners are gone.

One third of the weaners (the hybrids) are killed in September, the Reds are killed in October and the final third gone in November.

This pattern, says Lyndon, is coming through consistently.

Carcaseweights have increased incrementally over the years and last season the average carcaseweight in the stags was 60kg, while in the hinds it was 55kg.

Lyndon says in the early days of farming deer they used to be pleased if they got a 50kg CW; the progress is a result of better feeding and genetics.

They start working towards these carcaseweights from late December when they will start feeding hinds to keep them lactating and keep the calves growing.

Lyndon says he would rather feed them at that stage than keep both hinds and calves on half rations through summer.

The calves are weaned at the end of February, which gives the hinds time to recover body condition before mating.

Last season on the back of a good autumn the first calvers scanned a very pleasing 92% while the mixed-age hinds mated to hybrids and Reds scanned 98%.

Survival to sale was 85% across the whole herd.

` The Matthews' mixed-age composite ewe flock is high performing with a survival to sale of 138%-150%; (last season it was 150%) this year all lambs were finished at an average 16.5kg CW.

Perhaps more exciting was the performance of the hogget flock which had a survival to sale of 100% from a scanning of 130%.

The reproductive performance of the young sheep rues well for the future of the ewe flock.

Velvet stags are a relatively new class of stock on Puketira and the mixed-age stags are producing an average of 3.5kg of velvet, while this season the velvet from the two-year-old averaged 2.5kg, a lift of .5/kg on the previous year.

The couple's initial target with velvet was a weight for age, so seeing the two-year-old stags exceed this target was gratifying.

Lyndon believes this lift was as a result of better feeding.

He says they are still learning about velvet, but in theory velvet stags fit Puketira's dry environment very well.

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