Clear objectives from deer units

Deer managers Nathan Coote, left, and Anaru Harmer in a field of kale with a herd of hinds in the background.

01-10-2009 | Not Specified

Landcorp's Rangitaiki Station has clear objectives from its deer units.

Station manager Ross Shepherd says the key to their business is maximising the kilogram of fawns weaned to hinds mated.

Their first particular target is a 95% fawning, then weaning weights of 60kg. The best results to date are a fawning of 87% and 54kg weaning weights.

The past few seasons have been particularly dry, with rainfall down from the average of 1400mm, which has held back progress. For example, last year grass growth peaked in December at 40kg, while in other years it would have been more like 55-60kgDM/ha/day at that time, Ross says. Pasture production averaged only around 7.3tDM/ha last year.

In comparison this spring growth rates are zooming along, so the Rangitaiki team is hopeful of much improved production this season.

"We plan at the end of August to have pasture covers of 1000kgDM/ha, and this year it was 900. But we had a fantastic end of August, and September is shaping up very well for us," Ross says.

The aim is to set stock the hinds on 1200kgDM/ha at the start of fawning, and to maintain them on this level all the way through summer.

Breeding unit manager Nathan Coote stocks the hinds at 6.5/ha, and takes the balance up to 10su/ha with hoggets, lambing ewes or steers to maintain pasture quality.

"In the last two years we've used hoggets - which we only lamb in a good year - and they are easier to juggle," he says.

Fawning has been moved earlier as a way to increase weaning weights, with first calvers starting in the second week of October, and older hinds brought forward to the end of October.

The farm, which is 95% flat, provides a clean fawning environment, and they have to accept they don't get the higher fawning percentages they might reach if they had more scrub and tussock cover.

With an altitude of 700 to 850m above sea level, it is exposed, so the landscape has been broken up with stands of pines and wind breaks, as well as soil conservation areas fenced to protect erosion-prone pumice.

The flatness means they don't get treading and erosion problems which hill properties running deer often suffer from.

In the first week of the New Year the hinds and their fawns are mobbed up and rotated for six to eight weeks before weaning. In tight years the fawns have also been fed supplements at this point to increase their weaning weights. Having them in larger mobs at this stage means they get used to each other before weaning, too.

Weaning begins at the end of February; it takes nine or 10 days to wean all the deer. Mobs of weaners are moved across the road at the rate of 1000 to 1200 a day.

It sounds like a lot of animals in each mob, and it is, but Ross says it's just second nature if you take 100 or 3000 down the lane. "We do have pretty good stockmen."

When bringing big numbers into the yards they use holding paddocks because the yards are built to hold 700 hinds.

Deer finishing unit manager Anaru Harmer explains they used four or five older "aunty" hinds in each mob of weaners. These help the weaners get used to being moved around the farm and going through gateways.

The weaners are split into groups: red hinds, red stags, terminal-sired stags, and terminal hinds, and usually stay in these mobs until they are sorted up in late winter and early spring.

The replacement rate of red hinds into the herd runs about 18%. Many of the hinds are older with a calm temperament, which helps with management. Each group averages just over 1000 head, with a total of 6500 weaners.

The weaners power through autumn at weight gains of around 250g/day until late May, which is officially the start of winter when growth rates slow down a bit.

The large numbers really come into their own during winter. It's more of a dairy farming mentality than traditional deer farming, Ross says. With large numbers and paddock sizes ranging from 10 to 28ha, the deer are usually moved every day.

Big mobs can take a big rotation. For example, after weaning the 3300-strong mob of hinds is on a 65-day rotation of browntop pastures.

While there are some low covers, the hinds get a fresh pick every day "so you don't end up with a tail of lighter animals", Ross says.

Nathan says the deer are used to being moved every day, and expect it: "They know what is going on, so we get labour efficiencies."

Sometimes in winter they record negative pasture growth rates, which means supplementary feed is a key part of their operation. During winter about a third of the intake of the finishing animals comes from supplements.

In the deer unit this past winter 586ha of crops were grown, most of which were Goliath rape, swedes or kale. Less than half of this was used for the deer, with hoggets, ewes and cows wintered there as well.

Maize grain is added to the mix for the finishing deer, as well as lucerne silage, which they make from a 30ha crop.

In the peak of winter the hinds might be fed 100% on silage, Nathan says. At the moment maize is being fed until pasture covers are adequate.

The brassica crops are followed in spring by permanent pastures of tall fescue or an Impact or Bronsyn type of ryegrass clover mix.

While chicory has been tried extensively at different times there is none in at the moment. "We weren't getting longevity out of it and there were quite big weed challenges," Ross says.

Johne's disease is an on-going challenge for the deer industry. All their stud animals are blood-tested, as well as the dries and any TB reactors. Any animals testing positive to Johne's are culled. The two stud groups are tested twice for Johne's, once at their first mating, and again as a two-year-old, Nathan says.

Johne's is a stress disease which is always present in a herd, and is passed from hind to fawn. Because Rangitaiki sells both red and wapiti stags to other Landcorp farms, they have to test clear for Johne's before leaving the farm.

The good news is that in the past two tough years for farming, the rate of Johne's antibodies has fallen from 23% to 6.5% across the whole of the red deer stud.

The farm has a C5 TB status, with the hinds tested every year.

  Printable View